Patriots, Heroes, & Prepositions
Dialogue does not always speak to its meaning. Dialogue is often conflated by conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, nouns, verbs, and all other grammatical descriptors that exist to confuse or change definitions or meanings. Opinions, too, stifle dialogue. “This is that, BUT….” You get the idea.
Speech, indeed life, is a confusing series of self-censorship in action and dialogue. I learned this only recently by using the conjunction/ preposition, “but” on a Facebook post. That word completely changed, in the minds of readers, the meaning of my statement. I won’t make that mistake again.
My post was a rebuttal of sorts to the far-right, partisan comments of President Trump immediately after the Charlie Kirk murder. Trump was spewing his usual spew, labeling Kirk a patriot, hero, and someone who was loved by “ALL”. (Trump’s capital letters). The MAGA world on (un)social media ran with his comments, and suddenly Kirk seemingly became something akin to the Second Coming.
Kirk was known in far right political circles, and the Christian world. He wasn’t necessarily known and loved by “ALL” in the United States. Kirk was a far right, MAGA, Trump boot licker who had co-founded the right wing organization Turning Point Action at the age of 18. Kirk was a Christian nationalist who often cloaked his radical right-wing opinions behind Jesus talk. There were a handful of his opinions I agreed with, but overall, I disagreed with his blatant support of the extreme MAGA movement and his racial and biased views.
My opinion was and still is that Kirk was a racist, bigot, and religious/ political zealot. That’s a dangerous combination. Anyone with a keyboard can research his podcast statements to see how he felt about the military takeover of major US cities, the intelligence of black women compared to white women, and many other hot-button topics, all with the cloak of Christian fanaticism. He didn’t believe in empathy, and stated that the concept of separation of church and state did not exist: The USA is and should be as Christian nation. That makes me curious about what his thoughts were about theocracies.
My comment was, “Murder’s not condoned, but on Aug. 11th, Kirk advocated for the military takeover of US cities during riots. A real patriot.” That damned conjunction “but”!
Four “friends” of mine on Facebook unfriended me. Oh well. One said that I was “twisted.” Another said my commentary was “bitter and twisted.” All of them intimated that I was supporting his murder. I wasn’t. I was pointing out, despite the “dialogue” from the president down, that because of his leanings and opinions, Kirk was no patriot. A patriot, regardless of Trump’s pronouncements, does not advocate for the military takeover of this country’s cities, Jesus notwithstanding. People will hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see, and believe any and all stupid opinions that support their own beliefs.
Kirk’s murder was a terrible event. Kirk’s death was no greater a tragedy than the June front door assassination of Democrat Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the same day shooting of Minnesota Senator John Hoffman and his wife. (The latter two survived). These shootings of elected officials warranted little comment from Trump. These four were shot by a conservative radical. Patriots? Heroes? I never heard Trump describe them as such. They were, after all, Democrats.
It’s also interesting that dialogue from the Oval Office initially accused the Democrats/leftists, of the Kirk murder, despite there being no idea at the time who committed the crime. Again, Trump’s words inflamed the national dialogue about this event. Subsequently, we know as of this writing that the shooter came from a supposedly MAGA supporting family, and supposedly was not aligned with their leanings.
Charlie Kirk’s murder was horrendous and wrong. Charlie Kirk was not a patriot or a hero. Charlie Kirk espoused racist and bigoted opinions in print, interviews, and on his podcast. Kirk cloaked his racism and bigotry behind smiling, gentle Jesus and Christianity dialogue. That made him palatable for millions of people. He was a political activist with a far-right point of view. Anyone can research Kirk’s views. Trump butt licker, in my opinion.
The stories and commentary during the weeks subsequent to Kirk’s murder have been pointed, biased, and even mildly amusing. It’s been as if he were the second coming. Not even Jesus is on a US coin or paper currency as has been recently proposed for Charlie Kirk to be. One state education superintendent in Oklahoma proposed forcing every school in the state to have Turning Point USA chapters, the Christian organization Kirk co-founded in 2012. Shall we dare discuss propaganda and indoctrination of children in a state that, according to US News & World Report, ranks #48 overall in Pre-K to12 in the United States. Jesus take the wheel?
An odd habit I have is to turn on one of two or three religious TV channels at night so that I can fall asleep. Don’t judge. I seldom actually listen, but one night a few days ago, a preacher was actually saying that this country needs to have Christian doctrine, values, and practices implemented into government. He said he wasn’t preaching theocracy, but that’s exactly what it is. I said out loud, “TAX THE CHURCHS!
With approximately 78 million evangelical Christians in the United States, that is a concerning call.
I even watched one podcast of Kirk’s where he and several others were debating the lowest age that children could or should be able to watch public executions. I presume in the name of god. We could go on and on.
Now that some of the dust has settled, I still don’t care for Charlie Kirk and his beliefs and visions and never will. It’s a tragedy he was murdered, and a tragedy for his wife, kids, and family. He still isn’t a patriot, hero, or whatever moniker one wants to assign him. He was a political activist, bigot, and religious zealot. There are many more like him, and that should concern most American citizens.
