What College Students Really Think of Charlie Kirk

[pat_k]

3. One thing I wonder is if ...

... his influence was a "disinhibition" effect -- i.e., he made poisonous notions "OK" among young people who already harbored them -- or did he actually "turn" some percentage of young people to the "dark side."

I don't know if there is any way to get at that question, but it's been floating around in the back of my head.

Perhaps he accomplished a bit of both.

If primarily a "disinhibition effect," it seems to me that says a residual level of racism/sexism/homophobia infected a lot more of the population across generations than I would have believed a couple decades ago. Once upon a time I honestly believed white supremacism was "dying out" and was less prevalent among young adults in the 90's and early 2000's.