The Great Divide, Farewell Charlie Kirk

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead."

"No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie."

"He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us."

"Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family."

"Charlie, we love you!"

U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday during a public appearance at a university in Utah. He was 31. CBC News

 

A professional sniper whose photograph has been published in news media -- covering the murder of American social influencer, 31-year-old conservative, and media personality, Charlie Kirk -- Trump supporting, outspoken critic of the left in all its present-day guises -- can run and he can hide, but he will be apprehended and the full force of the law will be brought to bear against him. With his arrest the background story that led to the public assassination will complete the stunning episode that bore witness once again to the madness that has overtaken the delusional left that condemns violence while indulging in it to a degree the right sector of society does not emulate.

 

Speaking at the Utah Valley University campus, he was seated, speaking into a microphone under a tent boasting red and blue signs reading "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me Wrong". As he completed a statement ending with the words "...gang violence", a sharp report sounded, out of place in a surrounding of tens of thousands attending the event, their voices a blur of commentary. Suddenly aware of that sound, of the speaker's head snapping back and blood suddenly gushing from his neck, the crowd surged in a panic to escape the sinister nightmare.

 

Founder of a right-wing media group that challenged the reportage and ideas spouted by the mainstream media with its left-interpretation of events, and known for his debate-featured videos where he listens to diatribes from progressives in an audience and follows up with a response of counterpoints, effectively demolishing the arguments of those who take up the challenge to call him out in his dedicated beliefs. His arguments addressing illegal immigration, transgenderism, feminism, affirmative action, abortion, soft-on-crime judiciaries, abortion, drag queen storytime for children, all made him a detested target of those his views attempted to reach.

 

A large banner in memory of Charlie Kirk is installed outside the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Wednesday. (Jonathan Cooper/The Associated Press)

 

His critics charged him with false or misleading facts they claimed that he used in support of his narratives. He regularly spoke at U.S. college campuses, his tour named "You're Being Brainwashed", and Wednesday's speech was in line with those campus appearances. He seemed to relish the opportunity to respond to those who denied his perspectives on the social issues of the day, calmly and with emphatic stress on reality, turning false narratives inside out to reveal the core reflection of what really matters and how to achieve a human balance in every charged situation. His reasonableness and ease in defending without offending infuriated his detractors.

 

The state, not known for incubating violence, and with a low murder rate, saw few police in guarded attendance at such a large event attracting an estimated 30,000 crowd. Mr. Kirk's own personal security was present. The size of the crowd and the passionate emotions aroused in many of his audiences might augur danger as a potential to erupt into something far more significant than mere heckling given the deranged state of many people in an era of heightened emotional attachment to societal issues that drive hard responses of estrangement.

 

"Utah is one of the safest places on the planet. And so we just don't have these type of things" that could escalate to violence, according to Jason Chaffetz, Republican who was present at the event. That light police presence meant a handful of officers, and where it might have seemed logically proactive to have a number of officers tasked to surveillance of nearby rooftops to ensure no unwarranted sharpshooter presence to threaten the speaker, a more casual kind of security seems to have eventuated.

 

Donald Trump, then president in his first term, shakes hands with Charlie Kirk, who led Turning Point USA, at a summit in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

 

In light of the fact that the event at the University had been the cause of divided opinions on campus, with an online petition circulating calling for university administrators to bar the provocative speaker from the event, with a thousand signatures attesting to the level of passion involved, it might have reflected responsible police reaction, in memory of a less successful assassination attempt on Mr. Trump's life echoing in this situation, to be more prepared. 

 

While the university issued a statement prior to the event citing First Amendment rights, affirming its "commitment to free speech, intellectual enquiry and constructive dialogue", someone or some group sufficiently involved in the current belief that deadly violence is justified in the face of  their perceived need to rid the world of those espousing social creeds and political standpoints and government actions at home and abroad that offend their sense of justice, should have spurred local authorities and police to ensure that more suitable security would be in place. Should have, could have, but did not.

 

 

 

"For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals."

"This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now ... Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives."

"My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump