Assassination Culture

Definition

The targeted killing of a prominent individual, often involving political figures, activists, or celebrities, typically premeditated and driven by motives such as political change, revenge, or ideological beliefs.

Consequences

Destruction of Public Discourse, Threat to Free Speech, Breakdown in Civil Discourse, Erosion of core tenets of Western civilization

Modern Context

Perceived rise in political violence and erosion of public discourse, exemplified by the murder of Charlie Kirk and related media and algorithmic issues.

Associated Phenomena

Political Violence, Online Radicalization, Salad Bar Extremism, Cancel Culture, Media Consolidation, Algorithmic Suppression, Woke Ideology, Demonization of Political Figures

Historical Precedents

Jewish Sicarii (6 A.D.), Philip II of Macedon, Gaius Julius Caesar, The Hashshashin, Ninjas in Feudal Japan, assassinations of U.S. presidents (Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy), civil rights leaders (Martin Luther King Jr.), and political figures (Robert F. Kennedy, George Wallace)

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One of the earliest accounts of a historical assassination society were the Jewish sicarii in 6 A.D. during the Roman occupation of Israel. This group performed high-risk assassinations of Roman military individuals and other Jewish countrymen who have sided with them, with the use of daggers hidden in cloaks, sometimes performed in broad daylight before disappearing in the crowd. One of their most infamous assassinations was that of Jonathan the High Priest. [...] Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, can be viewed as a victim of assassination. It is a fact, however, that by the fall of the Roman Republic, assassination had become a commonly-employed tool towards the end not only of improving one's own position, but to influence policy—the killing of Gaius Julius Caesar being a notable example, though many Emperors met such an end. In whatever case, there seems to have not been a good deal of moral indignation at the practice amongst [...] The Hashshashin, a Muslim group in the Middle Ages-Middle East, was well known for performing assassinations in the style of close combat. The word assassin was derived from the name of their group. In Feudal Japan, ninjas or shinobis were hired from both the aristocracy and the peasantry to spy on enemy factions, perform arsonism and disruptions, as well as infiltrating and assassinations. ## Late Modern history [edit] ### Pre-World War I [edit]

Assassination refers to the targeted killing of a prominent individual, often involving political figures, activists, or celebrities. This act is typically premeditated and may be executed by an individual hired by a third party, driven by various motives such as political change, revenge, or ideological beliefs. Historical examples include the assassinations of U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, as well as influential leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. [...] Research shows that some social conditions are more likely to be related to assassination efforts. For example, radical ethnic, racist, or and nationalist beliefs and general political instability are more common conditions for assassination than poor economic conditions. Nationalist beliefs often include hostility to perceived outsiders, such as immigrants and minority groups, who may be viewed as a threat by racists and nativists. An example of an assassin motivated by racism was James Earl [...] Assassination is defined as the murder of a prominent person, such as a head of state, politician, or celebrity. It usually takes place when the perpetrator lies in wait for the victim and may be carried out by a person paid by a third party to carry out the assassination. In US history, assassins have murdered presidents, notably Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and prominent activists including human rights leaders Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Harvey Milk. In world history,

That such a figure would be assassinated is something new. For a precedent, one might look to the murder of John Lennon by a gunman upset about Lennon’s statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. But that shooting was not seen in a wider cultural context. If we were to transpose the Kirk killing to the ’60s, there would have had to be attempts to shoot Pete Seeger, the leftwing minstrel who toured college campuses, or antiwar singers such as Joan Baez or Bob Dylan (before he [...] The Charlie Kirk murder, in contrast, harkens back to the roots of the culture war, as exemplified by American Communist VJ Jerome’s famous if notorious essay, “Grasp the Weapon of Culture”.The editor of the magazine _The Communist_, he wrote of the need to use Hollywood, Tin Pan Alley and even Coca-Cola advertising in order to “convince the people of the world that we propose to share with them our material wealth,” and that “no branch of culture, learning or information” should be overlooked. [...] or those leading movements (civil rights) focused on legislative gains. Though we know little of his assassin’s actual motives, an argument can well be made that the Martin Luther King assassination was motivated by King’s cultural importance, as well as his political influence—but his role in the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts was certainly political. It is little remembered but President Kennedy’s assassin was a Communist who objected to his Cuba policy, while Robert

After the Middle Ages, the Assassin legends continued in Europe, where lurid and titillating stories about the Middle East were always popular, and they still show up in Western pop culture from time to time. A notable recent example is the Assassin’s Creed video game series, which features an order of stealthy hyperathletic killers who scale walls and jump between rooftops to hunt down their enemies. So, how much of this is based on fact? Were the Assassins real? [...] Governments themselves have also used assassination as a weapon against rivals, dissidents, and various other perceived threats, among their own citizens and those of other countries. One prominent example of this practice was Operation Wrath of God, an Israeli assassination campaign that sought to avenge the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian militants in September 1972 at the Munich Olympics. In some cases, an assassin seeks retaliation for real or imagined wrongs. [...] The word assassination is derived from Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, a religio-political movement that arose in the late 11th century within the Ismāʿīliyyah branch of Shiʿi Islam. The Nizārīs, whose power base was in the Elburz Mountains, in what is today northern Iran, lacked the military strength to confront regional opponents such as the ʿAbbasid caliphate and the Seljuq sultanate directly. Instead, they relied on subterfuge and infiltration to strike at key military and political figures within