Charlie Kirks wife forgives the killer

[strangerandstranger]

To people who said her husband was hateful and what they preached was hateful, she just forgave the killer, as God would. Powerful speech.

The messed up young man who thought shooting man he didn't like was the answer, will go to prison and no longer be with his boyfriend. Erika Kirk no longer has her husband and her children have list their father.

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.

’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.

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.

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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What or who are you responding to here?

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.

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

Think again.

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

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.

@5128gap 💯

@beready2025
I didn't think what you were going on about radical leftist violence sounded right tbh. So I looked up the violent acts in the US. Here it is right wing first, left wing second.

RIGHT
2017
Charlottesville car attack (“Unite the Right” rally)
Charlottesville, Virginia
A white supremacist drove a car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring many. Wikipedia
2018
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
White supremacist attack at Tree of Life synagogue, murdering 11 people. Wikipedia+1
2019
El Paso Walmart shooting
El Paso, Texas
A mass shooting targeting Hispanic people, 23 killed. Wikipedia+2Extremism Terms+2
2019
Poway synagogue shooting
Poway, California
A white supremacist attacker shot worshipers. Wikipedia+1
2020
Boogaloo murders in California
California (Oakland & Santa Cruz)
Anti-police / anti-government motivated attacks by far-right extremists. Wikipedia
2021
Multiple extremist-related murders
U.S. nationwide
ADL reports: 29 killed, 19 separate incidents; most by right-wing extremism. Extremism Terms
2022
Buffalo supermarket shooting
Buffalo, New York
White supremacist killed 10 Black shoppers. Extremism Terms+1
2022
Club Q (nightclub) shooting
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Anti-LGBTQ-motivated mass shooting, 5 people killed. Wikipedia+2Extremism Terms+2
2022
Plot to kill law enforcement & bomb FBI building
Maryville / Knoxville, Tennessee
Two men plotted to kill 37 law enforcement officers and attack FBI office. Extremism Terms

LEFT
2019
Tacoma ICE detention center attack
Tacoma, Washington
Willem van Spronsen, an anarchist/anti-fascist activist, attacked a ICE detention centre with fire bombs and tried to ignite a propane tank; was shot dead by police. Wikipedia
1 death (van Spronsen); no reported injuries to others from attack itself. Wikipedia+1
2020
Killing of Aaron Danielson by Michael Reinoehl

Hth

And you took that from their post?! Crikey.

Disagreeing with 99% of Kirk's views isnt enough for PlasticTrees who will not rest till everyone is 100% against everything he's ever said or done.

I was being sardonic, but clearly the tone was lost.

@Underthinker You’re just salty you got called out for blindly defending and supporting Kirk on another thread despite claiming to be pro-choice and ‘left leaning’. Not a single coherent argument was made by you, that’s not my fault I’m afraid.

Yep. Quote the same things over and over (and over) which are presented as fact, and if all else fails deem that you haven’t presented a ‘single coherent argument’ if such poster doesn’t agree. Whether you have or not is neither here nor there. A common theme over a few threads.

@AccidentallyWesAnderson You seem obsessed with me. Get a life.

Yes. Obsessed. That’s me.

Or - one’s interpretation of ‘obsession’ might be another’s ‘observation’.

I thought a few had a semblance of coherence but I'll try harder next time. If only we could all be as persuasive as you.