ArcaMax

Charlie Kirk has been called many things, including an influencer, especially of young people.

A better label might be “converter.” The power to speak truth in a way that changes a political mindset is better than influencer. Kirk possessed that power which led to his murder by a 22-year-old man who wanted to rob him of it.

Written on one of the shells recovered at the scene was “Hey fascist! Catch!”

Among the many videos of Kirk debating students who disagreed with his conservative philosophy and Christian faith was a young man who asked about some of what he called Kirk’s “fascist statements.” Kirk challenged him to name one. The student appeared flustered, looked around for help and couldn’t answer. It appeared he had simply repeated what he had read on the internet, or heard from others.

The internet and its social media pages are a sewer. The Left is always blaming conservatives for any acts of political violence, but just Googling Kirk’s name reveals comments from presumably liberals, that are disgusting at best and vile in the extreme.

Here are just a few. An elected English Councilor, Fiona Wild, posted on Facebook that Kirk had “brought this upon himself so good riddance to a not very nice man! America need (sic) to get rid of the other tit now!” (angry face emoji). Wild resigned her position after heavy criticism. Many other postings echo her statement.

Two universities– The University of Mississippi and Middle State University in Tennessee – fired employees for posting negative comments on social media about Kirk’s death. That’s a start since some of our once-great universities have allowed professors to teach and promote hatred of various political philosophies and religions.

Anyone celebrating Kirk’s murder on social media – or promoting any violence against anyone – should be banned on all platforms for life. This isn’t about free speech. It’s about incitement.

Social media has kept too many Americans from knowing each other. We are identified by labels which say nothing about our humanity and intrinsic value. We speak of some of our fellow citizens as being on the “other side.” China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are on the other side. Their dictators are opposed to what we stand for. Do we need enemies among us? If so, we will become out of one, many, the opposite of our unifying national motto.

When I was more active on the college lecture circuit in the ’80s and ’90s I participated in civil debates. Afterwards, I would occasionally have dinner with my political opposite, one of whom was liberal Senator George McGovern (D-SD), a World War II veteran, as was my father. McGovern and I became friends because we got to know each other beyond politics.

It was the same with the late Bob Beckel, who ran Walter Mondale’s 1984 campaign (he used to say “I managed Mondale to the greatest loss in political history, now I’m on TV as an expert. It’s a great country”). Bob became my best friend and we grew to love each other. We even changed the other’s minds on a few issues because we took time to listen to what the other had to say.

This is supposed to be a special year leading up to the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth. Instead, it is rapidly becoming something else. We had better re-examine the values and virtues that initially contributed to this unique nation or, like other nations before us, America will implode and cease to exist.

That was part of Charlie Kirk’s message to the young. A young man who didn’t want them to hear it killed him, but his ideas will find other voices because many of those ideas are true and truth has a power of its own.

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).

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