ik im supposed to ragebait over will wood and yada yada but prayers for charlie kirks wife and kids, and prayers to his family, i dont like where the usa is going, the land of the free has turned where a man who has not harassed, or harmed, or threatened anyone is shot and killed infront of his wife and children, and infront of over 100 people.
before you mention that there will be deaths in gun violence and there will be a cost statement, look fully at the interview.
imo i dont disagree with that take, because, we cant have a utopian view of the 2nd amendment or stopping gun violence, because if you like it or not, not everyone will follow the rules. i dont really care for the 2nd amendment, but in the view of someone who does, to protect the right that the usa gives us as citizens, and to let people defend themselves, deaths every year is something we can not drown out, people will kill other people, but that is a cost of letting citizens defend themselves, we cannot have a utopian view of everything.
and also, with the empathy quote, by the oxford english dictionary, empathy is "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another", i dont disagree with charlie kirk on this either, because empathy has been very much used to a point where it is kind of meaningless, saying "oh i feel empathetic for that person" is just a polite way of saying youd rather feel indifferent, i do think empath and feeling "a connection with another person's sorrow" through empathy has made the idea of the word empathy feel very artificial.
i do think sympathy (much like charlie kirk) is a better term, because sympathy describes real emotion you feel for someone who has gone through pain, i do think sympathy is a better word than empathy.
i think that charlie kirk was denigrated by many such who view him as radical, as much as some view all the right as radical, you might look at him from a view of the entire political spectrum and think of him as right wing, even far right, but looking in the conservative sphere, he was a very more moderate figure in the conservative space. now do i believe he was centrist? no, he was right-wing, but he was not as far right as many believe.
he was relatively secular to LGBTQ until 2018, he was against HRT and gender fluidity as of 2025, but he was not "every lgbtq person should be killed and executed"
he was against DEI, but typical for a right-wing figure,
he was against abortion, but with exceptions to where the mothers life is at risk, people saying that he would make children birth the kids, that falls under the exception to where the mothers life is at risk.
he was against covid, again typical for right wing trump fans (maga fans are different) in 2020/21
he said january 6 did not represent the "mainstream trump supporters"
but do political opinions matter when people who have not harmed or threatened people are killed in the name of "vengence" and "justice"? what justice is there when two kids had their father for only 3 and 1 years respectively? what justice is there when a mother has to explain why dad didnt come home from the hospital? what justice is there when a child will never get to see their dad ever again? what justice is there when a man will never get to see his kids again? when a mans family has to relive this moment again and again, what justice is there? theres no justice for killing an innocent man, politics dont matter when 2 children will never see their father again. we have been so warped by politics that we will fight over whos more moral and who is bad and who is subhuman that we dont care about the cost anymore, we only care about what is more correct, and what is more righteous. we are all at the same level as one eachother, we are all the same in one way or another, we are all human, and no one deserves to die.