Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot dead at a campus event in Utah last week, is a hero of a generation of young conservatives. last week, My colleague Christian Paz wrote About him and his organization, America turned to America and redefined what many political and political media looked like in Generation Z.
I sat down with Christian and talked about the appeal of today’s daily newsletter to Vox. Our conversation is below and you can also sign up for a newsletter here About such a conversation.
Charlie Kirk is a character in the conservative movement?
He came almost from nowhere. At about 18 years old, he decided to start the revitalized conservative movement. His idol is radio host Rush Limbaugh, a conservative believer in the old “lower tax, smaller government” style. Essentially, the way many describe him is the person he is unique among his talents in communication, conversation and communication and connection with people.
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You have become a friend of Donald Trump Jr. by 2024 from an outsider, never running a job, someone with no contact. He is close to the new Republican center of power.
This is part of his myth: a man who doesn’t receive a college education, a man who is suspected to take off and slowly build it until there are more than 800 university chapters and millions of followers. Last year, they raised $100 million in the presidential election and are one of the groups responsible for obtaining the voting efforts the Republicans used last year.
How did he connect with the youth on the right and the political rank of Generation Z?
A lot of what he does is old-fashioned retail politics: it’s not cool in conservative places, it’s strange to be a Republican. He accepted a personality, spoke exaggerated words, inspired anger, cultivated this anger and anger, and gave himself a bigger name on the university campus.
All he can do is edit the content well, share it extensively, and then use it to find more chapters and develop the organization. And, once you have your fans and their clubs start at their school, they develop a sense of community that they develop a sense of not being alone on the university campus anymore. Saying something, or saying you are a conservative or debating a conservative position is no longer a taboo. This creates a sense of social connection on campus.
In the process, you use it as a way of life, and I think that’s the key here. He not only established a political movement, but also became a lifestyle, social and cultural identity, which ultimately changed campuses and Gen Z. This becomes a cultural fact. Once it becomes a fact of culture, it becomes its own universe, and that is a huge transformation.
Why Charlie Kirk? How did he help Gen Z, which helped him achieve this?
What defines Generation Z is how much they swing, open to any perspective. Charlie Kirk saw that there was a countercultural response to the doctrines of the millennial era of liberal progressivism, everyone got used to it, and assumed that Gen Z was easy to stick to. Generation Z ended up not only adopting all of these views, but becoming more trait-like. He saw a way to feed it, a way to cultivate it, providing those who might not have much space for debate on college campuses.
Another thing he understood, I think, was the specific nature of Generation Z, that is social media nativism, ready to immerse himself in social and social relations. A generation of people gets news or information through podcasts through podcasts. They interpret life around them based on performance or specific people, rather than a shared monoculture sense that we used to be used to.
Whether you like him or hate him, whether you hate him or really like what he says, you grow up to have some kind of relationship with him, not only seeing him as a politician, but an influencer who talks about faith, religion, and health and wellness. His message is different, which makes it more closely connected to any politician.
What do you think he is doing and what the appearance of his legacy is misunderstood?
He does say a lot of controversial, offensive, and in many cases paranoid things that are not a disqualification for the way people consume his content.
One thing that shocked a lot of people, I think, is how vast his scope is, essentially, he created the cinematic universe he created, and in the conservative movement there were many stars connected to the structure he built. You can easily consume the culture associated with the American turning point and Charlie Kirk without realizing it. I think that’s the real interesting factor. He is more than just a political activist. He became a celebrity and an influencer. He became a person who represented every aspect of people’s lives.
