Public opinion is highly polarized regarding political violence, with strong criticisms directed towards both major political parties and the media for inciting division and hostility. While some long for respectful dialogue and accountability, many others express frustration at perceived hypocrisy and blame game politics following recent violent incidents.

Democratic Party

Republican Party

Media

What's the big red circle near New York City?

Chorchapu

Holy crap, the Bourbon Street thing was this year? Seems like ages ago. This year is so fucking long and horrible.

BlueGreenMikey

PA Governor Shapiro and his family were firebombed at the governor’s mansion and that doesn’t show here. Does that not meet the criteria?

Professional-Brick61

fyi abt the fertility clinic it was one of the dumbest attacks ever lmao the guy was hella antinalatist and stuff like the and he wanted to destroy the clinic and all the embryos in there so like no one could have kids or smth like that. He achieved fuck all and in the "Attack" which was a car bomb he was the only fatality, the car was gone and the clinic walls were damaged, no embryos at all were damaged. bro achieved literally nothing

FrozenUruguayBallbac

CrazyRabbitEyes

koreamax

This map seems to omit the Boulder, CO firebombing of the Israeli hostage rally that killed one.

justanotherthrxw234

What makes something qualify as "political"

5peaker4theDead

Missing the firebombing of the governors residence in PA

dmac1977

Why are only four of these labeled? It seems like either all or none should be.

Salsalover34

we are seeing an unprecedented level of lone wolf terrorism, not just organized groups but radicalized individuals

this makes sense in a way because counterterrorism has gotten really good at dealing with organized terrorism both domestic and abroad especially after 9/11, but this is a different beast

organized terror can be fought, or even infiltrated by agents, it has leadership and a command structure, lone wolves have no attack surface and are everywhere.

watain218

The Minnesota lawmakers death and Israeli embassy staff being killed is absolutely insane as well. With Kirk’s death, this past year alone is rivaling the political violence of the 60s. Which is terrifying

Mindless_Bid_5162

oduzmi

Was the cyber truck blowing up at Trump tower on Las Vegas early this year not count?

Geomaster53

I’m stunned Isis killed 14 people in the US, and I never even heard about it

thegreatshark

Russian and Chinese bot farms are in full swing stoking the fire, too. The political violence is a symptom of a much deeper societal problem. We should all defend each other's first amendment rights.

ZenHeat619

thespaniard1992

What's the one in the middle of Lake Erie?

Altoid_Addict

Jaystraef172001

Full_Relief_4233

The CDC attack?  Should we assume that's the circle in Georgia?

ety3rd

chchchchia86

And where is the Jewish lady who was fire bomb and later died, in Colorado springs, by a Hamas supporter?

Wide-Yesterday9705

I just watched a really powerful video from one of my favorite small YouTubers. He quoted Aaron Burr after killing Hamilton. "The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me." I just want you all to know, even though I'm a Republican, there is enough room in this world for all you Democrats too. I love you as a Christian.

Peace.

ItsYoBoyBryce

You should also include attacks on ICE facilities, since they’re politically motivated too.

Minimum-Enthusiasm14

What is the cluster in Chicago (or slightly south)?

bender445

South Texas? All i found was the BP shooting in McAllen but no one died (except the perpetrator, if that counts)

OkMuffin8303

Could the color shades be any closer together?!

thirtyseven1337

What about the Tesla dude who blew himself up in a cybertruck?

hotsaucevjj

What's the big red circle on New Jersey about?

Mundane_Opening3831

They scrubbed this research from the official gov sources, luckily it's archived here [https://archive.is/1t1rm](https://archive.is/1t1rm) 

Don't believe their lies.

Qubit_Or_Not_To_Bit_

babydemon90

Can we get a map like this,  but for Mexico?  From my understanding, it's not a good place to be political.

GotMilk711

bigDogNJ23

Murkeddot23

VitalMaTThews

You know whats cool about facts? When you don't like them, you can just apply an arbitrary filter so only the ones you do like get counted. Then convince yourself you're right and everyone else is uneducated.

Its terrifying how frequently this kind of pseudoscience goes viral and pursuades millions of people.

Lendari

This is missing the arson of PA Governor Shapiro's home.

Maaster_Mind

TubbyToby

Don’t forget the Hortmans beautiful dog who was just too sweet to be a service dog. The psycho conservative republican murdered a sweet innocent puppy and two innocent politicians. Who’s calling for violence?

kittyfresh69

Remember. Millions of bots live among us.

fierceinvalidshome

I think part of what we see in terms of political progressive-leaning bias on Reddit is a result of Conservatives migrating away from open discourse.

