rather than snark, i have two semi-serious thoughts about this kind of tweet. 1 / x

klion and the rest of the TNR / twitter left crew have made this kind of accusation so often that it's completely lost all emotional or rhetorical power. failure to support bernie's specific M4A plan? murder. insufficient support for affordable housing? murder. 2/ x

i agree that these are important issues, i support (most of) them, and i want to see them enacted. but raising the rhetorical stakes like doesn't leave you anywhere to go. like, next month, are you going to add student loan forgiveness and make it extra, extra mass murder? 3 / x

the second is that klion's treated with a degree of sincerity by his comrades that he clearly doesn't deserve. no one who spouts this hysterical hot take every single day should be taken seriously, or, frankly, respected, as an activist, as a thinker, or as a writer. 4 / x

klion's written movingly about a number of issues, including the tree of life massacre. does he sincerely think that someone who chooses not to adopt *all* of his policy choices is equal to that shooter? to the vegas shooter? 5 / x

maybe he does believe that. if so, he should never be paid to publish a single written word ever again. if he doesn't, this is just shitposting into the void, which means he doesn't deserve to be treated with any kind of sincerity or seriousness. 6 / x

also, not for nothing, but this is exactly the same kind of rhetoric that fires up and animates clinic bombers and doctor killers. i've no idea what he actually believes, but we *do* know that this kind of rhetoric, over time, has consequences. 7 / x

it's not a concern troll. if you keep telling people, day in and day out that your political opponents are literally murdering people, some of those people are eventually going to take you seriously. we see it *all the time in this country*. 8 / x

in conclusion, fuck this guy. / end