As I've expressed in several articles since September 10, like many, I was quite shaken by Charlie Kirk's murder — for a number of reasons: The video of the murder itself, of course, was horrific; the heartache for his wife and two young children, his parents and sister, and all those who knew him personally; the sadness at the thought of a young life of promise cut short; the sick dread of contemplating the evil motivations behind it all, particularly as a colleague.
And then there's been its political/cultural aftermath. If Kirk's assassination was the earthquake, the reaction to it has been a tsunami. And social media has been awash in it.
I saw this video (below) shared by several people following Kirk’s murder. I wasn’t familiar with the account (“PoliticsGirl," aka Leigh McGowan) and, while I suspected I’d likely not agree with some (or much) of what was said, I took the time to watch and listen to the whole video. As I did, I found myself wanting to push back on a number of assertions that were made. But I held off. I let it sit with me for several days. And then, four days after I first saw the video, I began to very thoroughly take a look at what was said and add my own commentary.
To help distinguish, I highlighted McGowan's factual assertions in blue and opinion in green. I separated her comments out into bullet points and followed them with my own comments.
Before I began this endeavor, I wrote the following note in an effort to be completely up front:
I disagree with much of what this woman says. However, I also agree with some of what she says. What is driving me to do this is my recognition that there are several factual assertions she makes that are verifiably…inaccurate. Further, there are a number of opinions she offers up as “facts.” I’m going to try to approach this as clinically and dispassionately as I can. I’m not going to argue her opinions — I’m simply going to point out when they’re inaccurately being presented as “facts.”
And as I began it, I didn't know what I would do with it when it was done. Would I turn it into a RedState article? I knew on some level I’d be tempted to share it directly with those I’ve seen sharing this video — not so that I could say, “Ha! You’re wrong!” but because watching people I care about draw conclusions that place us at odds based on bad information or manipulative framing is downright painful.
Ultimately, I decided to turn it into an article to share here, so that others could watch the video and observe my attempt at deconstructing it and draw their own conclusions. I realized as I was in the process of dissecting it that there were points I wanted to argue, too, so I separated those out, and there will be a Part 2 of this article to follow, in which I "debate" some of McGowan's arguments.
So, here's the video in question:
RELATED: New Information About Charlie Kirk's Assassin Doesn't Fit the Left's Narrative
The Legacy Media Has Fallen So Far, Their Charlie Kirk Propaganda Is Just Self-Soothing
Below is my effort to separate fact from opinion, identifying where factual assertions are either unsupported (or verifiably inaccurate) and where opinion is erroneously couched as fact. The initial bullet points are McGowan's words; the sub-points are my responses/observations.
Alright. That's my effort to deconstruct a video that, near as I can tell, has gotten close to 4.5 million views across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Again, I did my best to limit my own argument(ative nature) here and just identify fact versus opinion, point out several factual inaccuracies, and note where McGowan characterized opinion as "just the facts."
Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I'll respond to some of McGowan's arguments with my own...
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