There are not many places on Reddit where Conservatives can have open discussions about their thoughts and ideologies without being attacked frequently by vitriolic and unreasonable ad-hominem harassment.

It must be exhausting for such people who just want to have open reasoned discussion.

Even /r/conservative vigorously bans reasonable discourse to the point that all that is left there is a shadow of people (or bots) who pretty much just tow the consensus MAGA line.  I imagine that even many MAGA's have been banned from that subreddit just for making balanced comments about some topic or other.

I am not a conservative or a conservative apologist.  Any more.  Long past.

But I can imagine that if my old self wanted to have substantive discourse about some policy issue, I would find it tiresome having to constantly fend off an incessant stream of irrational nasty attacks in pretty much most subreddits.  That ambient unpleasantness might encourage younger me to seek out other venues for voicing my political concerns.

So I'm guessing the somewhat obvious... that the non-conservative bias we have in moderate themed subreddits is something of a selection bias.  It's a reflection of the political demographics of Reddit.

I don't know where Conservatives all go to find substantial discussion?  Some of them are intellectual and would surely not be satisfied with echo-chambers either.

*Frankly, I'd like to know where they all are.  I want to engage with Conservatives.*  But what few there are left on Reddit seem to be mostly keeping their heads down.

**Where do the Conservatives go when they leave Reddit?**

How do we engage constructively with Conservatives?  They are ellusive.

I got banned from /r/conservative, /r/trump, and a number of other obvious conservative subreddits long ago... every time for quite mild comments or even just for asking genuinely for sourcing on some dubious comment.  Hell, I've been banned from a few liberal-leaning subreddits for similar behavior.

Our nation is very ill.

Captain_Rational

&gt; "Consumer prices rose at annual rate of 2.9% in August, as weekly jobless claims jump": would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives

I mean, why wouldn’t articles like this get neutral engagement?

I’m honestly at a loss as to what’s expected to engage conservatives if the most neutral reporting possible about the economy somehow antagonizes them

Avoo

**"Korea’s major US investment projects halted as detained LG Energy workers set for release"**: would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives

  
I picked one of your articles at random.  How would you have worded this reporting of an event to be neutral 'coded' or conservative 'coded'?

ImportantCommentator

Reddit leans left, this sub does too just in a more passive aggressive way. It's okay to be left (or even right for that matter!) it's not okay wish violence on humans. It's just that simple.




My observation in all this? Maybe we should stop calling regular people with different opinions Nazis and Communists 🤷‍♀️

Opening-Citron2733

&gt; "In new book, Kamala Harris says it was reckless to let Biden make reelection decision on his own": would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives

If youre calling a post from that user 'progressive coded', then I question how much lurking you've done in the last few years here... those are regularly (weekly at least) posted to encourage negative discourse and/or mock the left. There is little engagement with those threads by progressives except to laugh at the submission statements.

ForgotMyPassword_AMA

I think a lot of the disappointment comes from expecting better from Reddit in the first place. Kirk was a controversial figure, so it’s not surprising that some people reacted the way they did. Personally, I don’t celebrate anyone’s death and I think political assassinations are terrible, but I also don’t waste energy being shocked at what I see online. Outrage and cruelty are what the internet does best. I just choose not to fill my feed or my headspace with that stuff, because I know where I stand and don’t need to scroll through the worst of it.

Edit: also like another user mentioned, there are plenty of bad faith actors out there. I’m not saying that’s the majority of posts, but bots and people who want to sow division both internally and from outside the US definitely take advantage of moments like this.

Boycat89

I'm a little late to the conversation, but OP says "R/Music upvoted fun dance music to the top of its own frontpage" which is true, but is not even a fraction of how bad it was.

People were posting songs with titles like "Protect Ya Neck", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", "Talkin' Out of the Side of Your Neck", "He Had it Coming", "The Day the Nazi Died", "Another One Bites the Dust", "See You Later F---face", "Bleed the Freak", "Dancing in the Street", "Neighborhood Sniper", "God Hates a Coward", Call it Fate, Call it Karma", "You're Dead", "Party in the USA", "Hey Man, Nice Shot", "Charlie's Inferno", "Bang Bang You're Dead", "One Shot One Kill", "Celebration", "Kirk's Death", "Sorry Charlie", "Better Off Dead", "Karma" -- dozens and dozens of clearly reddit-rule-breaking things disguised as "I'm just posting songs!". 

