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I, like many others around the nation right now, sit in shock and horror over the cowardly assassination of Charlie Kirk earlier today on a college campus in Utah. It's strange to feel both angry and numb at the same time, but that is the current state of things.
While it's raw, I wanted to offer a few observations about Charlie Kirk. He was someone I respected and admired.
It wasn't just what Charlie Kirk did that made him special; it was the way he did it. He wasn't a rhetorical bomb thrower or a blowhard. He engaged civilly and respectfully on difficult topics with people of opposing viewpoints in what are generally hostile environments for outspoken conservatives. He would answer any question from any person. He was persuasive and he changed minds. A lot of people attribute the growing number of young conservatives on college campuses to Charlie and his organization, Turning Point USA.
You don't have to be a conservative to appreciate Charlie Kirk's style and approach. It was one that garnered him respect and podcast/TV appearances with wide-ranging hosts, including Gavin Newsom and Bill Maher. Charlie was eloquent, lucid, and articulate. He could speak intelligently and persuasively on a wide range of issues without demeaning people. Charlie Kirk took people he disagreed with seriously and gave substantive answers to their questions. We can only hope that his assassination will spark 1,000 more to take up the mantle of his work.
If civic discourse is a virtue, and a virtue we need more of in the United States, Charlie Kirk was a model citizen whose example should be studied & emulated.
May God bless and keep the Kirk family. May He give them strength and peace to bear the burden of their great loss.
Discussion (28)
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Kirk believed as long as both sides were speaking to each other, solutions were possible. He believed civil wars occurred only after the talking stopped. Now he has been silenced. We are closer to actual civil war as a result. Both sides are now more ready for violence.
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I'll link to Charlie Kirk having a rational and polite discussion with someone who disagrees with him. He was decent guy and I'm sorry to see him go.
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My X feed is filled with people pointing out Kirk was dedicated to debate and fair discourse. He was the nice version of conservative activist.
If lefties can't wholeheartedly condemn this atrocity, then they can go to hell and take their pseudo-moralizing with them.
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I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that we’re talking about Charlie Kirk in the past tense.
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It’s a terrible day. When was the last time someone like him was assassinated in the U.S.? I can’t think of a precedent.
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