I wrote the following in response to a comment I received on yesterday’s post about Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump, and those who refuse to disavow the hateful speech and ideas from them.
I believe I should share this response as a post as well so that I can clear up any potential confusion about my original post and my intentions behind it, and not everyone may see the comment and reply.
I don’t believe and have never said “conservatives are evil” – you are applying my words much too broadly. In fact your whole comment speaks only of liberal or conservative as if individuals are not capable of unique thought or opinion that is independent of party. You are characterizing this whole issue as a left or right issue which is not even close to what I wrote.
These are my personal beliefs and I never made any assertion that they were anything but my personal beliefs. I don’t speak for liberals or claim to represent liberals or the left. I never characterized all liberals as anything or all conservatives as anything. You are the one who is making generalizations and overall characterizations about what I believe as a liberal.
Do I believe conservatives are evil and need to be destroyed – of course not, that is a ludicrous statement and I challenge you to show me where I said any such thing.
Do I believe that if you support President Trump you want people to die in the streets – again, of course not, and I agree that would be a ludicrous statement.
I have not always agreed with conservatives about the role of government, tax cuts, trickle down economics, and any number of things. I am ok with that, debate about these issues is part of our governmental process and we choose who we want to represent us to enact these policies. I wouldn’t expect everyone to think the same way about everything. I don’t think this is any indication of a moral superiority.
I don’t think conservatives are evil. I believe that Charlie Kirk’s beliefs were evil. I believe that Donald Trump’s honoring Charlie Kirk for his beliefs is evil. I believe that anyone failing to disavow such evil beliefs is in itself an evil act.
What I think, as an individual, is that if believing that homosexuals have a right to exist without being stoned to death, as Charlie Kirk has suggested, makes me believe I am morally superior to him and those who also believe that, I am ok with that.
If disagreeing that the shooting deaths of children in classrooms is just the price we have to pay for the 2nd Amendment, as Charlie Kirk suggested, makes me feel morally superior than I am ok with that as well.
If disagreeing with Charlie Kirk that black women such as Michelle Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson don’t have the brain power that a white person, who should be in their place instead of them because they stole that spot from that white person, makes me feel morally superior than I am ok with that.
If disagreeing with Charlie Kirk that the the Civil Rights Act was a mistake makes me feel morally superior, I am absolutely ok with feeling morally superior.
I could continue with the list of things that Charlie Kirk has said that I disagree with so vehemently that I have no issue feeling morally superior to him. There are dozens of examples of him just being a bad person with bad ideas and bad beliefs.
I don’t feel morally superior to “conservatives”, I have no qualms about feeling morally superior to Charlie Kirk though, and to those who embrace and agree with his hateful beliefs because I do believe so strongly that he is wrong.
I believe that President Trump in honoring and glorifying Charlie Kirk and his opinions is doing irreparable harm to our country. He is legitimizing this hateful rhetoric and shaping our country on these values which are so directly in opposition to my own that it repulses me.
I am sorry you believe in “liberal gobbledygook” – I honestly have no idea what that means.
What I really and truly feel sorry for is that you can find anything Charlie Kirk says or believes to be positive or truthful. I am sorry that you can accept that our President also embracing and honoring these hateful beliefs as something that is making our country great again.
I didn’t write any of this as a “liberal” to anyone who may be “conservative” – I wrote this as one human being to another.
You are absolutely right that relationships can and should transcend politics, but none of what I said in this post is really about politics. Charlie Kirk wasn’t a politician. He held no elected office. He was a skilled provocateur. Characterizing this as a political assassination (especially when we don’t yet have any indication of a true motive) is disingenuous. This was a murder, a senseless murder, just like all the other senseless murders that are committed because of the fomenting of the violent narratives that currently prevail in our society.
So this isn’t about conservative or liberal. If anyone honestly shares the beliefs that Charlie Kirk embodied, and that Donald Trump is now honoring and emboldening, than any profound connection that we may have had in any other area is in direct contradiction with my own deeply held beliefs about the value of people, and my view of what makes a civil and just society.
I wouldn’t shun anyone or remove anyone from my life just for being conservative. I can and will however, without hesitation, remove anyone who refuses to disavow such vile and hateful rhetoric from the President of the United States and his goal to remove and restrict the rights of its citizens because of their race, religion or other beliefs.
I’m not mad, it truly makes me sad to see our country in such a sorry condition and so divided.
And I guess I need to say don’t you dare feel sorry for me. I believe in what I believe and there are many things in this world I feel strongly about. I will go to my death bed believing that Quadrophenia is a better album than Tommy, but I wouldn’t end a friendship because someone disagreed with that. I believe that transgender people deserve to exist and have the same rights as everyone else – I will absolutely end a friendship over that.
I also just need to wonder how you can make a general statement like conservatives think liberals are good people but with bad ideas – if I were on Twitter I could find hundreds of contradictory tweets in a matter of seconds.
In fact, here you go:
Your thoughts?