By Geoffrey Ingersoll

Copyright dailycaller

Greetings, Dear Reader,

Well, it’s happening. The liberal monopoly over the towering heights of culture is finally cracking up. It was a long time coming, but it was inevitable.

Let’s get to it.

But first …

THE LIBERAL MONOPOLY CRUMBLES

It was Boston of all places that the left’s new political might and resultant ugliness finally became undeniable.

In August of 2017, a few hundred libertarians who had a park permit showed up to their planned free speech rally. In case you don’t know, libertarians are the nerds of the political right who agree with all the worst excesses of the left. Defund the police? Yes. Sex-change kids? Sure. Legalize drugs? Of course! What’s a national border? Those don’t exist!

But they’re also free speech absolutists, and at this moment in American history, those needed to be destroyed. Challenging leftist orthodoxy was verboten and doing so at the time, even accidentally, would result in your immediate financial ruin. Particularly on race, but later we’d see it extended to things like Ukraine, masks, vaccines and lockdowns, “queer theory” in public schools, drag queens performing for children, sex changing minors and even whether obesity was healthy.

In any case, Boston was not prepared for the nerd rally. More specifically, the city was not prepared for the 40,000 frothing, militant leftists who showed up to, as the media euphemistically described them, “counter-protest.”

The crowd was bloodthirsty and berserk.

One video shows a small man getting berated, shoved, throttled and hit with objects as police try to escort him through the crowd. At one point, a large black man follows the escort, hurling vitriol.

“Say my life doesn’t matter!” He demands of the terrified nerd.

“I never said it doesn’t! I agree with you!”

It’s probable he did, actually. Libertarians are not fans of police and never have been. The mob continued descending on everyone who showed up to the scheduled public comments on free speech. Assaulting police. Throwing bottles of urine. Assaulting speakers and attendees. At one point assaulting an elderly woman.

The day ended with 33 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, but also assault and assault of a police officer. Available public records don’t show whether anyone actually went to jail. Most were released on their own recognizance.

And how did the media cover the story? Once you got past the news accounts, it became a debate about how “white supremacy” had hijacked free speech. It became praise that the “community” – i.e. the 40,000-person mob – “came together.” Finally, some prestige media even characterized a few speakers as “white nationalist-adjacent.”

There you had it. The permission structure couldn’t be any clearer. And boy did they use it.

For nearly a decade since, that charge has filtered into every political debate. Reopening schools because COVID isn’t a fatal risk to children: White supremacy. Going to the gym to improve your physical wellbeing: White nationalist. Also my favorite: Gym Fascism! Don’t want schools and hospitals transing kids? Racist! Porn shouldn’t be in school libraries? You must be a Nazi, Harvard says.

With the charge, which occurred if you deviated even one iota from orthodoxy, came the violence. I mean actual, literal violence. But also I mean violent impositions. Lost livelihoods. Destroyed reputations.

They got a laborer shitcanned during the OK sign hysteria. They destroyed the lives of small-dollar donors to Kyle Rittenhouse when the names leaked. They lobbied schools to rescind acceptance for kids who posted racially charged rap lyrics to social media several years earlier.

They even went after elites. They destroyed Prof. Brett Weinstein’s career because he refused to obey activist demands that white people leave Evergreen campus.

They got people fired for saying true things. Lefty data scientist David Shor lost his job for pointing out the economic cost of riots.

Then of course there was the violence. Countless assaults on conservative students and speakers. Literally countless, hundreds of unprosecuted crimes on campuses across America. Hundreds of Jewish students assaulted with impunity. Entire buildings taken over. Graduations disrupted. Classes disrupted. Schools disrupted. Cities disrupted.

The charge, “he said something racist” operated like some kind of mythic invincibility cloak. Desks got flipped. Study halls taken over. Cars burnt. Businesses reduced to ash. More than 500 churches defaced, firebombed or destroyed. City blocks “liberated” to enthusiastic endorsements of local politicians and national media. People killed. Yes, between the Black Lives Matter protests, CHAZ and CHOP police liberated zones, nearly 100 people lost their lives in the resulting violence. Mostly black people. Entire police departments either liquidated or stopped policing in the face of racism charges. We can’t even count the black and brown bodies that dropped as a result. It’s probably thousands.

Still they kept on. They had the whole public hostage. They had board rooms and local governments and of course the entirety of media hostage. Cross us, and we’ll take your job. We’ll take your reputation. We’ll destroy your property. We’ll take your whole life.

And then a shot rang out in Utah. Someone did take a life.