Thousands of upvotes, hundreds of supportive comments.

Now you're seeing repeats and much lower engagement from karma farming copycats, but go back to the day of the event and ask yourself how thousands of people can be considered an anomaly here.

Modmail asking if they had any concerns brought back "music will not be censored by pundits; fix your laws instead".  Helpful.

orangefc

&gt; Which brings us to this subreddit.

Allow me to provide some insight into the general trends that shape this community:

1. Reddit as a whole leans heavily to the left. Unsurprisingly, that means that communities like /r/ModPol and /r/centrist *also* lean left. We have several years of subreddit demographics data that confirms this.

2. The community tends to be critical of the current administration. Under Biden, this shifted the political balance of the community to be more central. Under both Trump terms, this shifted the balance even further to the left.

3. Politics, social media, and mainstream media have all become more "angry, rhetorical, and partisan". Even if it's just subconsciously, that sentiment bleeds into this community. Sensational headlines get clicks and breed more sensationalism.

4. While we receive hundreds, if not thousands of comments a day, we only receive a handful of post submissions. It is very easy for one or two posters to impact the perceived political balance of the community. 

Would I like to see a more neutral balance here? Absolutely, but that is an uphill battle for a number of reasons. reddit will always lean left, this community will always be critical of the current administration, and Trump will continue to do things that are worth criticizing.

Resvrgam2

I question some of these codings:  

&gt; BLS revision shows hiring was overstated by 911,000 jobs in past year": would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives   

Like Why would this be from progressives? This is saying bidens economy was worse than expected

Iceraptor17

I'm a bit confused by some of the articles you see as "progressive", to be honest. A lot of them are simply news of the day, should they not be reported on? Or is it the language/source that's the issue? Just browsing through the sources, it's stuff like CNN, CNBC, Newsweek, NYTimes, etc, not exactly Huffpo and the like.

motorboat_mcgee

&gt; Donald Trump calls to bring back religion in America: "When faith gets weaker, our country seems to get weaker"": would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives


I think this is mainstream conservative thought - that the weakening of faith has eroded communities and caused us to isolate ourselves. Why would this drive progressive engagement specifically? This seems like an example that in a balanced community would be a good middle ground thread.


The primary diagnostic I have of modpol is one I gave a few weeks ago - conservatives chiming in to liberal leaning comment sections must defend many actions of the Trump administration at once by dogpiling, so often refrain, which causes conservative comment sections to shut liberal voices out (why I'm not sure on, though - I think it's self selection mostly). You would want the subreddit to somehow switch cultures to upvoting comments that drive positive engagement while also avoiding clowning on people because they stepped on the wrong turf.

emilemoni

[deleted]

I first learned of the Kirk shooting through texts from my parents. As someone who has only vaguely heard of him beforehand, I googled a random reddit thread to see what the whole thing was all about. The very first post was some Kirk supporter sub, and it was absolutely brigaded with hundreds of users celebrating with comments like "Yay, a Nazi got murked today." Eventually, the mod simply privated the entire sub.

Something really needs to be done about users that celebrate murders and other violent actions like that.

Leather_Focus_6535

Since this thread is marked Meta, I assume this is okay to discuss here. But yesterday we saw a huge variation on how each subs mods handled these stories. Where mods on this sub cracked down and blocked comments celebrating Kirk's death, other subs mods openly said they were relaxing their official rules to actively encourage the celebrations. 

spald01

Not sure why the Harris book excerpt, where she’s throwing dirt on the Biden White House, “would be expected to drive more engagement from progressives.”

If there’s one thing that unites us RINOs and MAGA, it’s lampooning Biden’s faculties and Kamala’s campaign.

Yesterday’s shooting obviously buried that news.

RedditorAli

It looks like all the articles you posted were actually pretty neutral so I’m not sure what you’re trying to point to. I also disagree with a lot of what you’re saying because generally the response has been pretty conciliatory on this subreddit and most liberal pundits have universally condemned this horrible act. I’m not gonna put the energy to responding point by point. 

I hear your point that there isn’t enough content that engages conservatives on here to which I’d say be the change that you want to see. If you’re a lurker but don’t contribute anything other than to post this one complaint now then maybe you need to look in the mirror a little bit and figure out what you need to change and contribute so that that is no longer the case?

dc_based_traveler

I think this sub has two inherent benefits that drive me to return and participate.

