Reactions to Charlie Kirk's murder are anemic
NCR - Michael Sean Winters
De mortuis nil nisi bonum. Don't speak ill of the dead. It was one of the first moral norms I recall learning and it could not be more straightforward. For all persons, the dead are no longer present to defend themselves, so it is unjust to speak ill about them. For Christians, the dead are before the judgment seat of God, a thought that should cause all of us to tremble, mindful that we, too, will someday stand before God. Speaking ill of the dead, then, is unjust and prideful.
Kirk's causes were not my causes, with one major exception: free speech. If Kirk was a champion of free speech, and he was, than it seems the worst way to honor his legacy is to silence anyone for what they said about him. Disinvite them from a party for speaking ill of the dead? Absolutely. Fire them from their job? That dishonors the legacy of anyone who championed free speech.
It comes as no surprise that our nation's vice president, JD Vance, wanted to have it both ways. "Well, I think I speak for every person in this room, and I think I speak for a majority of our fellow Americans, when I say: We do not attack or commit violence against people because we disagree with their ideas," he told a political rally in Michigan. The compassless Vance then filled in to host the podcast "The Charlie Kirk Show" where he said, "Call them out, and hell, call their employer. We don't believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility."
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