You have already heard or read hundreds of comments about Charlie Kirk. My observations may not add to your knowledge or understanding. And that’s ok.
I never met Charlie Kirk. My opinions are based on two sources. One is videos of him speaking and engaging in intelligent debate with individuals on college campuses.
The second source is based on opinions of people who not only met him, but knew him well. So far, from those folks, I have heard only praise for Charlie Kirk.
Like you, I’ve heard and read plenty of negative comments about him and what he stood for. Those comments include that he was racist and hated transgender people and Jews. There is a common thread among the people with negative views: they never met Charlie Kirk or listened to him at length.
Let me take you back a few decades. On college campuses it was common for a person to stand at a prominent open space and start talking loudly. Often, they were promoting a religion or a deeply held opinion. They exercised their right to speak freely. They might attract a dozen students, but were generally ignored. None of those campus speakers, with perhaps a couple of exceptions, ever caught on. They never got the attention of any prominent group or organization.
Then along came Charlie Kirk. A young guy, without a college education, began speaking to students his own age about what was important to him: faith, family and country. He started attracting decent-sized crowds. Eventually he had a following on social media of millions, mostly teenagers, college students, and those in their twenties. (And several older folks, too.)
Why did this matter? Until a few years ago, most “voices” young people heard were liberals. Yes, we had conservative voices, including Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh, but their main audience was adults. (A young Barack Obama, a liberal voice who became a Senator then President, attracted young folks.) The primary voices students heard were teachers and professors. Probably 90% were liberal and voted for Democrats. That’s logical since Democrats in power were more likely to favor raising their salaries than conservative Republicans. But instead of keeping their political views out of the classroom, many openly taught persuasively for liberal causes.
Along came Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA with conservative views on sex, gender, marriage, love of country, capitalism, and other topics. He knew U.S. and World history, the Constitution, the Bible and basic beliefs of other worldwide religions. He welcomed debate.
Millions of young people adopted conservative practices. They became more interested in religion. After listening to Charlie and learning about his family, they saw value in getting married and having children (in that order).
And they VOTED for conservatives. This raised the ire of Democrats because young voters were supposed to belong to THEM. Charlie Kirk had become an “existential threat to democracy.”
By the way, that phrase and threatening words like Nazi, Fascist, and Hitler should never be used against anyone! You’re welcome to add derogatory words used by the other side. But I doubt if any of those “words” murdered 6 million people.
Why would anyone want to kill Charlie Kirk when they would have been welcomed to the microphone to present their point of view? How could an intelligent 22-year-old from a well-to-do religious family turn 180 degrees into an assassin?
Apparently, it has happened to several others. They leave home, either physically or emotionally, spend their time on vicious “gaming” platforms, communicate on obscure internet channels the rest of us never heard of (Discord), and become “friends” with the wrong crowd. They hear someone described as a “Fascist” (which they could never define) or “phobic” and decide to kill ‘em.
Utah Governor Cox asked us to stop the hateful rhetoric, have conversations with those we disagree with, and resolve differences peacefully.
As my friend LaDonna Gatlin asked, “Let us reach out in love to those in this hurting world who don’t necessarily agree with us.” And, in her beautiful singing “voice” she closed with the hopeful hymn, “Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with Me.”
Randall Reeder