Charlie Kirk and a culture of free speech
Do we really want to encourage a never-ending cycle of retribution and scalp collecting over offensive speech and social media posts?
This probably going to ruffle the feathers of my conservative readers, but there are principles worth considering with the efforts to end the employment of people who have openly celebrated or mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We should carefully think before we travel this road, especially because the cultural and political pendulum is going to swing in the opposite direction at some point. Remember, it was not that long ago that Christians faced loss of employment for saying that men cannot become women. Some still do.
(As an aside, can we please use real words and not weasel words like ass*ssination or m*rder or k*lled? You are not fooling the social media algorithm and you look like a snowflake.)
I have written a lot criticizing cancel culture from the Left, and the need for Leftists to have a sense of proportion. Certainly, celebrating violently taking away the father of a one year old and a three year old is a depraved and perverted thing to do. There are legitimate reasons be concerned about people who do things like that, especially schoolteachers. I would at the very least have reservations if my children were being taught by someone who celebrates murder, especially of someone who shares my political views. Are they going to be vulnerable to violence in the classroom?
At the same time, should everyone who engages in feces-posting have their career destroyed? Do you know why they said what they said? You don't know what someone is going through. Maybe a parent died, or a loved one is facing a terminal disease, or they are struggling financially and the anger and frustration bubbles through the political posts. That obviously does not excuse speech that is depraved and perverted, but maybe they would not have said that in a more calm time. What about the fired person's family, especially children who are counting on their parent's income?
One of the things we need to do (me included) is develop a sense of proportion and especially some humility. You have said horrible things yourself. If no one can find a paper trail online, I know you have said horrible things in private. I know this because we are all human and our mouths are capable of some of the most awful wickedness that we ourselves would be shocked to hear ourselves say. The difference is that the horrible things we have said in our homes or cars (or elsewhere) are not recorded and broadcast to the entire universe.
Another danger we face is this will encourage a never-ending cycle of retribution and scalp collecting. OK, well, that pink-haired wacko with a nose piercing lost her job. What about the intemperate speech of the man a couple rows behind you in church? Should this man who loves his family lose his job because he got angry and said something he should not have said? Would it be better for people to be confronted privately and shown where they are wrong? Would a loving rebuke by a friend be more effective?
Yes, it is true that an employer has the right (in most states) to terminate people who have become a public embarrassment and that is not a violation of the First Amendment. But in the debates over cancel culture, conservatives have often talked about creating a culture of free speech, where we can work, shop and live next to people with opinions we find odious and offensive. The homosexual terrorist who murdered Charlie Kirk acted violently because he was too intellectually feeble and emotionally unstable to address Kirk's ideas directly. Would it be more effective to honor Kirk's memory by embracing his strategy, rather than the strategy of the homosexual terrorist who silenced Kirk with a bullet?