Saints and Sinners

Photo Credit – OpenArt AI

This piece is part of Yellow Scene Magazine’s Opinion section. The views expressed here are those of the author, and do not represent a reported news position. At Yellow Scene, opinion pieces speak freely, challenge assumptions, and say the quiet parts out loud.

Allow a moment for the requisite sympathy for Charlie Kirk’s wife and children. Sympathy, not empathy, because Charlie didn’t believe in the latter.

. . . . .

Moment’s up.

Political assassinations are 3rd World stuff, oddly apt given the 3rd World state of our disunion.

The reactions from the political right and left have garnered as much press as the assassination itself. Locally, my progressive friends have, by and large, acknowledged the horror of the shooting and the grief experienced by his family and friends. Many have then quickly segued to the trail of ugliness he left for all to consider.

I avoid right wing dens, so my observations are fewer, but the political righters, locally and nationally, cite the same horror and similarly acknowledge the grief. They then also segue, but take a different trail.

It presents another grandly false equivalence. Rather like comparing January 6th with a Quaker peace gathering.

My wise wife suggests an extended time of just shutting up. There is something tawdry about itemizing Charlie’s vitriol before the blood is dry. There is also something tawdry about sanitizing and lionizing a man who made hatred more palatable by offering it up on a seemingly “dignified” platter. I’ve listened to Charlie. He was just a bit better dressed and schooled than the average racist Christian Nationalist.

But since our media-saturated society has no appetite for a period of just shutting up, an examination of the noise is unavoidable.

Kirk’s record speaks for itself. He thought the Civil Rights Act was a grave mistake. He thought women should be submissive. He thought more people should have guns – ironic, that. He promoted the Great Replacement Theory. He thought there should be no separation between church and state. Homosexuality is a sin. Transgender care should be illegal. George Floyd was a “scumbag.” MLK, Jr. was a “bad guy.” A Black pilot is a great risk because of affirmative action.

He was a fierce proponent of Stop the Steal, preaching to his young acolytes that the 2020 election was stolen.

He spread misinformation about Covid-19, arguably leading to unnecessary illness and death.

There’s this dandy from 2023:

“WE KNOW, YOU (BLACK WOMEN) DO NOT HAVE BRAIN PROCESSING POWER TO OTHERWISE BE TAKEN REALLY SERIOUSLY.

YOU HAD TO GO STEAL A WHITE PERSON’S SLOT TO GO BE TAKEN SOMEWHAT SERIOUSLY.”

There’s more, but one must be cautious when dishonoring the recently deceased.

But to those who think this partial list of offenses inappropriate, I offer the “other” side.

Trump will grant this man the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Flags ordered at half staff for a podcaster.

Congressional prayers for Kirk, but not a slight bow of sympathy for the children shot on the same day, nor a mention of sorrow over the murders of Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

“He was loved and admired by ALL . . .” – Donald Trump

And as to the grand false equivalence . . .

All of the things I and others report about Charlie Kirk are true. Accurately chronicled and meticulously sourced.

The lionizing and celebration of a man who spewed such hatred, albeit in relatively dulcet tones, is offensive.

It is, perhaps, analogous to the possible appointment or election of a person to high position or office. The plaudits and praise that fill the resume or are chanted in the campaign must be countered by less laudatory – even unsavory truth. A man who has been multiply bankrupt and convicted of sexual offenses should not be given awards or positions based on high character and great accomplishment. The campaign rhetoric and the facts are not remotely similar, despite the claims of equivalency. Oh, wait!  We already fell for that.

So back to Charlie Kirk. Sad. Abhorrent political violence. Evidence of the easy access to deadly weaponry – ironic, that – again.

But don’t tell one side to go easy on defining him as a schmuck when he’s being nominated for sainthood by the other.

Y’all raise those flags back up and withdraw the sainthood nomination. Then I’ll be semi-reverently silent . . . for a while.

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