A father, husband, and son was shot and killed for daring to speak his mind. And the reaction to the man’s death on the part of people I formerly identified with, namely liberals and intellectuals, has caused me to repudiate any association I may once have had with that community. At best, the responses of some on the left to Kirk’s death were in exceedingly poor taste. At worst, those responses desecrated his memory and caused undue pain and suffering for his family.
Make no mistake: in life, Kirk shilled for Donald Trump, MAGA Republicans more broadly, and Christian nationalism, and support of Trumpism and Christian nationalism are two positions that I find extremely distasteful and morally repugnant. Donald Trump is a convicted felon, a bigot, a traitor, and an embarrassment to the office of the presidency and to the United States; Christian nationalism, on the other hand, poses a significant threat to atheists, intellectuals, LGBT+ people, BIPOC people, women, students, scientists, and immigrants. Kirk was outspokenly racist, xenophobic, and anti-intellectual and disingenuously described his rhetoric as mere “disagreement.”
I abhor the views of Kirk and his ilk. I’m essentially his polar opposite: a socialist, a secular humanist, an egalitarian, and an intellectual. He would have hated my very existence and he would have considered me a threat to everything he held dear.
However, the man had a right to his opinion—and to share it. That was what he was doing when he was murdered.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall, the British author, once wrote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” In that sentence, Hall pithily expressed one of the founding principles of the United States: that we are free to express ourselves and to speak our minds, especially when those around us disagree with what we have to say.
No matter how objectionable you find a person’s view, that does not excuse violence against that person. Such actions have no place in a democratic society.
My thoughts are with Mrs. Kirk, who has lost her husband, and with the Kirk children, who have lost their father. Furthermore, I hope that the murderer is caught and faces the full force of the law for his reprehensible actions.