*TW: Kirk is quoted several times throughout this piece. He has said harmful and dehumanizing things about, well, everyone who isn’t a cis-het white dude*
There has been A LOT of conversation about Charlie Kirk since his assassination yesterday. There are the “thoughts and prayers” from his fan base. The “good riddance” from his opposition. And then there are the people who claim to fight for liberation, to stand vehemently against everything he stood for, who are lamenting his death.
I have never lied to y’all or hidden my stance on anything before, so I’m not going to start now. I will not be shedding a tear for Charlie Kirk. I do not feel bad for him. I do not send him prayers or well wishes. YES, me, someone who believes in the beauty and sanctity of humanity, ALSO believes that there is no empathy to be given to a man who said “I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage.” I have no sympathy either, sympathy is a “feeling of pity or sorrow for someone else’s misfortune”. This is not misfortune, his assassination is the direct result of the hurt and harm he advocated for and put into the world. It is not misfortune, it is the consequence of his very active and intentional decisions.
Let us be clear, my complete unbotheredness by his assassination does not then mean that I am celebrating his death. As people, we HAVE to get a grip on ourselves and check the way we have been taught to move from one edge of the binary to the other in all things. Are there those who rejoice in his death? Yes. Does that mean that everyone who does not grieve, have empathy etc, is inherently rejoicing? NO! Does his being assassinated inherently mean that we should mourn him? Also, NO!
We have got to expand our ability to sit with more complex and nuance feelings and realities. We need to actually name and recognize harm, not only when someone meets their end as a result BUT in this case, the harmful wheels they set in motion, harmful actions that resulted in very specific consequences.
Charlie Kirk was deeeeeeeeply harmful. He used his social identities and Turning Point USA as a platform not just to advocate conservative ideas, but to define culture war boundaries: who’s a person, who isn’t, who is valuable, who isn’t who deserves human and civil rights, who doesn’t and who we get to cast aside, throw away and accept as a legitimate “cost” for preserving the ideals he worked so hard to spread.
That harm does not simply get erased because he is now dead. As someone who believes in liberation, yes, I believe in humanity, empathy, sympathy but I reserve that for those who are not actively working to hurt others through policy and influence.
Mourning a life lost is valid, generally, but we cannot absolve someone of their harm and sins against humanity simply because they were killed. Simultaneously, recognizing flawed or dangerous beliefs doesn’t mean denying human vulnerability or mortality. It does, however, acknowledge that there are real-life and death consequences for our actions and our words.
One last point here. The system that has allowed Kirk to rise to influence and cause ripple effects of harm to others has been able to do so because it has made harm and violence essential. Violence is the very bedrock of our social fabric: political, physical, psychological, and emotional. Kirk’s miscalculation that he could be on the controlling end of that violence and never the recipient of it is another conversation for another substack, but you live by the gun, you die by the gun. If you are an active player in systems of violence or seek to solidify them, then that makes you a monster. I do not cry for monsters.
(Clip from Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
I’ve shared my personal beliefs, for those who do not know who Charlie Kirk is or the harm and hate he stood for - here’s a brief overview as well as a few “dot connecting” points at the end.
Charlie Kirk Co-Founded Turning Point USA in 2012 at 18. TPUSA is a conservative nonprofit whose mission is to promote principles of limited government and free markets on high school and college campuses. It serves as a grassroots activist network, organizing students to advocate for conservative viewpoints through debates, conferences, and voter registration efforts. The organization also runs programs like Professor Watchlist, which identifies and criticizes professors it deems to be advancing liberal agendas in the classroom.
Worked actively to turn youth towards conservative ideas through campus speaking, social media, debates, his show, and political allegiances.
His values included support for the Second Amendment (gun rights), and what he called traditional Christian conservative social values (anti-LBGTQ) rights expansion, opposition to abortion, etc.), skepticism and outright opposition to many “progressive” cultural policies (DEI, gender-affirming care, etc.).
His beliefs from his own mouth
On guns: “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.”
On Transgender identity: Kirk has been quoted as saying “there are only two genders.” He said that gender fluidity and transgender identity are “lies that hurt people and abuse kids,” and went further to say that “we must ban trans-affirming care — the entire country.”
On same sex marriage: He opposed same-sex marriage. When discussing his opposition for what he referred to as the “LGBTQ agenda” he referenced Bible verse Leviticus 20:13 (TLDR: Queer identity is punishable by death) as “God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters”.
On race: Kirk believed that Black women and “people of color” don’t have the “brain-processing power” to succeed without equity policies and specifically affirmative action. He believed DEI programs are “anti-White”. He said many things about MLK, but the shortest quote to sum it all up is that “MLK was awful... He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe".
Why his views and rhetoric are so deeply harmful
Legitimizing prejudice and stigma
Words have weight; they are not harmless. When someone with influence repeatedly calls queer/trans people “lies,” or says programs meant to help historically marginalized people are unfair or bad, or says “people of color” don’t have the “brain processing power” necessary, it contributes to an environment where discrimination, harassment, and violence become more acceptable.Undermining trust and safety
For our already disenfranchised and politically vulnerable populations, whose identities increase the political and social, Kirk’s rhetoric contributes to the mission to erode psychological safety. This increases the risk of harm (from bullying to hate crimes), and discourages marginalized people from seeking help. It also gives political cover to those seeking to pass laws and policies that reduce or eradicate civil protections.Shaping policy & culture in ways that entrench inequality
By opposing things like gender-affirming care or DEI, by framing civil rights laws as mistakes, by pushing back against systemic understandings of racism (e.g. critical race theory or history education), he helped legitimize backlash against civil rights, which leads to policy rollbacks, suppressing or undermining the rights and safety of marginalized people.Polarization
TPUSA and Kirk's style often magnified the cultural divide and social tensions. Instead of opening space for dialogue, many statements were framed as zero-sum: if you do this, believe this, are this then you are bad, immoral or betraying your identity. That inevitably makes compromise or mutual understanding harder, which in turn increases societal fragmentation. That matters: polarization weakens democracy, makes collective action on big problems harder. It makes way for fascism (reminder that TPUSA was founded in 2012).
Alright, I’ve hit my limit on talking about this man. I hope that proved to be helpful and/or informative. As always, be kind to yourselves and be gracious with those who earn it!
Tata for now,
Weeze
Always insightful, concise and helpful
Thank you
Yes thank u for always articulating ur knowledge so well. In fact an old high school friend called and mention this monster as what a shame to share ur opinion and get shot for it. I I was like nah that man was in sighting hate and when questioned for examples I had none. And I’m not sure he could ever hear any of it anyhow. Those ugh limit interaction and/or take some notes to discuss next time. 💚