“If you die when there's no one watching/ Then your ratings drop and your forgotten/ If they kill you on their T.V./ You're a martyr and a lamb of God…”
—Marilyn Manson, ‘Lamb Of God’
The day before the 24th anniversary of 9/11, political podcaster Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck before an audience whilst debating with a member. Instantly the footage of the pundit’s neck opening up went viral. Confusion still surrounding it even now almost two months later.
Now, reasoning behind the event is really irrelevant here. What is made apparent in this, is that the world is Celebritarian; killers and killed both recorded in history so long as they have an audience for their performance.
Prior to Tyler Robinson’s neck shot, there was both the killing of a CEO by Luigi Mangione; to serve as a partial point, recalling the name of the CEO is an issue. The killer as a result of his actions being broadcasted and what they were, became more important than who he murdered— whatever the why or wherefore. Along with that was the ear grazing attempt on Donald Trump during his 2024 reelection campaign. While it likely only aided in his victory a bit, the knick and idea of watching Trump almost die mid-speech made way for the current reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk. It’s terror management theory in real time.
Such encapsulates the concept of Celebritarianism, an idea, “about dying when everyone's watching; doing anything for fame. It's also about worshiping death in the media. The world knew about Harris and Klebold, the Columbine killers, half an hour after the tragedy. It's about how we give Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark David Chapman the status of celebrity by showing their masterpiece to the world…”
In a social sense, at least based on what the internet shows in all this, Luigi Mangione can be likened to Chapman killing Lennon while Kirk’s assassination has been likened by some to MLK.
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