Hi, folks. I intend to write a much longer post in the near future about what is happening with this site, why I have been paused on the NNR for so long, and where we go from here. But in the meantime, because I truly believe we are living through a pivotal moment right now, I want to talk about Charlie Kirk’s shooting yesterday.
He was literally in the middle of advocating hateful policies to punish people for being trans while he was shot. Policies, I might add, that contradict his stated goal of freedom to bear arms, because his desire to hate trumped his desire for policy consistency. (Though the latter goal about owning guns is unquestionably more related to his death than the former.)
This man laid all the seeds of his own destruction. He was hateful and prejudiced until the very moment he died. He has been quoted as saying that mass shootings were “worth” it “so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights” – a statement he obviously didn’t even believe, since he was in the middle of advocating for a gun ban for trans people when he died. He has also been quoted as saying that empathy “does a lot of damage.” This man was actively harmful to the fabric of our society. We are learning a lot, I think, by seeing Vance skip NYC today to go to Salt Lake City; by seeing 47 propose he be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. For being shot in the middle of spewing hate.
9/11 means less because of these actions. The Presidential Medal of Freedom certainly means less because of these actions. We’re watching a degradation of our understanding of civil society in real time, both because these things matter less and because who dies matters more. Regardless of how you are personally feeling right now, these things matter.
Do I want people shot at rallies routinely? No. But Charlie Kirk did. Charlie Kirk died in the world he wanted. And the rest of us all have to live in it.
National News Roundup 