Pundit assassinations are rare

Updated: 2025.10.07 14D ago 5 sources
The author notes that American assassinations typically target political leaders, not opinion journalists. Cross‑checking Wikipedia lists of assassinations and journalists killed suggests very few targeted killings of national pundits in recent decades. That makes the Kirk case an outlier worthy of special concern. — Establishing a rarity baseline signals a possible norm break that could reshape security, media behavior, and free‑speech risk in U.S. politics.

Sources

The U.S. political situation
Noah Smith 2025.10.07 65% relevant
It treats the Charlie Kirk killing as an outlier within a larger trend of falling political violence, reinforcing the baseline that assassinations of media figures are uncommon and should not be generalized into civil‑war narratives.
Occam's Butterknife and Assassinations
Steve Sailer 2025.09.20 40% relevant
Both address reactions to the Charlie Kirk killing; this piece argues against elaborate conspiracies and urges simple, evidence‑based explanations, while the cited idea establishes how unusual pundit assassinations are—context that also counsels against overinterpreting patterns.
Saturday assorted links
Tyler Cowen 2025.09.13 78% relevant
Item 3 links to a time series showing 'no surge' in politically motivated killings, reinforcing the baseline that such attacks remain rare events rather than a rising trend.
Who Was the Last Opinion Journalist Assassinated?
Steve Sailer 2025.09.11 100% relevant
The post compares 'List of Assassinations' and 'List of Journalists Killed in the United States' to argue that opinion journalists are seldom assassinated, highlighting the Charlie Kirk case.
Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Marks a New Era
Jesse Arm 2025.09.11 75% relevant
By stressing that a young, mainstream debater was assassinated at a university event, the piece underscores the rarity and norm‑breaking character of targeting prominent commentators rather than officeholders.
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