Off the Deep End – On Charlie Kirk, Media Manipulation and Investor Behavior

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10th, 2025 elicited a visceral response throughout America. The vitriol hit a flash point within a day, prompting severe reactions across the ideological spectrum in America that reverberate to this day. To that end, there were a number of observations I made as the events in the wake of Kirk’s murder that fed into a pernicious, dangerous behavioral trend among Americans. This trend has continued and intensified as flashpoint events have continued to arise in the months following, and is a trend that if it is not addressed, could lead toward incredibly destructive behaviors on both a personal and national level, particularly when it comes to how decisions are made with respect to your finances. This article begins with observations of behaviors reacting to the incident, followed by discussion on the corrosive effects of media manipulation and how to defend your own decisionmaking against such attacks. I must reiterate that the purpose of this article is not to praise or criticize Charlie Kirk; the purpose and focus of this article is identifying the behavior of others in their effort to marshal support and the corrosive consequences of that behavior.

1. Within minutes of the event, people on both sides of the political spectrum were posting what they believe happened as undeniable fact. It was literally a race to see whose narrative could get jammed into discussion first. There was no fact checking nor any desire to understand what took place – the only goal was to be first to speak and set the tone.

2. No one – including the FBI – knew immediately what had occurred, or why. This was made apparent when FBI Director Kash Patel was making statements on X that “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody,” which later proved to be untrue as the person they took in was later released after interrogation (September 2025). The subject not being the killer is not the concerning part. It is the behavior of the FBI Director, someone whose charge it is to protect the American people, acting swiftly and irrationally to communicate misinformation that is concerning. This trend has since continued with the recent weaponisation of the Department of Justice against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in an effort to place increased pressure on Powell to either resign or cave to the President’s demands to lower interest rates.

3. I have noticed that a number of rather vocal people have converted their Facebook accounts from regular personal pages to “digital creator” status, meaning they get paid for generating traffic/engagement. This platform change happened relatively recently in 2022 (Tugas, September 2025), so now the people that are your so-called “friends,” even friends of yours for several years without this external motivation, may be profiting from fomenting controversy, anger, and division. The more they instigate, the more money they make – both for themselves and the platform they are on.

4. Inflammation has continued to be weaponized through various forms of media, be it linear television, podcasts, webcasts, or social media. The whole situation has really highlighted to what extent, to what sophistication and depth that weaponization has turned into – and I see no evidence of it abating whatsoever. Frankly, there are too many well-organized parties, be it political or corporate organizations, that profit from the vitriol. I have no expectation of these dysfunctional actions to be quelled in any meaningful way.

5. These sort of reactions have happened with increasing regularity in the stock market as well, with logic being completely trounced by sentiment. That in theory doesn’t bother me as a wealth manager, because if people want to sell off a company fiercely because some dude on Reddit tells them to, okay – and if it is a great business, my clients likely profit heavily from it in the long term. But what has to be realized in this is that it isn’t the rich, who tend to employ wealth managers, who are more likely not to behave this way. It is the rest of America, lured by influencers, media personalities, brand ambassadors and so-called “thought leaders” that are being swindled for millions of dollars by placing their trust in people who may have no fundamental understanding nor legal culpability for their ill-advised suggestions. The rich aren’t playing these games; they own the casino in which such games are played, and it is costing Americans dearly.

Discussion

Now more than ever, you are encumbered with the burden of vetting the sources of information and influence in your decisionmaking. You are up against an incredibly sophisticated opponent, one that has the ability to use AI to generate textual, audio, and visual content, and is capable of analyzing data from your reactions to determine on an individual basis which sources will elicit the greatest capitalistic outcome for themselves. Episodes such as the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination serve as a testing ground for future rounds of media manipulation and behavioral priming, conditioning your subconscious thoughts to influence future behavior – including how you make decisions regarding your money and your wealth.

I posit that human beings are looked upon in the same way that livestock are bred, fattened, and slaughtered for consumption. It is unethical, it is frightening, and it is legal, with no signs of resistance as the centers of power and influence increase their grip as technopopulism rises. If you value personal freedom, autonomy, and financial independence and security, you need to heed this warning and act accordingly. I will conclude this article with some suggestions, ones that I follow in my own life, that may help you as well. 

Reduce your digital footprint. You will likely live a calmer and happier life by limiting your screen time. Make reducing screen time a reality by adopting a lifestyle that allows for less of it.

Fire the influencers and digital creators. Anyone trying to “rally people” or “facilitate discourse” is likely being paid to do so. Research them. If that’s what they’re doing, consider unfollowing, unliking, and/or unfriending. They are Meta’s friend now, and they love Meta’s paycheck more than they love you. 

When you feel your frustration rise beyond a 3/10, recognize it and reset emotionally. Go for a walk, engage in deep breathing, brew some tea or coffee, or whatever else helps you recover emotional balance.

Read your news instead of watching it. Watching your news adds both audio and visual components that tend to add stimuli that are designed to elicit emotional responses (i.e. if it bleeds, it leads). By reading your news, especially if you can read plain text versions without pictures or audio added, I think it creates an environment where you can absorb the information presented, think about what is being said, and process it in your own way without having other stressors added that can influence your perception.

When you receive a phone call, if you do not know who it is, do not answer it. It takes very little audio sampling to generate a realistic AI rendition of your voice, making it easier for whoever is on the other end of the call to process a recording of it and then proceed to try and commit fraud. Basic words like “yes” and “no,” or saying your name can be used to thwart voice verification safeguards.

Slow down. Many social engineering scams are based on attempting to overload and fluster the victim, either by presenting distressing information, or by trying to quickly extract information before the victim realizes that they are being taken advantage of. There are very few things in the world that require a truly immediate response, so if something seems out of place or you are being asked for information from a source you did not contact explicitly, end the conversation and slow down.

References

Patel, K. (2025, September 10). The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody. Thank you to the local and state authorities in Utah for your partnership with  @fbi .  We will provide updates when able. X. Retrieved October 15, 2025, from https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1965903392934633587

Tugas, L. (2025, September 15). How to become a digital creator on Facebook: The 2025 Guide. Stack Influence. https://stackinfluence.com/how-to-become-a-digital-creator-on-facebook/