The suspect within the Charlie Kirk shooting apparently likes video video games. This makes him indistinguishable from over a billion different folks throughout the planet, however within the eyes of some pundits and politicians, it’s proof of the corrupting affect of our present on-line tradition. Requested in regards to the radicalization of the individual allegedly accountable for the assassination, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox lately blamed “a lot of gaming going on” and “meme-ification” on locations like Reddit.
Cox pointed to the inscriptions on bullets recovered from close to the crime scene which have since gone viral. They embrace, amongst different issues, a well-known stratagem enter for Helldivers 2 and a reference to the Italian anti-fascist anthem “Bella Ciao,” which some might know from singer Becky G’s 2021 remix however others may be extra conversant in from the WWII technique sport Hearts of Iron IV (or, extra particularly, its By Blood Alone DLC). He famous that he had no thought what any of these items meant. For him, up, proper, down, down, down and possible furry memes are all a part of the identical incomprehensible and probably harmful cocktail of social media accelerationism.
Utah Gov. Cox: Kirk’s Killer Radicalized By Video Video games, “Reddit Tradition,” And “Meme-ification” Of Society
“Clearly there was a variety of gaming occurring. Buddies confirmed there was type of that deep, darkish web, the Reddit tradition, and these different darkish locations of the web.” pic.twitter.com/9PFntfMEpP
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) September 14, 2025
“Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep,” Cox stated on Meet the Press yesterday when requested in regards to the radicalization of suspected gunman Tyler Robinson. “You saw that on the casings, I didn’t have any idea what many of those inscriptions even meant, but certainly the meme-ification that is happening in our society today.”
As folks seek for which means behind why Robinson allegedly went to Utah Valley College on September 10 to shoot the right-wing podcaster throughout a talking occasion, they’re left rifling by way of generic pastimes and background noise for clues. A former highschool classmates told CNN that the 22-year-old was “very, very big into gaming” and that he and buddies “would spend their lunches playing the card games and all that kind of stuff.”
In the meantime locations like Discord, the place folks meet to play video games collectively starting from Fortnite to Pokémon, are being forged as web meth labs the place folks prepare dinner their brains on edge-lord humor and GIFs. Take this ponderous logic to its finally boomer conclusion and also you get folks like Geraldo Rivera attempting to defrost half-remembered ethical panics from many years in the past.
— Zach Grimes (@GrimisS) September 14, 2025
“Whether Tyler Robinson faces a firing squad in Utah for the murder of Charlie Kirk, my guess is the accused killer will probably have been motivated more by Halo and similar fantasy role-play than by substantive political discord,” he posted on X over the weekend. “The game features Grunts vs Elites. I’m guessing nobody wants to be an elite.” Grok, is that this true???
There may be an epidemic of school shootings in this country. The rising fee at which political violence is foregrounded in our democracy is alarming. So, too, is the best way open bigotry isn’t just permitted in nationwide debates however cheered on by way of platforms that revenue off of fueling outrage. It might be not solely good for folks to have the ability to discuss these points with the extent of seriousness they require, however certainly it feels more and more pressing.
