{"id":1120,"date":"2025-09-13T14:47:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2025-10-14T11:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T16:09:10","slug":"thoughts-on-charlie-kirks-murder-its-bad-im-against-people-killing-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/thoughts-on-charlie-kirks-murder-its-bad-im-against-people-killing-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Charlie Kirk\u2019s Murder? It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thoughts on Charlie Kirk\u2019s Murder? <\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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This post originally appeared on Dead Dillo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Charlie Kirk was killed on Wednesday.\u00a0 I did not make any specific comments on social media about it.\u00a0 I did post on Facebook, \u201cThere are several issues I care passionately about when it comes to politics \u2013 public education, personal freedom, many things \u2013 but even more than I care about any particular issue, I care about us being able to discuss our differences without demonizing, and belittling and shaming and shunning and hating each other. Because, brothers and sisters, that leads nowhere good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, an old friend posted on my timeline, \u201cComments on Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder?\u201d\u00a0 My response was, \u201cIt\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My friend, actually a couple of my friends, did not think this was a good answer.\u00a0 What followed were several comments ranging from concerned to indignant, but with the general theme that if I want to have a leadership role I should say more, that I should not be lazy, that I should not play word games. I should be bolder, more of a voice for good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I guess my comment hit the wrong nerve on that day when many of us were wearing our nerves on the outside. \u00a0I guess I was being short, which is often interpreted as rude. If so, I think it was more out of sadness and frustration than out of any intention to hurt or aggravate.\u00a0 Regardless of how it came across, it does sum up pretty much what I think about Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s bad.\u00a0 I\u2019m against people killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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Let\u2019s not kill politicians. Let\u2019s not kill pundits and people with strong opinions. Let\u2019s not kill people who are still trying to figure out what they think, or people who don\u2019t really even like to talk about politics.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not kill young people or old people.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not kill little kids. \u00a0Let\u2019s not kill people who disagree with us. Let\u2019s not kill people who think like us. Let\u2019s not kill each other. Let\u2019s find better ways to handle our differences.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s bad.\u00a0 I\u2019m against people killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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Should I be more shocked and surprised? People have been getting shot pretty regularly lately. I don\u2019t imagine he will be the last one.\u00a0 We have used our words and our media to create a political climate where people fear and demonize each other.\u00a0 The natural result of that is violence.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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Am I supposed to be madder, somehow, about this killing than about the last two or three? \u00a0I\u2019m not. I\u2019m mad about all of them. We have let our political rhetoric get too heated. The natural consequence of that is violence. Charlie Kirk is not uniquely more important or less important to me than anyone else who is getting killed because of that. All of them are important. All of us are important. I am against us killing each other. That applies to him and to any and everyone else who has been killed or who might get killed during this season of political rage. We need to change our political rhetoric. I\u2019m trying to do that. I might not be making very fast progress.\u00a0 I might not know what I am doing, but I am trying.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to learn.\u00a0 That\u2019s all I know to do.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s bad. I am against us killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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Is it frustrating that I am not assigning blame to someone? Should I be saying it\u2019s the Republican\u2019s fault or it\u2019s the Democrat\u2019s fault? What good would that do? We are all at fault. We all created it. Did one side throw more fuel on the flames than the other?\u00a0 What difference does that make now?\u00a0 The flames are too high. The work now is to turn down the flames.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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I don\u2019t know whether Charlie Kirk was a part of the problem or a part of the solution because I have never watched Charlie Kirk. I have never watched one of his videos or listened to one of his debates. I don\u2019t have to know what he said or how he said it to know that I think killing him is bad. \u00a0I think killing each other is a bad way to resolve our differences.<\/p>\n

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I am against us killing each other.<\/h6>\n

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That\u2019s really what it boils down to for me. I think the best thing for us to do right now is to acknowledge that we have let things go too far. Killing each other is bad. I don\u2019t think the best thing to do at this point is to keep provoking each other and blaming each other and finding reasons to be mad at each other. I think we need to turn down the volume. We need to acknowledge that we have gone too far. I think we need to be quiet and sit for a minute. Then I think we need to reset and work on figuring out better ways to resolve our differences and live together.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not easy.\u00a0 Sometimes it doesn\u2019t feel fair or righteous. It feels very often like it is not working. <\/em><\/p>\n

But are we OK with the alternative?<\/em><\/p>\n

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I am against us killing each other.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore Posts on Pulling together Instead of Pushing Apart<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThoughts on Charlie Kirk\u2019s Murder? It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other.\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\u201cPeace\u201d and \u201cQuiet\u201d are not the same. For true peace we need to start talking!\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThe Texas Scorecard – My Enemy (2023)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Thoughts on Charlie Kirk\u2019s Murder? It\u2019s bad. I\u2019m against people killing each other. This post originally appeared on Dead Dillo. Charlie Kirk was killed on<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-pulling-together-instead-of-pushing-apart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}