In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there were a lot of emotions flowing out from across the political spectrum. A lot of sadness, a lot of anger, and, as odd as it is for me to say, a lot of joy. Yes, our good friends on the Left had a field day dunking on a dead man, posting some out-of-context statements Kirk made and generally acting like assholes.
But then came the backlash.
Within a matter of hours, Leftists came online to cry about losing their jobs because of what they said and did online, which lead to other Leftists (i.e. the media) to lament how these Leftists were losing their jobs for “just stating an opinion.”
Oh, how ironic it is for Leftists to be feeling the consequences of their own actions. And that’s something the Left typically hasn’t experienced lately, which makes it a nice way to add it to the Lexicon.
consequences
What the Left thinks it means – when a conservative gets his or her just desserts for acting badly
What it really means – the “Find Out” part of FAFO
Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same can be applied to online discussions/rants/joygasms/debates/and so on, but with a slightly different twist. Everything we say or do online has an equal opportunity to piss off somebody on the opposite side. Most of the time it results in flame wars between two equally immature individuals, but with the Charlie Kirk situation, things got stepped up a notch or, oh, 5 billion because there are some extremely fucked up individuals out there on the Interwebs.
And, yes, I count myself as one of them.
The tide of online social discourse changed in the late 2000s or early 2010s when the terminally online realized they could find personal information on a lot of people simply by looking it up online. That’s a little trick the kids like to call doxxing, and it was prevalent with some corners of the Interwebs and still is.
Then, the Left got heavily involved in it. Under the auspices of keeping people (i.e. anyone to the right of Karl Marx) accountable, they started finding out more and more information on the Right and using that as leverage to get them to either change their ways, a la David Brock without all the cocaine, or shut up, a la what I wish David Brock would do without all the cocaine. And since they were the rulers of online platforms like Facebook and the Social Media Site Formerly Known As X, they got away with it and advance their agenda.
As Morgan Freeman (or a semi-reasonable facsimile) might say, “It was at that point they fucked up,” and you can thank Leftist ego and shortsightedness for it. When Leftists get power, they never think it will ever be taken away from them. The problem with that idea is…it can be taken away from them. Political and social power are always temporary and subject to the whims of people who might not agree with them. This is why it’s always prudent to note what you allow when you’re in the seat of power because it can and most likely will be allowed against you.
In other words, fuck around and find out.
Now that the Left is finding itself on the short end of the power stick in politics, society, and the Interwebs, they’re finding out what consequences feels like.
Spoiler Alert: they don’t like it.
And they have themselves to blame. You know, unless they decide to blame Donald Trump, the MAGA movement, Charlie Kirk, the Denver Broncos, etc.
One aspect of Leftist ideology is never having to take responsibility for what they do. There’s always “nuance” or some other weasel-shit word to try to put their misdeeds into a “context” where, yes, they did mow down three nuns and a classroom of preschoolers crossing the street while driving drunk and high during a bender with Keith Richards, but it’s not really their fault because reasons. Of course, that kind of “nuance” and “context” is never afforded to the Right. When someone like Charlie Kirk is the victim, it’s not the shooter’s fault. It’s the lack of gun control laws (which work about as well as most Congresscritters), or the lack of a social safety net, or in the Charlie Kirk case, heated rhetoric from the Right.
That’s right, kids. Some members of the Left think…err feel, it’s Donald Trump’s fault Charlie Kirk got shot.
Oddly enough, these are the same people who think Trump is behind Stephen Colbert getting fired and Jimmy Kimmel getting suspended. And now free speech is under attack because…let me read my notes here…Colbert was a money-losing hack and Kimmel lied on national television about who shot Charlie Kirk on top of being an unfunny hack.
While the Left screams “cancel culture” (obliviously ironically, I might add), what’s happening to them is the consequences of their own words and actions. And they should be familiar with the concept, mainly because it’s the very idea they push when it’s the Right being held responsible. The Left has a love/hate relationship with consequences. They love it when someone else gets hoisted by their own petards, but hate it when it’s them getting their petards hoisted.
