Every so often, a moment comes along that shows us just how far the political discourse has fallen. One of those moments came this week when a Fox News commentator, Brian Kilmeade casually suggested that the solution to homelessness might be to kill mentally ill homeless people through “involuntary lethal injection.”
Let that sink in. Not a plan to address mental health. Not a strategy to improve affordable housing. Not even an argument for tougher policing or harsher penalties. No – the suggestion was that human beings, whose crime is to be poor and without shelter, should be eliminated.
This is not merely offensive. It is dangerous. When calls for violence become part of mainstream political commentary, they do more than shock – they legitimise brutality. They tell viewers that cruelty is not only permissible but practical. History shows us where that road leads, and it is nowhere good.
The most chilling part is how easily such rhetoric slips into the public conversation. It is dressed up as common sense, as “saying what others are thinking,” as though normalising violence is just another opinion to debate over dinner. This is not a debate. It is the deliberate dehumanisation of a vulnerable group of people – people who are already marginalised, already voiceless, already suffering.
Fox News thrives on outrage, but this is not just outrage bait. This is a step beyond the normal bounds of decency, one that should alarm anyone who believes in even the most basic principles of a civil society.
We cannot allow calls for killing the homeless – or anyone – to become just another segment in the never-ending content churn. There is no “both sides” to this argument. It is barbarism, plain and simple.
If we still care about the moral health of public discourse, we must say so loudly, clearly, and immediately: there are lines that must never be crossed.
When a society starts debating which of its citizens deserve to live, it is already on the path to losing its soul.
Please note: Brian Kilmeade has since apologised for his comment
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R Murdoch may be cunning as is the proverbial shithouse rat, and he knows business graft and corruption by heart, but he is no intellect, certainly not a figure worth a hearing about anything of social worth. Without a “brain” or a “heart” or a “soul” as is conventional imagining, R. Murdoch is a cesspool of self fixation, a scarred narcissitic flurry, a pox with ambitions to triumph. Thus we have FoxPox newsless poopery pollution for weak swampy sewagepond minds. Vomitous.
“the solution to homelessness might be to kill mentally ill homeless people through “involuntary lethal injection.””
I could start with “Only in America”, but that is being glib.
What a disgusting concept.
But also consider.
What is the definition of “homeless”. Is it someone who has no “four walls and a roof” to call their residence. Is it someone who is “vacationing at large around country x or planet earth. Is it someone who is just a little confused and cannot remember their address and has left “home” without their ID. (Mum used to do that during Covid)
And I would also like a proper medical definition of “Mental Health” or lack thereof.
The muckraker empire conflict was resolved last week, but imagine if you will……
“Uncle Rupert won’t give me full control. The old bastard has lost his marbles. Where is that syringe….”
Take a quick look at the fella who sits behind the Resolute Desk, or the ones who are planning the destruction of Gaza, or the different people who control the various religious organisations.
Are they all 100% “normal and sane” ?
Where would mr killmeade suggest a start, and then, looking at the land of the septics, where might it all end, because it won’t be just those living in amazon boxes.
I saw this and immediately shared with family members. I was reluctant to put it up online as l seriously thought it could not be real. But it is. Kilmeade is so arrogant and opinionated. He then went on to say “just kill ‘em.”
He seems to lack many skills. His best means of rising higher in society is to trample on others. Putting them down makes him feel he is better. That is how a shallow person comes to such a conclusion. He should be sacked. An apology is not good enough but then again it is Fox/Murdoch.
The shrivelled Murdoch and his minion offspring don’t give a shit, just as long as it keeps the cash rolling in.
Fauxpologising when you’re called out doesn’t undo the damage. If Lachlan Murdoch had the slightest skerrick of humanity he would have kicked this jerk to the curb immediately.
He may well have apologised since but only because of the furore that his statement caused. He actually thinks it is a good idea, as do a lot of people, most of them don’t let their thoughts be expressed out loud though. When someone tells you who they are, even if they then say “I didn’t mean it”, believe them, they meant it.