1. In today’s age with information overload, it is easy to read the news all day and still be misinformed. The world is at our fingers, but for the average person that can be too much. Without guidance (or the push from algorithms, somebody can stay within their bubble of knowledge without knowing any wiser. This sub cuts through that and typically relays the most important points of the day/week/etc. It allows me to see what is MOST important to folks from all walks of life on a day. What is important to me may be indifferent to you, and that’s okay as long as we have a blend. It’s why I stay away from R/politics and R/conservative as echo chambers are harmful to all who participate. Which leads me into my second point

2. I don’t mean to speak for the sub, but I appreciate our conveyance of thoughts and ideals from all backgrounds. Almost as if it is an unspoken acknowledgment that there is no red or blue, but rather we are all varying degrees of purple. Beyond this sub as people though, we need to stop conflating every opposing opinion we’ve heard previously onto a singular person. The “All leftist are gay commie anarchist” or “all republicans are school shooting bigoted nazi’s.” I think the key is we need to stop embracing AND projecting these group thoughts and embrace more individualistic opinions.

As for this sub and your complaint, if you feel there are topics that are not discussed enough, I and I’m sure the rest of the sub (I hope) will be happy to invite the discourse

lorenzwalt3rs

I am a former conservative. What happened to Charlie Kirk made me sick to my stomach, I don’t celebrate it. We also don’t know what the motive was but that also hasn’t stopped many people from blaming the Left, rhetoric, Democrats, etc.

However, I frequent many conservative spaces as many policies I still align with - and to say that Conservatives didn’t mock or celebrate the murder of Minnesota democrats or violence against other left leaning media figures is incorrect. 

I feel there is a bit of double standard being applied. I also agree that it’s hard to know what is real vs. bots or propaganda and many bad actors are trying to stoke division.

This really applies to most things. There are more visible extremists on both sides these days and I feel like I’m taking crazy pills trying to navigate political discourse right now.

uxcoffee

I’m pretty centrist and I’ve been downvoted for more left leaning comments about ICE recently here, so I don’t think its become an echo chamber quite yet. I agree though I come here because it has been the only sub with balanced political discussions and I like hearing from individuals from both sides since any news is inherently biased to some degree in its own right.

I also agree that cheering the violent and very public assassination of someone over their opinions, even if I strongly disagree with a lot of them, despicable. I may not lose sleep if this happened to certain people in power causing mass death and destruction like say Putin, but I wouldn’t be celebrating and cracking jokes on the internet. This event and its aftermath will only lead to more suffering and even more division which is bad for everyone.

RonaldinhoReagan

Don't really agree with how you evaluated those threads. Many of the threads you list as progressive coded are just a factor of the government currently being conservative. 

Are people supposed to talk about Biden and the 2024 election forever or something? 

I would also put the three threads listed below as conservative.

**"Donald Trump calls to bring back religion in America: "When faith gets weaker, our country seems to get weaker"** 

**"In new book, Kamala Harris says it was reckless to let Biden make reelection decision on his own"** 

**"Michigan judge tosses case against 15 accused fake electors for President Donald Trump in 2020"**

gfe98

This sub was full of anti Biden and Democrat stuff during the election, its just right now theyre out of power and Trump’s bombastic treatment of the system (and their full control over the branches) leads them to take the blame. Once Democrats get back into power it’ll shift back

MacpedMe

&gt;There are like 5 threads a day blasting Trump or other Republicans for whatever the controversy of the day is. 

I mean, of course? Donald Trump is notoriously mercurial and runs a chaotic, woefully underqualified administration whose staff tends to be comprised of loyalists, which rarely translates into sound, coherent policy. It's only logical that there would be tons of news articles and op-eds calling the administration out on its various failures. Elections have consequences, and right now we're seeing a ***lot*** of those consequences in foreign relations / diplomacy, agriculture, the economy in general, etc. 

Do you expect an even split of articles praising and criticizing the administration?

That_Nineties_Chick

I would prefer open dialogue. I definitely lean more left, but fiscally right. My personal objective is to never shoehorn my self into an echo chamber. That was the reason that I originally joined this sub. I want to be able to be informed on both sides of all the topics.

As much as anyone disagrees with the current administration, the default communication seems to resort to blame and name-calling, rather than solutioning . Despite everyone’s best efforts, it’s hard to not let that style sink into the discussions.

Unfortunately, finger-pointing never solves problems. Name-calling never solves problems. And yet, it feels like the primary go-to. 

Yesterday I saw a snippet of an interview interview with Nancy Mace, and Reporter Ryan Nobles asked some very direct questions. It reminded me that we never see that anymore. It’s really hard to get direct answers, or even honest answers, when people are too afraid to ask the questions. 

