It's crazy to think that in the immediate aftermath of a horrific event, the first thing on the minds of many in the mainstream media and on the left is to either blame/vilify the victim if they are a conservative or to point fingers at the right if it involves a mass shooting.

Yet the former is exactly what we saw play out this week after the assassination of Talking Points USA founder Charlie Kirk,  which happened on Wednesday during a TPUSA event held outdoors at Utah Valley University.

As RedState reported, MSNBC was among the worst after news broke that Kirk was shot, with political analyst Matthew Dowd proclaiming, "[Kirk] is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech, sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which often then to hateful actions."

While Dowd later issued an apology over what he said, it wasn't enough for even MSNBC, which, after issuing their own apology, fired Dowd.

READ MORE: Absolute Depravity From MSNBC After News Broke of Charlie Kirk's Shooting

Relatedly, one of the most common complaints conservatives have about the mainstream media is that they are either attributing things to them that weren't said, are deliberately misinterpreting their words and/or actions, or are taking things they said out of context, which can have the negative effect of deranged individuals putting an even bigger target on their back.

As it turns out, the New York Times is having to walk back part of what they wrote about Kirk's views on antisemitism in a hit piece they put out one day after his murder:

It's unclear what statement they wrongly attributed to Kirk, as archived versions of the piece don't show it.

Nevertheless, it lent a lot of credence to the criticisms that have come from the right about how, when it comes to conservative public figures, the media's method of operation is smear first, correct later - and that's typically only when shamed into doing so, if there's any correction made at all:

Wash, rinse, repeat.