What can we say about Charlie Kirk? Only what those in power want us to

There’s an old saying, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

That aphorism has never been more true than in the aftermath of the brutal Sept. 10 assassination of right-wing activist and media personality Charlie Kirk.

As fast as the news of the killing spread, so, too, did a head-spinning array of hypotheses and accusations about who was to blame.

Kate Starbird, the co-founder of the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public and professor at UW’s department of Human Centered Design and Engineering, said in an email the aftermath of the assassination followed a pattern.

First, there’s a frantic effort to surface facts, she said. Simultaneously, you see a collective effort to assemble the facts into frames that support w