Subject: Asymmetry
On September 10, 2025, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggested we should give homeless people "involuntary lethal injection" or, as he clarified, "just kill 'em." This happened on national television. During breakfast hours. While families got ready for work and school.

The response? Media outlets described it as "controversial remarks." Journalists asked whether he'd "gone too far." Four days later, Kilmeade offered what CNN called an "apology," and everyone moved on. He kept his job, his show continued, and the network issued no statement.

Now imagine if a homeless person had suggested on television that we should kill Fox News hosts. How long would that clip play on repeat? How many segments about "violent extremism" would follow? How quickly would law enforcement respond?

This asymmetry reveals something about how civility actually functions in a degraded information ecosystem: it flows in only one direction, protecting those who violate it while constraining those who might resist.

Christopher Armitage

The rules are for thee, but not for me