For the record, I agree with your post. Nobody should get shot for their opinions. What can we do to change things so that someone doesn’t feel that shooting is the only way to make their point?

Nisi-Marie

&gt; Which brings us to this subreddit. The discussions around Charlie Kirk are almost completely one-sided and it's mostly progressives being defensive and blaming Trump.

There's a lot of good comments here, but I don't see many mentioning this point (1 or 2). So I want to reiterate that I think you're mischaracterizing the conversation here. I don't see it as that at all. Many of the defensive statements are coming because people are talking about "all I see online is folks on the left celebrating the death" or similar. There are a number of folks on the right on this subreddit that are acting like basically every single lefty was celebrating the death. So, that's driving the responses from the lefties on the sub.  There are more left-leaning folks here than right-leaning folks, so you see more defensive lefties, but it's **absolutely** not a one-sided conversation.

widget1321

I thought Reddit was supposed to be about free speech, but in practice I was surprised the moderators end up controlling what can and can’t be said—and that’s pretty unfortunate (on both sides). That said, this sub does seem better than most, for better or worse.

What I’d really like to see is a true debate forum—something like what Charlie Kirk tried to do, but with more balance—where people are actually exposed to both sides of the argument. Platforms like AllSides Media are a step in the right direction.

One of the reasons things feel so polarized today is because our country got rid of the Fairness Doctrine back in the 1980s, without anticipating how algorithms would make echo chambers so much worse.

Honestly, I think social media feeds should come with some kind of “bias and quality” meter, and should be designed to include perspectives outside your own bubble. Reddit does this a little with flair and post quality filters, but I mean across all subs—and ideally across all platforms. The algorithms should be forced to show other viewpoints.

So, is there a good place on Reddit—or anywhere else online—where real debate actually happens? Somewhere people are challenged to hear opposing viewpoints rather than just getting their own biases reinforced?

MNeCom

I'm generally pro-free-speech.  And, while I think that the reactions here (and on Blue Sky) are terrible, I wouldn't want to prevent people from posting.

But both reddit and Blue Sky have made a point that they will ban people for speech (things they call hate speech) -- including threatening to ban this subreddit if we discuss certain things.

For me, it is the absolute gall to prevent people from even *discussing* certain left-favored issues while at the same time cheering on Luigi or this assassination is really crazy.

timmg

Somewhat ironically, you are using Kirk's death as an emotional distraction to try and claim standing to implement unrelated politically-driven change.

dokushin

Be the change you want to see. 

If you desire more conservative-leaning content, post it.

Also, I think this sub had a decent response to the shooting. Some folks got offensive, some defensive, but overall, I did not see anyone cheering the death of Kirk. It was universal condemnation of his murder and political violence in general. That should be celebrated.

Lelo_B

I am that somewhat mythical beast, the Centrist voter. I have, in my life, voted for both W and Obama. It turns out I have not voted for Trump, but neither have I voted for Clinton or Harris. Which, I think, at present time, makes me simultaneously a communist and a nazi.

I am here for much the same reason you are - I want political engement done moderately. Be passionate about what you believe in, but at the same time, respect your fellow posters. I think Jon Stewart mighr have said it plainly and simply, "I disagree with you but I'm pretty surw you're not Hitler."

I think that among the worst things Trump's leadership has done is given pretty much wverybody permission to be the worst version of themselves. It is going to take a startlingly inspirational leader to really bring civility back... and I do fear that isn't coming. I do, sadly, expect that what will come instead is more vitriol, and more violence.

whatevillurks

&gt; I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but this place has increasingly become angry, rhetorical, partisan, and seems more driven to hit people's dopamine receptors than actually foster any serious discussion.

Welcome to the state of social media in 2025. It's become beyond predatory at this point. Platforms feed and feed and **feed** on it.

And that's not to disagree with you or discount what you said OP. As a Democratic voter myself I have also noted a general shift to angrier, purity test-level rhetoric. Beyond Reddit. Very much "good versus evil" type stuff. Whether it's Democratic-leaning folks on Reddit or BlueSky to Republican-leaning folks on Truth Social or PDW... It's scary.

We've gone from disagreement to outright hate for each other.

lostinheadguy

"There are like 5 threads a day blasting Trump or other Republicans for whatever the controversy of the day is"

welcome to democracy where the ruling party is always doing something wrong or not enough. Especially a republican government with 4 branches. 

