Earlier this week, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at the first stop of his “Prove Me Wrong” tour around American college campuses. For one full day, I managed to avoid seeing the video of him getting shot in the neck. Not because I care about him, I just don’t want to see a man getting shot in the neck.
Then, I managed to somehow see the video because it was cut in with an Ariana Grade clip. The clip in question featured Grande with a bow and arrow, letting it go and then quickly cut to Kirk sitting and then moments later where you can see that he is injured. Again, my shock isn’t because I am in anyway caring of Kirk but rather that I’m someone who doesn’t love watching blood pour out of people.
I know that I am not in the minority of that. Many warned others on the day that the video was going around and to avoid it/social media. My shock lies in the fact that I was watching an Ariana Grande video and suddenly I was not. All this to say: Beware.
The video floating around is typical of the internet but for a society that is very cautious of what triggers people, stuff like this completely disregards how others might feel about blood, gunshot wounds, and more. I am someone who can watch horror movies but let it be known that if I think someone is getting shot/hurt, I am not watching the initial wound.
And yes, I will admit that I did find it jarring to see it paired with a clip from Grande’s “Boyfriend” video. It begs the question: Do you want to see someone getting shot? I am sure there are people who are so immune to it at this point in our country, especially since figures like Kirk considered gun related deaths a necessity to keeping the Second Amendment. But it still makes me feel queasy seeing stuff like that.
If you, like me, don’t really thrive watching someone getting shot at, beware. This edit is floating around the internet and I am sure there are others of a similar elk. So tread lightly because you never know what is lurking in an edit on social media.
(featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Noam Galai/Getty Images for MTV)
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