As a human being, you’re allowed to have whatever emotions you want compared to the situation. When my stepfather passed away from cancer in 2005, he got buried in a cemetery near a church in BFE Georgia in the Appalachian foothills. Google Maps didn’t exist and the road sign had been stolen so the hearse missed the turn going to the church. His brother, who was behind us, served over and drove up to the hearse driver and we all had to turn around.
It was a hilarious moment especially since other mourners, who knew where the church was, had already shown up to the funeral by the time we could get around the roads. To say my stepfather was late for his own funeral was something we could all joke about because it seemed fitting considering some of the bad luck he had in life. I don’t like funerals because they’re too sad and I don’t like too cry too much. Also, people put on a show there.
But the question is what if you just don’t care. I mean, you express your condolences to the family and friends but you just don’t care. I’m not going to name them but I had a few people I went to school with die over the last few decades since I graduated. And I really didn’t care. One died because of drugs and the other was in a car accident I heard. They were the type of people who thought they were the big fish in the small pond.
Needless to say, they peaked in 10th or 11th grade. I don’t know what I did to get on their bad side, but I think it was just because they could act the way they did. They got a little bit of class status and they had to be jerks. Needless to say, when I hit my growth spurt in high school and put on a little muscle weight, they suddenly stopped. I’m not going to criticize people for substance abuse but it never fails to be that the ones I went to school with had more opportunities and privileges than I or other students. It never fails.
They probably got clean last I heard, but they pulled the old “Gave Myself to Jesus” card and I tuned out. People can have their own religious beliefs but I think a lot of it is also for show as well. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Does that make me a bad person because I don’t believe people have a great faith? I don’t care. I just know that from what I’ve heard from Sunday school, there are polar opposites between actual Christians and what was once called “Sunday Christians” now “Social Media Christians.”
I know everyone is sick and tired of hearing about Charlie Kirk. I find it somewhat comical whenever they speak of a vengeful God when it comes to blaming non-Christians, non-whites and the LGBTQIA community when bad things happen. Yet now if there is a vengeful God, I think he called the bluff on Kirk.
People are already starting to compare Kirk to Jesus Christ as someone who was killed for his words. Now, I’m not a very religious person but this is some true sacrilegious comparison. I mean, the Germans during the era of Adolf Hitler compared him to Jesus. I’m sure a lot of them later regretted making that comparison. Jesus knew he was going to die for his actions. He knew that was going to happen.
Kirk didn’t. He spewed hatred, racism, bigotry, misogyny and especially violence. He felt that all the gun violence in this country was necessary for the Second Amendment. But he never thought in a million years, he was painting a huge target on himself. That’s why I don’t care about his wife, Erika, and his kids. If he cared for them, he would’ve thought more about what he said. Yes, he made millions and they will be taken care of. But turning him into a martyr is just foolish.
I wrote many columns as a news editor. Sometimes I was a little angry. But I made sure I never let my anger get the best of me. I always tried to make a column that would have a no-nonsense feel that could appeal to people of both sides. But I think that boat has already sailed for a while.
The same people in this country creating the divide are blaming the rest of us for wanting to stop the divide. Spencer Cox, governor of Utah, where Kirk was fatally shot, actually had the gall to say that suspected killer Tyler Robinson is “one of us” and implied they had hoped it was someone beside the typical young white male shooter. Cox, a Republican, actually said publicly at a press conference, he wished it had been a person of color and/or the LGBTQIA community or even a Democrat. Instead, Robinson had a very conservative upbringing.
It feels like we’re living in a Twilight Zone that has been written by the staff of The Onion and Idiocracy. They always talk about how liberals are soft and weak, but at the same time we’re violent psychopaths. Or that transgender people can’t serve in the military but they can hit a target from 250 yards out. It’s like “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” except it’s not aliens causing people to turn on each other. Robinson is believed to have been a Nick Fuentes supporter. This is typical of a regime that the Republican Party has turned into. They turn on each other and question each other’s loyalty or ambition.
It’s ok not to have any empathy for Kirk or any other conservatives who pass. They won’t offer it to you or your friends or family. People on the right are wanting to act like they’re the better people but as my friend said, “The Internet keeps all the receipts.” There are reports of Historically Black Colleges and Universities being targeted as well as “swatting” in which fake 911 calls are made at other university of active shooters.
This is what people like Kirk wanted. What makes him upset is to see black people not being docile and obedient the way they were during the era of slavery. Both Kirk and Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff, grew up in one of the most diverse times in America. They hated it. That ought to tell you something about them.
If there is a Heaven, then people like Kirk are actually in Hell because they’re around the same people they never did like. And it’s for an eternity. Do they actually think Heaven is segregated? Jesus Christ isn’t some Brad Pitt doppelganger with blonde hair and GQ cover looks. He was probably brown skinned of the Jewish faith living in the Middle-East.
And I’ve heard some “nice” comments made to me to my face from so-called Christians and conservatives who say one thing but practice another. And it’s no surprise how many people always seem to support the right and Trumpism no matter what happens. As a columnist, I was open to criticism. But the problem is the era of William F. Buckley is gone with a conservative presenting a well-informed position on a matter.
We’re in the era of the screaming and hollering and twisting words around. For those who said Kirk never called people names or yelled at them, there is video and it’s not AI. Like all things, they’re selective in what they chose to remember. Kirk said gay people should be stoned to death and black people need to be put back in chains. Those are not the words of peace. Those of the words of a growing movement to turn this country into a fascist police state.
So, no people don’t get to tell you how you should feel about someone like him. Just because you die doesn’t mean your sins are absolved. That wasn’t the case with Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Charlie Manson and others. You don’t get to spend years spewing hatred and then become a saint just because you were killed. And black people who are showing sympathy for Kirk, that’s their right. But Kirk wouldn’t care about them.
With Kirk gone, many others will spring up in his place, I’m sure. It’s disgusting seeing this Presidential Administration and our legislators acting like he was a great civic leader. He wasn’t. With him receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it has enough merit now like a home-schooled student receiving an Outstanding Student Award. This alone should anger some of those on the right that this happened while a school shooting happened the same day.
Also, the President decided to speak more of Kirk at a Sept. 11 memorial. And yet a Democrat president has to get on their knees to kiss the boots of all police, firefighters and military or else they’re accused of “hating America.” What’s worse is this is a dry run for what will happen when you know who finally passes away. I think most of us will take a break from social media.
Then, I will expect to see the same compassion and sadness from the right to be said about divisive figures like Gloria Steinem, Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson to name a few.
I’m sure they will, right?
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 