Also some of those articles / threads you listed are actual news, not some progressive pandering. I guess reporting on inflation is "woke".

TechnicalInternet1

I find this analysis weak to be honest. Back when Biden was president, we would see the same skew going the other way, with countless articles discussing biden's gaffes, kamala being a weak nominee, gun rights, etc. I don't think you have the right to determine what is moderate or coded a certain way when news shifts tides at all times. Trump's second term has been a non-stop spew of news with all the actions he's taken or his administration is taking. From his appointees, to DOGE, to economic issues, to ICE. The volume is tremendous and even more so than when Biden was president. I argue that you can't code more a moderate environment when the environment is not moderate, its intentionally inflammatory. From the news organizations that set the titles, to the party in power taking certain actions. I think its Steven Bannon's strategy to drown you out with outrageous stuff so things slip through the cracks and you don't notice. 

As for Charlie Kirk, I find your characterization of him too simplistic. You say he's is just having conversations and dialogue but his reach was getting very large. He was a prominent media figure with a huge following. His organization has grown tremendously and helped get out the vote and fundraise for republicans. He actively was a wing of the republican party. He is not Joe Rogan or a Lex Fridman who is just having conversations. He was incredibly effective at what he did.

So taking this characterization, I see Reddit, Twitter, and in general people's reaction to post memes and laugh is more a reaction to a republican figure/associate being dead vs. people supporting the actual brutal violence in which he was killed. It seems to be a tribal response to see someone who is viewed as an "enemy" be utterly defeated and then laugh in the face of it. We've seen this across the political aisle. The tribal response to make fun of Paul Pelosi, or the United Healthcare CEO being killer, or the memes about George Floyd being X years clean of drugs. There's a larger conversation to be had about divisiveness and what contributes to our dehumanization but it doesn't start by whitewashing Charlie's history and legacy. I honestly think he would be disappointed if his legacy is some dude who went to college campuses and was mocked on South Park for debating too much, when he accomplished a lot more for the republican party.

1033149

Reddit yesterday was a disgusting and disgraceful place to browse. I really have a hard time believing there’s so many people that have such a ghoulish reaction to this and other similar events. I suspect with no real hard proof that this and many other social media websites are heavily influenced by bots run by nefarious actors most likely western adversarial governments that seek to influence and destabilize western societies (Russia, China, Iran).

Yesnowyeah22

I have found that Reddit's algorithm has some effects here. I remember a LOT of anti-Biden stuff leading up to the election. I think you can think of modpol as a bit of a "swing sub" where the prevailing narrative/momentum of the moment is more represented.


In a Repub-president environment, the out of power group will be more motivated and vocal.

Halostar

&gt;He was clearly a strong proponent for civil dialogue and open speech with not just his supporters but also his detractors. It takes massive balls to set up a table in the middle of a highly politically charged left-wing space like a liberal arts college and debate dozens of people on camera. Even though I didn't agree with him, I always came away impressed by how he was able to handle himself well and spoke intelligently. 

I'm seeing a troubling disconnect and I think it's leading to people fundamentally misunderstanding why figures like Kirk were so controversial. 

Debating does not equal civil conversation. Debating, especially in front of a live audience, is first and foremost a performance. It's also a learnable skill. I did competitive speech and debate in my younger years and can tell you with certainty that debates don't produce truth. A great debater can beat a novice 10/10 times even if the novice is 100% correct.  Public debates are a performance and skilled debaters know how to win (or not lose) on every single topic. 

Further, Kirk was a 31 year old adult who spent his career debating politics. Is it really impressive that he can dunk of 18 year old college kids who haven't even completed a year of their social work undergrad? Of course he can speak intelligently, it's his job! And he's the one that brings the cameras and encourages their use because it makes him and his organization money. 

His debates weren't in the name of truth seeking or coming together as a country. His purpose was to capture "gotcha!" moments from the young, inexperienced crowd, post them online and make money,  and use them as proof of his existing ideology. 

There's also a major conflict of interest in the sense that he 'debated' while also being the face of one of the largest conservative media organizations in the country. He couldn't have approached these debates with an open mind; if he did so he'd lose his job and/or lose support and followers if he 'changed his mind' on a hot button topic. 

  
I have sympathy for Kirk and his family and don't wish violence on anyone. But the tragedy doesn't change the fact that his entire career was nothing more than cheap political theatre masquerading as "civil dialogue".

productiveaccount1

Yeah, I don't think progressive ideology creates better people. I say this as someone sympathetic to a lot of it. 

