I had hoped to talk about getting ready to take animals to market. Or the fun of trying to separate a bunch of very horny bucklings out from our girls. Or we could have discussed potentially taking on a small herd of wool/meat sheep mixes for an old friend from Baltimore. But instead, I have to talk about what happened last week in my country, the fall out, the horribleness of social media and what I hope for in the future.
Irrespective of how you personally felt about Charlie Kirk, any reasoning American should look with horror at a man in his prime being gunned down in a forum for open political discussion. And irrespective of how you feel about Charlie Kirk’s opinions or positions, it is nigh impossible to deny the impact he had on young Americans, young conservatives, and the Republican Party.
I am a card carrying independent. There is no party that caters to the fiscal conservatism, social libertarianism, and defense hawkishness that runs through my political being. So, from my perspective, I am a somewhat unbiased observer when it comes to Democrats vs Republicans.
What I am as much as anything is a proponent of freedom of speech. I am not an absolutist. If speech calls directly for violence, that is not expression that I think is appropriate in our country. But I strongly believe, as did Charlie Kirk, that the only way to bridge the gap between differing views is to sit down in a rational manner to trade ideas and concepts back and forth with your ideological opponents. And that is what Charlie Kirk did time and time again. There are hundreds of YouTube videos where he, in the face of rude, ideological, and demeaning speech opponents, listened to their arguments, countered them with his own and thanked them for their time.
Charlie Kirk was not a perfect person. He would not have said that he was a perfect person. I’m sure he said things for which he was sorry. But he was not an antisemite. I do not believe he was a racist. He disagreed, on a religious basis, with homosexuality yet at the same time had many close friends and associates who were gay who reported that he was not “anti” gay.
We have many problems in this country which he highlighted. We have far too many children born out of wedlock. We have a birth rate in our country that does not cover our needs. There is a serious problem with the nuclear family especially in poor urban and rural areas. Our education system, which was the envy of the world, is now failing our children and young adults. Universities have become factories of political indoctrination rather than forums for teaching, rhetoric, and free trade of speech. Illegal immigration has caused many issues including crime and downward pressure on wages, despite the fact that immigrants (legal or illegal) for the most part are law abiding.
That Charlie Kirk discussed these very sensitive subjects doesn’t make him racist, homophobic, antisemitic or a white nationalist. It makes him have a perspective that is different to the majority of the Democrat Party. And that is ok. He had the right to his views and the opposition had the right to disagree. That is what is great about America. In a day where you can be arrested in England for speech, we were the beacon of freedom of expression. That is until last week.
Charlie Kirk literally died for what he believed. And the fallout on Twitter, BlueSky and the various outlets showed us the depravity of social media and of a large number of people. The good news is that it also showed us what is wonderful about our country. Millions of dollars have already been donated by Americans in order to take care of his family. Democrats and Republicans of all views for the most part have condemned what was done to Charlie live for the world to see. And you have seen the mass mobilization of thousands upon thousands of young people going to his Turning Point website and getting involved.
Rosh Hashana is a week away. The New Year calls the faithful of the worlds’ oldest monotheistic religion to turn to our Father in Heaven and welcome in 5786. It is my personal prayer and hope that this incoming year will see tolerance between peoples, an end to war, the release of hostages, and a rebirth in the ideals of freedom of expression. This is my last post of 5785. I pray that my first post of 5786 will be one where I again get the chance to talk about farming, and cooking, and animals and my small slice of Heaven, Farscape Farm.
