This happened on Massoud day, 10 September- which by itself is foreboding for those that understand the significance of that occasion. After Massoud day, violence follows. More than we can handle.
I am not going to do a testimonial on Mr. Kirk, I did not know the man. I do know how he conducted himself and admired it. His intellect mostly, his recall, the man was a brilliant conversationalist, and likely the best debater that this nation has ever known. He purposely sought ought an audience that was antagonistic to him and used this capacity to approach controversy with a sense of cerebral clarity.
His mind was structured, but creative. He had available to himself mentally and on the spot why Jordan was the GOAT v. LeBron, and the capacity to instantly pivot when asked if Chirstian nationalism had precedent in the Holy Bible. In answer to the latter, he was able to recite specific and numerous passages, and quote them, in order of appearance and relevance. True, real, substantive, seemingly unabridged capacity. Gifted, and this gift was placed upon the man by the creator, as all of our individual gifts are.
He challenged and changed us, good and bad. He was taken from this world terribly.
This haunts me. I have seen men die in similar fashion, and it is something that never leaves the mind.
It haunts me as well, how the populace has taken the news. Certainly, there have been open mourning, and vigils, and the outpouring of grief that such an occasion requires. There has been another kind of reaction, that is not at all what I would expect from a civilized population.
There has been celebrating, the notion that one reaps what one sews, the message of opinion that Charlie had it coming. That he deserved what happened to him, and this I find quite sickening.
Some of this has been forward and direct. Others have sought to first state that they are ones that would never glorify violence but, and within that BUT, there is selfishness, and justification, and more seriously, another death- the death of civil discourse. This discourse is what we need, and what can only be described as a far off notion now unrecognizable. With the BUT, there lies a justification that we cannot admit to ourselves, and within that justification it spells doom for us all.
For those that he aggravated, this is a time for grace, and we are finding none.
For this, both vigils and condemnation- he will be remembered. And- amplified. Death does this, amplifies the messenger, so the act was even more senseless in the fact that it did not silence the message, only will aggravate more greatly the people that he intended on aggravating, invigorate more greatly those he sought to invigorate.
It is no longer about Mr. Kirk. It is now about us. And, Massoud day.
Violence will follow. Mostly informational violence, which we have seen when a social media mob turns feral, broadcasting fore and aft positions designed to hold onto our own point. We hate, back and forth, and this hatred is now brought to a boil. We use whatever means is available to us to strike at one another, and when informational violence begins, it cannot be contained to that world.
Consider the remarkably benign, feral information campaigns that followed the Cold Play couple, and a lady that took a baseball from a little boy. Those images are everywhere, we cannot help but to pile on, kick someone when they are down, no regard for those effects to person are how they must be feeling when that glaring light is shone upon. Now, consider the nature of the crime, cheating on one’s spouse made public, taking a baseball, shooting a man in the throat. We pile it on and make it worse, regardless of the severity of the crime.
If I say that everyone has a right to their voice, it is immediately understood that I am talking about Mr. Kirk, but now I am not. Those that he aggravated, which have taken to these platforms with any- even the slightest degree of the notion, or “but”- that as so one sews, one shall reap, have had this informational mob line against them.
It is the time for grace. If not by those that disagreed with Mr. Kirk, but by those that identified with his message.
Individuals exercising their voice in this fashion, who hinted or stated outright that “he had it coming” though disagreeable to me, certainly, do not deserve to be uprooted, lose their jobs, lose their fortunes because they exercised this freedom. It is enough that we put it in a file about our own connections, hopefully one day forgive them for their foolishness and selfishness and then go forward.
We have an important right- the most important- that is spelled out very clearly in a very important document that says stating the objectional is legitimate. That very first one. Even if we consider such speech totally tasteless, obviously against our standards and offensive, that is the right that must be protected the most dearly. Let’s let them up, all of them back up, and do so gently. Let us be the ones that show grace.
If we are able to do this, that ends the killing. I am afraid that we will not- that someone will view these comments that are made, an individual the informational mob will see as justification to shoot someone else, you know, payback for Charlie. Then more, and more. It happened on Massoud day, after all.
Unfortunately, this will happen. We are too divided, too certain of our own views and too certain that those who opine differently are enemies. We cannot sit back and talk with one another and be respectful of a person in total, or their viewpoint without talking back so loudly that we totally miss hearing the point, and shout down loudly at, and not to- another individual.
One thing to those who believe that one reaps what one sews. Leaders are influencers, influencers are leaders. Mr. Kirk led and influenced. Counter influencers killed him. If he had it coming, then those who are outspoken and at odds of his opinion, well- don’t they as well? What are you sewing? No buts. This must be stopped, and grace is the only way to stop it.
So, as we mourn that man that was Charlie, I mourn in advance the future Charlies, those that will be lost in similar fashion as it goes forward. Left and right. And it will go forward. And it will never be justified. No Buts.
But…… When we stop being polite, we stop listening. When we stop listening, we stop talking. When we stop talking, we start hating. When we start hating, we start killing. This is how it goes. You could ask Massoud, but hatred has claimed him as well.
Much more difficult to put it aside. Much more difficult to show grace. But, it is much easier to be polite.
Let us show some grace.