Both MAGA/Conservatism and progressivism provide a lot of avenues for folks to duck accountability in the name of "some greater good." This is what the world looks like when fundamental principles of liberal democracy and liberal society begin to be cast aside or even devalued in comparison with some other end (rule of law/universally applicable standards and principles, freedom of speech/marketplace of ideas, nonviolence, personal accountability, civic virtue rejected in favor of "national greatness" or religion or equality/equity or decolonization or... whatever folks think matters more than those things). 

Society is reaping its predictable desserts for this degeneration.

baconator_out

Conservatives don't post articles that make trump look bad. Only liberals or independents leaning progressive do. Trump is currently in power. The conservatives mostly stay away from the things they don't like, because it's easier to focus on culture war issues. This sub was the opposite when Biden was in power. 

Culture war issues often get a disproportionate amount of attention here as far as engagement goes. Economics are boring to lots of people, even if they are more important. 

You are seeing the person in power who is making terrible decisions making headlines, and those headlines getting posted here.

MISSISSIPPIPPISSISSI

It’s gross. Celebrating a murder is nasty and blaming all liberals (mind you there isn’t a suspect in custody yet) is not helpful and frankly divisive/dangerous rhetoric. The nation should be in mourning today: for Kirk, for the innocent kids that got shot in Colorado, 9/11 and the all those who died nameless in senseless violence: Sadly, I can’t help but feel that it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when the next high profile assassination takes place.

Iamnotacrook90

[A reminder for everyone](https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/4479er/rules_explanations_and_reminders/). This is a subreddit for genuine discussion:

* Please keep it civil. Report rulebreaking comments for moderator review.
* Don't post low effort comments like joke threads, memes, slogans, or links without context.
* Help prevent this subreddit from becoming an echo chamber. Please don't downvote comments with which you disagree.

Violators will be fed to the bear.

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Name a prominent liberal politician who has said anything like this about conservatives. The worst you can do is probably Hillary Clinton saying "deplorables": 

* In October 2024, Trump referred to Democrats and political adversaries as “enemies from within,” a phrase he described as “accurate” when pressed about its ominous implications for fellow Americans.
* Trump has used the term “vermin” to describe undocumented immigrants and political opponents, labeling them as individuals who undermine America.
* The term “garbage” has been employed by Trump to refer to his political adversaries and marginalized groups.
* Following the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in September 2025, Trump stated that the U.S. needs to “beat the hell out of radical left lunatics"
* Trump has referred to political opponents as “enemies of the state"
* "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS..."

zazzyzulu

It's not even close. There is such a chasm between violence on the left and right that I think this question is bad faith.

Anodized12

No.


We have a bunch of idiots online who are assholes


Then we have officeholders


The officeholders who engage in violent rhetoric are overwhelming Republican

Objective_Aside1858

[Biden's tweet about Kirk.](https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1965884787543171185).


[Trump talking about his fellow Americans.](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115158096026629509)

jalliss

Who has the biggest mega phone in the US?  No one else even comes close.  It's not both sides.

bjdevar25

Immediately after the shooting President Trump went on air and blamed radical leftists for the shooting of Charlie Kirk. This was before we even had a suspect. Before anyone knew anything.

On the other hand, basically every major Democratic figure denounced political violence and offered condolences to Charlie's widow and his loved ones. 

I don't even know why you are asking this question. Republicans have shown in the wake of a tragedy they immediately blame the left and many insinuate violence with their rhetoric.

sir_fucks_up_alot

No, it’s not even close. Donald Trump is more responsible for escalating tensions and the rise in political violence than any other US public figure probably since the 1960s. The man is in our ear 24/7 for 10 years straight and is incapable of talking for more than two minutes without antagonizing somebody or propping himself up as a god. His statements are literally intentionally divisive, it’s his whole thing. 

That said - it is the responsibility of both parties to de-escalate whenever possible, because the alternative is disastrous. If there are left leaning activists or politicians who do want to escalate, I will aggressively call it out. I have to believe that the vast majority of both parties do not want to live in a world where we despise and mistrust fellow American citizens or want to politicize every waking moment and every decision. Just because the current guy in charge does that does not mean the rest of us have to. 

Ultimately, Trump’s antagonistic style and the doom scroll friendly algorithms of social media are both DESIGNED to unveil an emotional response out of people. My best recommendation to anyone would be to go outside, touch grass, work out, hug your loved ones, live your life, and don’t hate your coworkers, friends or acquaintances if you find out their political views are different than yours. If someone around you is calling for additional violence, or if they are finger pointing the “radical left” without proof or evidence, call out both because neither is acceptable or helpful.

cpatkyanks24

Yes but not for the reasons you are outlining.

