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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   16036 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 6, 2026

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Horst Wessel was killed by members of an organised Communist paramilitary. That is an easy martyrdom story (although Christianity doesn't count soldiers who die due to enemy action as martyrs, so by the Christian rules he wasn't one).

The Republicans failed to make the martyrdom thing work because they didn't convince anyone outside their own filter bubble that Kirk was a victim of organised left-wing political violence. It isn't clear to me whether this is because he obviously wasn't, or if it is because they overreached in the aftermath of his death by trying to claim that school librarians and HR ladies shitposting was political violence.

It's undoubtedly more accurate to say that he was a victim of a self-radicalizing cultural milieu that normalizes leftist political executions.

Robinson was part of a leftist community online, which is why his bullet had the words “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao” on it. I’m sure more information on this will come out after or during the trial. Christians do consider soldiers martyrs, depending on the cause. Also denomination dependent. There are many cases of American martyrs whose stories are just completely made up, like Matthew Shepherd who died from a meth-related incident.

There are many cases of American martyrs whose stories are just completely made up, like Matthew Shepherd who died from a meth-related incident.

I think made-up martyr stories are a lot older than that...

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