Granted, this isn’t just a Leftist point of view. Everyone loves themselves a bit of schadenfreude (which is German for “ha ha you got fucked over and I get to feel good about it”), so no one is completely exempt. Having said that, over the past decade or so, the Left has used consequences as a means of punishing non-believers. Whether it was a baker in Colorado or anyone who defied the COVID-19 mandates, the Left has no problem setting traps for others and then calling them out for not being willing to accept the consequences for their actions.
Which brings us back to Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. This time, its rule number 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” The Right has a tendency to expect there to be consequences for every bad deed, so the Left has turned that into a trap. If they don’t get what they want, they’ll drag you through the courts, smear you in the public arena, and essentially try to ruin your life.
So, how does it feel to have to bake the cake, bigots?
The thing about consequences is they can be unequal to the offense committed. Not using someone’s preferred pronouns in a professional setting shouldn’t get you a one way trip to Siberia (although I’m sure the Left would get on board with that idea), but it shouldn’t be given a slap on the wrist either. What the Left did to COVID-19 defiers or the January 6th protestors were beyond the pale and they were punished more severely than they should have been…or at least punished as much as Leftists who defied lockdown mandates and protested via rioting and looting got. When the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, it builds resentment in and distrust of the process itself.
And guess what we’re experiencing now, kids.
And this is where it gets complicated for me. My logical side says the consequences for bad actions and words should be just and fair, even though the Left doesn’t walk the walk in this area. My emotional side says the Left should be made to feel just how they made others feel, i.e. bake the cake, bigot. Is the latter fair and just? Not particularly. But the purpose of consequences is to teach you a lesson about what happens when you fuck around. As long as everyone gets to feel the sting of retribution, it’s fair, just not quite so nice.
Now, the Left is bringing this up in terms of free speech, expecting to get a “gotcha” on the Right who have been championing free speech for their side for the better part of a decade. However, the Left’s gotcha runs into a problem, that being the Left’s dismissal of free speech concerns when they were in charge of social media platforms where conservatives got banned for saying things far less inflammatory as the Left did. They used the “private businesses don’t have to platform your views” defense then, only to have it thrown back in their faces now.
Not much of a gotcha unless you’re a flaming hypocrite…oh, wait…
And make no mistake, the Left are flaming hypocrites here. Their defense of free speech is as conditional as an Elon Musk prenup. But who are the first ones to cry about the end of free speech as we know when it’s their speech getting silenced?
The Left.
Yet, when it’s free speech they don’t like, they’re fully on board with silencing them, and apparently one of theirs has taken it to the bonus round and started killing people because…reasons, I guess? And hopefully that asshole gets the punishment he deserves because that’s what consequences are all about.
That includes you folks cheering on Charlie Kirk’s murder on social media.
With the advent of the Interwebs and social media, let’s just say Karma has a target-rich area. For a long time, the Left has called out bad faith actors on the Right (which is good), but then took to trying to ruin their lives through bringing attention to the wider society (which is not so good). Getting fired, cancelled, forced to watch every “Transformers” movie with Michael Bay doing live commentary, those are the consequences of bad actions. Now, that kind of shit is being thrown at the people who did it before the Right got involved, and it’s going to keep coming because those are the consequences of being shitheads online.
Your rules, not mine.
So, spare me the tearful “I got fired for expressing an opinion on Charlie Kirk” bullshit. You got fired because you became a liability to whatever company or institution you were a part of, and when that happens, there are consequences. You know the best way to avoid the consequences of being a shitty person on social media? Don’t be a shitty person! That seems to work a lot better than crying on TikTok.
Yes, there are consequences to acting like a civilized adult, but one of them is not getting fired for being one. And, you know, those are the kind of consequences I can handle.
