Finn Pasatta is a junior history major at Baldwin Wallace University. The following letter to the editors was submitted by Pasatta to The Exponent in response to an earlier published piece titled “Charlie Kirk and the turning point of America.” 

I must respectfully disagree with the recently published opinion piece regarding Charlie Kirk. His murder was a heinous act and has no place in our country. Yet I am concerned by the recent widespread depiction of him as an American hero.  

The same man who said Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson “do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously”? Who said “the ‘Great Replacement’ is not a theory, it’s a reality”? To me, and to many Americans, Charlie Kirk was not a defender of truth or free speech.  

Have we forgotten that he first rose to prominence by compiling a list of professors expressing progressive views so that they could be fired? Or that he called for a “patriot” to bail out the man who attacked Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband? The Founding Fathers warned against demagogues manipulating people’s emotions, as Charlie Kirk did with his provocative short-form content (see videos such as: “This is the moment he knew he messed up”), rather than contributing to reasoned public discourse where participants seek to understand each other’s viewpoints, always with humility. I do not think they would have wanted Charlie Kirk anywhere near the levers of power of our country. 

As those who dare offer anything short of glowing praise lose their jobs, I hope that those who find inspiration in him remember the lessons his religion teaches about love and forgiveness, rather than turning towards vengeance and spiritual warfare against those who do not share his religious views, such as myself. They ought to at least understand why so many find Charlie Kirk troubling, and why the unqualified praise of him makes us feel as though America is being reflected through a dark and distorted mirror.