The public was already wondering when the madness would end. The shtick was starting to lose its hold. It didn’t mesmerize like it used to. It was tired and tedious. It was baseless. It caused more harm than good.

Nevertheless, they rolled it out again. Charlie Kirk wasn’t even dead yet and they rolled it out.

He’s a racist, a white supremacist, a bigot, is what they said. He’s evil.

Only this time … it didn’t work.

People who had never really encountered Kirk actually started watching his videos. They watched hours and hours. Thousands. Tens of thousands of hours. Kirk engaging. Kirk talking. Kirk debating. There was no sign of any of the evil these people said was there. None. Zero. He was a family man. A christian. A friend to many, even those who disagreed with him.

In fact, Kirk voiced beliefs that were mainstream, even milquetoast on many streets in America. And worse yet, all he wanted to do was talk. His whole public persona and livelihood was built on open and honest discussion. Actual measurable harm was not in his equation even slightly.

Liberals who hadn’t felt the Overton window close with that shot in Utah thought the permission structure was still intact. Kirk wasn’t even in the ground and they rushed to their phones, by themselves, to voice once-acceptable ghoulish opinions.

He deserved it, says a nurse. It was his fault because of his politics, says a teacher. He was a bigot, says grocery store clerk. He was a racist and a sexist, says another. All the same message: We’re better off now that he’s gone. They laughed and rejoiced. They literally danced and celebrated openly. One Clemson administrator even said, “in a world of Charlie Kirks,” be his assassin, “be a Tyler Robinson.”

He deserved to die and you should aspire to be his killer.

The resultant conclusion was foreseeable: But he’s just like me, many thought, should I be killed too? The horror that swept over the public as they realized how deep the rot had gone. Their own neighbors would probably laugh and rejoice if they held similar beliefs and were killed as a result.

And just like that the window closed. Mid TikTok, mid tweet, mid YouTube video. The window closed. The permission structure allowing, excusing and encouraging leftist violence as a justifiable response to wrongthink dissolved. More than that, any continued support for that structure, any celebrating, any equivocating over the death of this peaceful man would be met with reciprocal force.

Teachers were fired. Nurses fired. Administrators fired. In the most grotesque fashion, these normal people had prayed and celebrated the assassination of a normal, upstanding man under the assumption they would be praised for it. But the praise had given way. Behind it was a veritable dam burst of pent-up fury.

Finally, last night, chief scold of them all, Jimmy Kimmel got fired.

I have to admit I was legitimately shocked when I heard him say it.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Oh my god. He actually boosted the lie that Kirk’s killer was part of some virulently racist sub-group of the right. That Kirk died because wasn’t aggressive enough on issues like Israel.

Kimmel then went on to joke about Donald Trump talking about his ballroom when he was asked how he was “holding up” after Kirk’s death.

Good lord. One of the oldest memes in comedy is two words, “too soon?”

Not only was Kimmel’s assertion about the killer false and the follow-on joke, while somewhat funny, not really Ha Ha funny, but it was all way, way too soon. It could be viewed as making light of a national tragedy during the tragedy.

Was it an apology-level offense? Probably. Probably he could have apologized to his viewers, the public, and then directly to Erika Kirk. Probably he could have papered it over with a donation to one of Charlie’s favorite funds.

Probably, but not in the world we exist in after that shot. Kimmel’s star has long been fading. The economics of his show don’t add up. Late night altogether doesn’t really work anymore. Was it over the line? I’m sure the board asked itself. But then it rapidly turned into: Is he worth keeping around to make an apology?

And the answer was no.

Just like that, Kirk’s death has become a watershed moment. Kimmel’s firing too.

The fever in America is breaking.

There will be more firings and more dismantlings and more carpet bombings of entire educational structures, I’m sure, I hope, I’m trying to make it happen myself, but mostly because those were the people, places and things that brought on the fever in the first place.

They must be thoroughly cowed. Their weapons and cudgels destroyed. Their leaders brought low.

You can shriek about “free speech” and “cancel culture.” But it’s not an equivalent comparison. It’s not even remotely proportionate. You beat up old ladies. You got people fired for old tweets. You destroyed them for saying true things. For asking if the vaccines were safe. You felt righteous as you did it. You shouted the epithets and you danced on all their graves. Then Charlie was killed and you tried to dance on his.

You need to be punished. You need to be destroyed.

It’s the only way for America to move forward in a healthier way.

WHAT I’M READING

RIP: Kimmel.

Never forget.

Read the great Amber Duke.