Charlie Kirks wife forgives the killer

@5128gap 💯

What I find strange is that on MN, a site typically dominated by middle of the road UK women, there has been a sudden influx of posters fixated on persuading everyone that a guy from the US we'd hardly heard of until last week, with extremely controversial views to put it mildly, is exceptional and praise worthy.
Talking about 'God's Truth' and quoting religious teachings all over the place, saying things we view as sexist and racist, calling anyone who has an opposing view 'The Left' and arguing the merit of the right wing policies of a country most of us don't live in.
I think what you see as a fixation with criticising CK is actually a response from people who been drawn into a discussion by having the topic thrust under our noses alongside a bunch of other extreme views that don't resonate with or deeply offend many posters. So we are coming back.
I think without the constant stream of CK related posts from his supporters, the 'fixation' with him you imagine we have would wane pretty quickly.

I was responding to the post above by Plastictreees, who was responding to my post above theirs.

Many of his views have been intentionally mischaracterised, and I think we can all agree on that

Think again.

I find it strange how people are so fixated on calling this one guy hateful.

Many of his views have been intentionally mischaracterised, and I think we can all agree on that, regardless of whether we actually agree with his message.

the thing that stands out to me in the pro-life stance and the response he gave. But frankly, this isn’t an unusual stance globally, and the majority of people who believe this aren’t conservatives in America.

I guess it’s a media sensation now, so everyone is chiming in. Still don’t quite get it.

What or who are you responding to here?

Oh, by all means shoot him then. Put him and every other Gilead-loving bastard on the wall.

Just have to take it in turns as the government swings between left and right until only centrists and cowards remain.

He didn’t have a ‘let’s talk’ approach. He wanted to mandate his extreme beliefs into law, therefore forcing women and children into birthing their rapists babies. There is nothing ‘healing, humanising and productive’ about Kirk and his misogynistic, racist and bigoted rhetoric. Wake up and smell the coffee.

I haven't RTFT but responding to the OP. As far as extending forgiveness goes, that's a very evangelical Christian thing to do. The same thing happened after the Sandy Hook massacre: a bereaved father spoke to the media to say he forgave the man who killed his tiny daughter. He could hardly speak for sobbing and I felt so very sorry for him. Saying "I forgive you" doesn't mean that the person only has good feelings towards the killer, but it does help set them on a track of healing instead of hatred, vengeance etc. Whether the killer deserves or accepts forgiveness is a moot point in that type of Christianity; it's about healing the forgiver.

I thought that Erika Kirk's message was simple, heart-felt and reassuringly peaceful. It was a shame that Trump immediately changed the tone she set with his speech saying that he hates his opponents and wishes them ill. He's a very dangerous man and politics feels increasingly dystopian at the moment.

WRT Charlie Kirk, I'd never heard of him before the shooting. I think I'd probably disagree with 99% of his opinions but I agree with his "let's talk" approach. Locking people up, cancelling them, deporting them, shaming them: none of that will change anyone's minds or help heal the deep divisions in our societies. Talking is healing, humanising and productive.

Not particularly:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/masked-group-marches-ohio-neighborhood-swastikas-flags/story?id=115937210

Obviously not everyone is as blatant as this.

@MistressoftheDarkSide

It seems that gun deaths are normalised as a part of life in the US. And, for me, that particular psychology played a part in the deranged individual taking his grandfather's gun and shooting Charlie Kirk. It's all just so senseless.

One thing that strikes me is that in the US gun ownership is a hobby. It's a lucrative hobby. It's not just for hunting, self defence against tyranny of government or whatever justification is baked into the constitution, it's about social events, the next innovation in weapon design, collecting, building covert militias whose target could be any of the scapegoat du jour. Hang the collateral damage when there is money to be made eh?

I've fired a shotgun, on a friend's farm, just target practise and it's a weird feeling. A strange mixture of "empowerment" and "danger". Completely at odds with my general pacifist nature and "harm ye none" mindset. The magnitude of realising that one holds the power to kill with one finger I found chilling. They are not toys, yet you see the family tradition of gun ownership etc starting very young and posted proudly on social media.

While some no doubt take the responsibility of gun ownership very seriously there's no doubt that some will consider owning a variety of weapons as a status symbol, and that's before we get into any issues around suitability or mental stability of gun owners.

It's a pity they were invented really.

Isn't the whole of the USA anti fascists? Or just the left wing?

Yes, we should. All guns and their owners registered (just as when you buy a car you must report the change in ownership), police checks to make sure that they are stored unloaded and in locked racks, with the ammunition in a seperate safe, swingeing punishment for failing to register. But that will never happen if the GOP are in a position to block it.

’Root causes’ won’t give us safety now. You can do both, btw. We don’t have to live like this for the next twenty years waiting for the ‘root causes’ to help.

Sorry, I've just looked through the trail of quotes and it was @beready2025 who made the sweeping statement about "the left". I shall wait for them to clarify exactly how someone like Bernie Sanders (who would be considered a centrist in any other country) is implicated in Antifa.

Many states have closed these loopholes—but since they aren’t a business but individuals who sell their own stuff it is a bit harder to police. But we absolutely should tbh.

Crime peaked as a result of the pandemic. It has been on a steady downward trend since. Sending a bunch of troops to pick litter in the safest parts of town does nothing to change that.

By the way, there were federal schemes in place to tackle the root causes of violent crime in the worst neighbourhoods of many cities. Guess whose executive order cancelled the funding?

Firstly, I did not, someone asked who are "the left" I said anyone can self identify as "the left"
I also didn't make any sweeping statements about "the left" could you show me where I did.
And also the mainstream media, and people on here do refer to "the right" with no nuance at all lol

Washington DC is federally administered so it makes sense they’d start there. But I wouldn’t mind if he did send troops to red cities in red states. Is this your argument?

Also, it’s still really bad: ‘The city's homicide rate in 2024 was roughly around 25 per 100,000 residents — nearly twice the rate in 2012, when it was 13.9 per 100,000 residents, according to an NPR analysis of FBI data’

I would rather compare it to the early 2010s rather than the 1990s, wouldn’t you? This is in living memory, while the early 1990s only to older generations …

Background checks don't cover private sales, and 'private sales' can include traders at gun shows. And is anyone checking afterwards? Is there a register of who owns what gun and regular visits by the police to check that they are still at their registered address and stored safely? Nope, thought not.

I guess with guns that even if people have the correct background checks and legally own a firearm, that person can still shoot an 11yo child in the back who was running away after ringing his doorbell.

That country is off the charts crazy if they still fail to see guns as an issue after that!

You used "the left" to tar everyone with the same brush. No one in the mainstream uses "the right" in the same way.

There are other factors, certainly. Racism by police officers for a start - black people in the US get treated far differently, regardless of whether they've even done anything wrong. Far more likely to be pulled over for no reason, far more likely to be shot, in some cases by police who raided the wrong house. Not that police forces in the US have a great reputation for competence in general - like the officer who fired off a load of rounds at random when an acorn landed on his car. Should send American officers to the UK for training, "death by cop" in the UK is incredibly rare and almost all cases where lethal force was used were where the deceased genuinely did pose a threat to life.

We have background checks required by the federal government. Where are you getting this idea that America does not do this?