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Who knew freedom of speech would one day get shot in the neck - literally?
Charlie Kirk, the far-right commentator and ally of Donald Trump, was killed on Wednesday doing what he was known for - running his mouth. For years he thrived on podcasts, at rallies, and most notoriously on college campuses, where he loved nothing more than to debate students into corners and call it a victory for “truth.” If it was current and controversial in US politics, chances are Kirk was talking about it - loudly, unapologetically, and usually with a side of bigotry.
He rejected diversity, insisting America was at its peak when immigration was halted. He brushed off gun violence as just the unfortunate “cost” of the Second Amendment. He told women to “reject feminism” and “submit to your husband.” He sneered at empathy (“a made-up, new age term”), joked about Black pilots not being qualified, and said Black women lacked the brainpower to succeed without stealing opportunities from white people.
In short, he spent much of his adult life defending intolerance and calling it free speech.
The world will sleep just fine without him
Now, here’s where I stand: I was shocked when I heard Kirk was assassinated. Shocked - but not sad. Because while I believe in freedom of speech, the man himself? The world will sleep just fine without him. Maybe even better.
Freedom of speech is sacred. It’s messy, painful, sometimes stupid - but sacred. Even when words stab us in the gut, even when they drip with prejudice, even when they come out of the mouth of someone like Kirk. Because as long as we too have the freedom to speak, we have a weapon. We can argue back. We can counter. We can drown out hate with better words, louder words, smarter words.
But Kirk didn’t just exercise free speech. He weaponised it. He turned campuses - supposed to be playgrounds for ideas - into battlegrounds where young people, still figuring out their place in the world, were easy prey. His “prove-me-wrong" challenge to students to publicly debate him wasn’t about healthy discourse. It was about dominance. It was about spectacle.
Now, I know it’s horrible to wish death on others. But if I’m being brutally honest, I’ve done it in my head. Haven’t you? If some people died of natural causes tomorrow, I’d probably mark the occasion with a cupcake. Maybe even two. But assassination? That’s a whole different thing. You don’t shoot someone because you hate what they say. That crosses a line.
Because the moment bullets replace words, we lose. We don’t just lose them - we lose the principle of free speech. And that, ironically, is the one thing even Kirk didn’t deserve to take with him when he went down.
So no, I won’t be grieving Charlie Kirk. If anything, his death just proves that freedom of speech is more fragile than we’d like to admit - and unlike him, it actually deserves to live a long, healthy life.
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go” - Oscar Wilde.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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