This isn't a case of "Well if you just behave they'll calm down."

What contributes to this atmosphere from the Democrat side is a lack of boundaries, to put it simply.

We saw it when Kirk died, Democrats trying to paint Kirk as this "crusading free speech and debate proponent" when that flat ignored what he actually was. There's a tendency to sanewash and want to be euphemistic or polite to people who absolutely will not return the favor and will take advantage of that impulse.

Democrats feel that being "balanced" is virtuous which leads them to platforming or defacto defending people on the right making inflammatory statements or taking those statements seriously when there's absolutely no reason to. 

All of this gives incentives to bad actors to do what they want because they know the Democrats will defend them.

HeloRising

Do you really need a study to answer this one? Look up what groups the FBI considers the most dangerous in America and you'll have your answer

BromaEmpire

Absolutely not. 

First of all, the right is responsible for 75% of political violence in American history. 

Violent political rhetoric started when Trump suggested his followers should assassinate Secretary Clinton in 2016. Trump and MAGA politicians have continued the rhetoric. There isn’t an example of Democratic politicians calling for violence the way there are plenty of examples from MAGA politicians. 

We need to stop “both siding” things. It’s ridiculous.

mercfan3

Democrats : "No one should die like this" "We pray for his wife and children" "We can disagree but violence is never the answer"  
  
Republicans/MAGA : "We will avenge him" "This is civil war" "They want war" "We'll go after you!!!" "They're already coming after us"

Conscious-Quarter423

The right wing seems to cheer whenever a democratic member is injured or murdered, use inflammatory rhetoric whenever a fellow right winger is injured or killed and constantly talks in an us vs them rhetoric. Left wing political violence isn’t nothing but when compared to the right it’s damn near insignificant. 

I listen to a lot of left wing media and read a lot of left wing books and the through line for it all is wanting to make things better for all Americans. The more extreme are telling people they need to be armed but that in defence not offence. Every mainstream news outlet was quick to condemn the Charlie Kirk shooting but when the Minnesota lawmakers were shot you had high profile republicans, including trump and Charlie Kirk cracking jokes about it. 

The only common left wing talking point that could be considered “problematic” is the way they talk about trump. Trump has stated he would like to be a dictator (even if joking), has built camps in both America and around the world to send people with no due process, has vowed to ignore the courts if they rule against him and has driven divisiveness at every given opportunity. 

No it’s true a lot of people on the left (myself included) made some tasteless jokes about Kirk’s death but no more tasteless than has been coming from the right for years. The old adage of when they go low you go high is dead and buried. You either meet them at their level or you cede your place in the conversation altogether. 

Oh ya and Fox News just recently came out in favour of eugenics.

AlbertaNorth1

No, absolutely not equal.  Anyone who tries to pretend otherwise is minsinformed or doesn't care and wants to lie to your face.    We can always post charts of political violence and where people are on the spectrum who commit it.  I will give you a hint though.  It isn't on the left where the vast majority of it happens.  As a recent person on the right just said.  Maybe we should bail out those who shot those politicians in my home state.

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/09/polarization-democracy-and-political-violence-in-the-united-states-what-the-research-says?lang=en

Wermys

&gt;Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, **the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.** Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives. In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.

&gt;\- "What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism"

(I would provide a link, but our government in Washington has seen fit to remove this.)

At this time in the United States, there is really no comparison between right and left.  The right in the US is far more violent.

That has not always been the case, so I would not suggest that either side maintains a perpetual monopoly in this department.  But it has been true in recent decades.

I405CA

Not even close.

Conservatives thrive on hate and division, liberals thrive on love and inclusion.

Look at the difference in responses to the killings of the Democrat lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota and the responses to the killing of a hatemonger in Utah. Conservatives denigrated her, lionize him. Nasty comments abounded about her, about how she "deserved it", etc. and nobody was fired or disciplined for saying terrible things and celebrating her death. But when a vile person who spread hate and fomented violence against others was killed, suddenly it was extremely disrespectful to say anything negative about him, and the hate was turned upon his critics.

Really dumb question.

Tliish

no. One side calls for violence the other doesn’t. 

if youre talking about behind the scenes CIA assassinations, that’s been happening for over a century by both sides.

Iceberg-man-77

Former President Obama condemned the political climate following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Political Violence and Rhetoric in the US

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