What Do We Learn from Charlie Kirk’s Murder?

Hello, people! Sorry for not keeping in touch for a while. When I saw my news feed this morning, it showed me that the American far-right ‘activist’, Trump loyalist, anti-abortion influential figure was shot dead. As a non-American, as someone who has never set foot in the USA, I was not aware of who Charlie Kirk was. His name might have come up a few times here and there, but as a strong intersectional feminist, I’d have probably just scrolled past anything misogynistic on my feed. I had to read a few articles and google his anme to understand who this person was.

Charlie Kirk. Oh my! There seems to be nothing subtle about the hatred and white male supremacy this man seemed to have displayed. Of course, the words “Trump loyalist” should have told me what to expect. This man was vile!

[embed]Campus killing lays bare America's bloody and broken politics Charlie Kirk's killing is another episode of gun violence in America and the latest in a line of recent political…www.bbc.com

Kirk had openly advocated for gun license and gun access for the average American citizen. When questioned about the mass shootings — most of those wouldn’t have been that likely to have happened if only gun laws were stricter — he had said, “I think, it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” He didn’t seem to regret, to repent, to grieve even a little bit about all those lives that were lost in The USA because of gun violence!

Understandably, the shooting of Charlie Kirk triggered so many reactions across social media, with so many frustrated democrats and liberals pointing out how ironical it is that a man who advocated for guns was shot dead by an act of gun violence. Yes, he probably never thought that his own pro-violence advocacy would some day result in he himself getting shot!

Some say that it was Karma. Some say that he deserved it. People won’t forget all those evil statements he had made as a public figure. He had said, “I can’t stand the word “empathy”, actually. I think empathy is a made-up new-age term, and it does a lot of damage.” He couldn’t empathize? What kind of household was he raised in? No wonder the liberals, the democrats, the socialists, the leftists, the queer, the feminist, and the people of colour do not like him at all. There was so much hate in him! None of that is justifiable.

But when I found out that he was not single but he was married and he was the father of two kids, the first thing I felt was instant sadness. If their marriage was one with normal, humane love, the wife will miss him for the rest of her life. Imagine how hard it is going to be for his kids, those young kids to grow up without a biological father. The grieving wife, also a single mom, a grieving parent, a grieving single parent, kids who will grow up without a father’s love for a long time, life is going to be hard for these three, despite all their social privilege. And that is sad! Clearly, Charlie Kirk wasn’t thinking straight, not logically, not with humanity, when he advocated so strongly for guns. It must not have occured to him to put himself in the shoes of a victim of gun violence. See what has happened today? This is the price you pay when you let violence become the norm. Sad but true.

Instead of even giving it some time or thought, the opportunistic fascist leader Donald Trump quickly escalates the hate politics, saying that it is the far-left that is to be blamed.

[embed]Trump blames 'radical left political violence' for killing of Charlie Kirk - video US president Donald Trump blamed 'radical left political violence' for the killing of Charlie Kirk before the person…www.theguardian.com

What do the left say?

[embed]Democrats, from Barack Obama to Gavin Newsom, call to end political violence after Charlie Kirk's… Democrats joined Republicans to condemn Kirk's shooting and political violence.floridapolitics.com

On the other hand, all these significant liberal figures have expressed deep empathy for Charlie Kirk and his family and have condemned violence against anyone. Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and so many other democrat politicians have said that they are shocked, that violence has no place in The USA, still holding on to their anti-gun-violence, or anti-violence values, even when it was a far-right political figure who was murdered. This shows us what true liberalism is — you don’t wish violence on anyone. Even if it would be for your enemy, you would want peace. And this has nothing to do with religion or race or ethnicity or any such factor.

Now, let us ask ourselves what we non-Americans can learn from this incident and these responses. Let us try a simple exercise: we will see where we stand.

Pick ten liberals in your circle whom you can think of. Pick ten leftists in your circle you can think of. Add your own name as the 21st name to this list. Now, think of the political situation and the radicalisation in your country, community, race, group, and whatever. Think of some politician or influential figure who has been vocally against you and your rights in your circle. Imagine that they were murdered while giving a hate speech or supporting anti-human laws or values. How would you feel? Would you want to laugh? Would you be shocked? Would you call it your god’s act? Would you say that they deserved it? Would you want to celebrate? Would you hate the murderer if they were your best friend?

During these dark times when evil parties with a lot of political power are trying to radicalise us all, can we please not allow them to exploit our sentiments and remember that we all are human at the end of the day? Even if we had developed some hate, can we try and let it go? If we don’t, then none of us working class people will gain anything out of this. If we don’t stop it in our own group, then everyone everywhere will feel that it is their right to be violent. There will then be no end to this violence, and the only people who will benefit out of that will be these criminals at the top, who deserve to face the law but even in their case, let us not support violence, please.