Division and Unity Caused by the Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Kirk at Utah Valley University, moments before the incident. Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP
Charlie Kirk’s name became household as he stepped into a dominant position as a martyr of American conservatism. He was the founder of Turning Point USA, holding public debates against “leftists”, appearing on platforms such as Jubilee, and later gaining more popularity as clips of him debating Cambridge University students at the Cambridge Union went viral on social media platforms. For the left, these debates marked victory: the intelligence and eloquence of the well-educated Cambridge students “demolished” Kirk. Notably, on the topic of abortion, a medical student, using gentle parenting techniques, was able to use high school biology facts to prove that fetuses are not “magically created”. Tilly Middlehurst, a Human, Social and Political Sciences student, took Kirk’s logic of religious fundamentalism in selective immigration and applied it to Evangelical Christians. For the right, however, he hallmarked their voices and uttered their words for the world to see.
While Kirk was gaining popularity and debating students on college campuses, an incident marked the end of his activism. On September 10th, at Utah Valley University, he was fatally shot by a pro-trans activist who was angered by Kirk’s radical right-wing stance on the issue. According to the BBC, the killer, Tyler Robinson, stated that he “[had] had enough of this hatred. Some hatred can’t be negotiated out.” However, the assassination itself is not the point of focus; the reactions were what tore out pages from America’s history book forever, rewriting it to mark a far more escalated division.
As Kirk’s voice was wiped away by a sniper rifle, deep lines were carved in the moral standing of leftism. Some members of the left-wing cheered on the murderer, calling out Kirk for the tangible doings of his voice and opinions. The most common argument seems to be that Kirk promoted the genocide of children in Palestine. From a utilitarian standpoint, tens of children’s lives weigh more heavily on a moral scale than the life of one privileged American activist.
The other part of the left, however, mourned Kirk’s death, justified with the idea that no one should be killed for exercising the right to free speech in voicing political standpoints, and that “violence is never the answer”. This included the students he debated at Cambridge, most of whom publicly condemned the murder. They knew that the response from the right would portray the left as excessively radical, counterproductive against the leftist movement, which had already set on the path of seeming even more radical. This heavy radicalization stemmed from the “Unfuck America Tour” that imploded due to the organizer being accused of microaggressions, as well as the rise of intense wokeness (i.e. that anyone will buy into anything if it is wrapped in a cloak of upholding social justice) and the rise of rhetoric on minority superiority.
They were right. The assassination resulted in certain right-wing individuals being united under the framework of leftist insanity, with common rhetoric including that the left “always resorts to violence when they don’t get their way”, circulating on platforms such as Instagram and X. Additionally, they were united under the idea that Kirk was a martyr: he died defending rightism and sacrificed himself for “virtuous causes”. Some even claimed that he would “get a special seat in heaven”. But more importantly, Kirk was praised for the more personal side of himself: his relationship with his wife and daughter. Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s wife, posted clips on TikTok of Mr. Kirk’s interactions with their three-year-old daughter, playing and teaching her about gravity in a lighthearted manner.
Ultimately, what is there to learn? Political scientists seem to have come to a conclusion: act sad, shut up, and don’t brag about your schadenfreude. In general, if someone disagrees with you, begin by assuming that they are acting in good faith. According to them, it’s the virtuous thing to do.