My youngest son works at a Toyota dealership basically right across the street from Utah Valley University. Kind of on a whim, he and some coworkers decided yesterday to walk over and see what was going on during their lunch break. Of course, that meant that he was right there when Kirk was shot and murdered by a sniper. He said that later there was a lockdown for hours, and he was stuck at work, with all of his coworkers, freaking out and wondering if some desperate killer were about to bust in their door looking for shelter. One of his co-workers, rather heroically although it sounds a little silly in retrospect, I think, was running around trying to knock people's MAGA hats off so that they wouldn't be targets. Another one of his room mates was on the front row right there, got knocked over and trampled. He said he was kind of seriously injured, but I don't yet know what he means by serious.
I've got a lot of thoughts, of course. Charlie Kirk always made me suspicious. Whenever these influencers show up out of nowhere, already well-funded and popular on literally the first day anyone ever heard of them, they feel manufactured by the Establishment as gatekeepers of some sort. And sure enough, Charlie Kirk advocated for an Establishment squishy kind of conservatism, and seemed to move in lock-step with other influencers of the same stripe. I think he was the Ben Shapiro 2.0 because Ben Shapiro couldn't help himself and flamed out in pro-Israel nonsense and angry tirades. Conservatives didn't take him seriously anymore, so his utility as a gatekeeper was compromised. He needed to be replaced, and Charlie Kirk seemed like a good one.
On the other hand, Kirk seemed to be coming around to sensible things. Either because the zeitgeist was changing and he changed with it, or because he was waking up to real realities. I didn't mind him. I didn't really take him too seriously, but he seemed like a nice guy, who's whole schtick was rational debate and reasonable discussion with his political enemies, in spite of their lunatic performative tantrums. It was harmless but kind of silly. And then, of course, he was just assassinated yesterday.
The double-whammy of watching the lying, spinning and gaslighting about that cute little Ukrainian girl in Charlotte all week followed immediately by this, and the lying, spinning and gaslighting that is already accompanying the Charlie Kirk murder means that moderate voices on the right are rapidly moving away from moderation. They're either being told to sit down and shut up, or their themselves realizing that there's no living with the Left. They're either at your feet or at your throat. Which isn't shocking; Leftism as an ideology is based on hatred, resentment, and entitlement, and it primarily is a draw for frustrated narcissists.
I didn't keep the links, but I have three academic, peer-reviewed, scientific papers that demonstrate that leftists are orders of magnitude more likely to be mentally ill than conservatives. All of these murderous lunatics who go on these assassination attempts and shooting sprees are leftists (Charlie Kirk was, ironically, just talking about trans shooting sprees at Catholic schools when he was murdered.) And the left is trying to spin this into "sensible gun control?" The only sensible gun control that normal people will accept is to keep guns away from Democrats. At the trajectory that they're on, soon it will be "shoot known Democrats on sight, like the rabid animals that they are."
And if you think that that's a bit extreme; it is, sure. I don't like it. I predict, however, that it is inevitable unless things change. People like to say that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. What is history rhyming with right now? As many are pointing out, it's kinda the Bleeding Kansas stage right before the Civil War. I'm already seeing it start on social media. It always happens sooner than you think.
UPDATE: Of course, checking out Anonymous Conservative's site, I'm exposed to all kinds of conspiracy theory stuff about Kirk's murder. The hit does feel a little... professional, perhaps. His rise to sudden prominence required some kind of backing, and his more recent skepticism regarding Israeli interests and Jeffrey Epstein... makes you wonder. It's also a powerful message to the administration, Kirk being such a friend of it.
Of course, I don't believe these conspiracy theories. But... sadly... I can't discount them either. I feel like the D.A. saying, "you've got an interesting case, but it's not strong enough. Come back when you've got more evidence." They could be true. I don't believe that they are. I don't believe that there's a strong enough case to accept them. But... you never know. I've gotten too cynical about that kind of thing over the years.
UPDATE II: Like I said: https://x.com/NickJFreitas/status/1965927877926432868
I am told that as a state representative this is the moment where I'm supposed to express my heartfelt condolences and then stand in solidarity with those on the other side of the aisle as we condemn political violence and stand unified as one people.
But we aren't "one people" are we?
The truth is we haven't been for some time now, and there is really no point in pretending anymore, if there ever was.
We are two very different peoples. We may occupy the same piece of geography, but that is where the similarities seem to abruptly end.
I convinced myself for a long time that whenever the left called me a racist, a bigot, a sexist, a fascist, a "threat to democracy" for even the most innocent of disagreements, that it was simply hyperbolic rhetoric done for effect.
And now the "effect" is a widow and two orphaned children, because the left couldn’t bear the thought of a peaceful man debating them and winning.
I don’t think they realize it yet, but murdering Charlie is going to be remembered as the day where we finally woke up to what this fight really is.
It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another. One side will win, and one side will lose.
Charlie tried to win that fight through argumentation, through discussion, through peaceful resolution of differences.
And the other side murdered him.
Not because he was “extreme” or “inciting violence” or any other hyperbolic slur they hurled at him. They murdered him because he was effective. Because he was unafraid. Because he inspired others and made them feel like they had a voice, that they were not alone. And he did it at the very institutions which have fomented so much hatred toward conservatives.
I don’t want to “stand in solidarity” with the other side of the aisle. I want to defeat you. I want to defeat the godless ideology that kills babies in the womb, sterilizes confused children, turns our cities into cesspools of degeneracy and lawlessness…and that murdered Charlie Kirk.
Social media is aflame right now with leftist celebration of Charlie’s death.
I wonder if any among them understand what has just happened. If there is a Yamamoto somewhere in their midst warning, that all they have done is awoken a sleeping giant.
I doubt it. I think they gave up such introspection and self-awareness long ago.
I don’t know exactly what will happen next. I just know that it won’t be the same as what has happened in the past.
There will be thoughts and prayers…Charlie would have wanted prayers. Not for himself but for those left behind and for the country that he loved.
But then there will be a reckoning.
My Christian faith requires me to love my enemies and pray for those who curse me. It does not require me to stand idly by in the midst of savagery and barbarism...quite the opposite.
So every time I feel tired, every time I feel discouraged or overwhelmed, I am going to watch the video of a good man being murdered in Utah…I will force myself to watch it…and then I will return to the work of destroying the evil ideology responsible for that and so much more.
Rest with God Charlie, your fight is over.
Ours is just beginning.
UPDATE III: It's been gratifying to see this start to come true.
THE WRATH OF THE AWAKENED SAXON
by Rudyard Kipling (sorta)
It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy — willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.
Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd.
It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not suddenly bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.
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