On Charlie Kirk
Today, Charlie Kirk was murdered on an Utah college campus during one of his controversial speaking engagements, in which he tries to “own libs” who come up to speak to him. He had reportedly just been speaking about gun violence and mass shootings in the US, which of course media outlets have glommed onto as a key part of the story.
I had seen a lot of social media videos about his events, in which he sits under a tent with a hand held mic and debates members of the public who step up. He was a strong “enemy” of the trans community, and decried critical race theory and other right wing red herrings. But - he never advocated for violence, though he did hurt people, arguably.
In many countries throughout history, speaking your opinion could lead to your death. In America, we are supposed to have the freedom of speech. This right, however, can only truly be in effect if not just the government provides for it, but the citizenry allows for well tempered debate in public settings.
While Kirk was a lightning rod for many liberals, the truth is that nothing he said was any worse than what many strong minded individuals have said throughout American history. While assassination for your opinion is not a new phenomenon, it is one that we, as enlightened members of modern society, should be ashamed of.
To win against ideas we dislike, we must have better ideas. To defeat political movements we think are bad for America, we must have better political movements.
The fact of the matter is that all Americans hate the violence we find ourselves plagued with - we just don’t agree as to the cause, and are fiercely divided on solutions. Charlie took the risk of speaking in public and made himself a target for the violent fringes of society, and paid the price for his boldness.
But - do we want to live in a country where the bold, the opinionated and those who think differently than us must risk their lives to do so? I think not.
I hope that Charlie’s death stands for something. That it effects change and makes people realize that the temperature is too hot. That we should measure our words and not accuse people with different ideas than us of “destroying America”. That we wake up and realize that it’s vital that college campuses where our children go to learn remain safe places to exchange ideas.
But I doubt that will happen. His death will be twisted and used to further a more divisive future that only leads to more violence.
We should remember that in the past, the assassination of a relatively minor political figure - Archduke Ferdinand - lead to the First World War.
Unless we lower the temperature, only violence and war will be the outcome.
And that’s not something Charlie would have wanted. And neither should we.