Lindsey Graham, Charlie Kirk, And Accountability
At the news of Lindsey Graham’s passing, I- I was, admittedly, unmoved. I didn’t care for the man. As it’s Sunday morning, there are plenty of Republican supporters on network news shows bloviating on his tireless work for this and advocacy for that, but – really – he was a bootlicker and self-serving pile of shit. I mean that in the most respectful way possible in this time of mourning for the prick. “In the beginning, he was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump,” some have pointed out, but that was only true until it no longer benefitted him to be. “He was a champion of democracy.” Was he? While serving as an apologist for MAGA, who aren’t known for upholding the U.S. Constitution, perhaps the world’s greatest document symbolizing a nation’s framework for democracy, symbolizing it and facilitating it, instead decrying it for being a document “past its time” and “ready to be replaced” and picking and choosing which parts of it to adhere to while ignoring the rest – much as many of these same folks regard holy scripture. It’s only important if it supports their overall ideal; anything else is suspect of being incorrect at best, damned-near traitorous at worst, failing to see the point of what the document is about, as a whole as well as by its parts. I’ve spoken with many self-described conservatives who are all about the 2nd Amendment, but you’d think that section of the Constitution was its end-all with these people. They like to include the 1st Amendment, too – but only when it applies to their speech. Detractors need to shut the fuck up, maybe even be locked up. When you traipse beyond these and into other areas of the document, MAGAs get a little hazy. Before I continue, most of those in my life identifying as conservative also espouse MAGA, but one doesn’t automatically make you part of the other group. I know a few conservatives who disavow MAGA and Trump and their followers, but even fewer of these can bring themselves to go any further by embracing card-carrying Democrats and their policies or people who say they “lean a bit left” or progressives or socialists of a stripe. One shouldn’t expect them to. If they shared my outlook, it would be theirs as well and would be labeled accordingly. I’d hope, though, that those who don’t agree with me on any particular thing could outline why in an articulate, educated manner, rather than in some sophomoric, thoughtless way, as much of MAGA often does with anyone who’d disagree with them. Meh. I’m not above a swell meme that brings a chuckle, but there’s more to a philosophy than a knee-jerk motion in the opposite direction for the sake of being in opposition.
I’m torn as to whether or not I’m looking forward to what’s coming in the next couple of months. That is, the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s murder. “He was assassinated!” No, that bitch was shot. These fuckers are lining him out like he was the leader of some great movement. He wasn’t. He was a social media personality and influencer who figureheaded a white Christian nationalist organization. Nothing he did was anything more than manipulating the easily-molded into his thought process in order to expand that organization and its political power. “You don’t even take what he said in context!” his apologists have complained, but I – unlike them – actually paid attention to his non-curated output, which was freely-witnessable on X, where he daily made comment of current events, where his belief system was openly exposed for all to see and hear. His mistrust of blacks as qualification goes in positions of employment. His disdain for women beyond familial responsibility as he saw it. His xenophobia, homophobia. His championing of violent behavior against those he disagreed with, his nonchalant attitude toward school shootings. I rode that account on the daily, right up to the day he was killed. I got no positivity from him. But I was supposed to drop to my knees and pray to God for him, his family? Why? When did it become anyone else’s business who I pray for and for what reason or for whom I don’t pray and my reasoning for that? I got dragged severely by people who’d completely snowed themselves as to what this guy was all about. I had people who didn’t know a fucking thing about the guy, hadn’t heard of him before that day, shaking their heads at me and clutching pearls without knowing one gaddamned thing about the guy they were defending. “But what about his family? He has children!” When in the fuck did I become responsible for and to this asshole’s family, his children?
“Can’t you at least bring yourself to feel bad for them when celebrating his death?”
That’s another thing. These fools were sold on the idea that anyone who was neither unsurprised nor particularly touched by his passing was “celebrating his death”. “But, you said-”
Yeah, I know what I said. I said that he died by the same sword he wielded. That was all I said, initially, beyond not feeling too gaddamned bad he was gone. I don’t know what these people wanted from me. Was I supposed to feign grief over some dude who’d historically felt little empathy for others and, indeed, hated the very term?
“You’re taking what he said about ‘empathy’ out of context.”
Was I really, though? You can dump all the extra dialog into his mouth you feel compelled to, but it won’t change the meaning behind his disdain for empathy. I never understood the reasoning behind their spin of the guy. Those I’d already known as being his supporters gladly quoted him and embraced his ideals to my clutched pearls. Those ideals were the reason, et al, they adored him. Why go into denial about his words and what he was about, unless it’s to hide one’s own shame for what they support of him, knowing how wrong he was? I mean, in the weeks and months following Charlie Kirk’s shooting, one of the worst things you could do to any of these people is quote the man. People were being doxxed and losing their jobs, thanks to disgruntled Kirk followers. Quoting him was bad, critiquing him was worse. Nearly a year later, those vilified for not worshipping him are being awarded great sums of money in damages by courts who are now willing to yield to sense. One can’t slander another with truth, after all.
One should always know who and what they support and, if one does, be accountable for that support.
