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Not long after Charlie Kirk, a far-right conservative media personality, was assassinated at Utah Valley University, an event was posted onto UQ Stalkerspace advertising a vigil here on campus. Like many others, I left a comment on that event that noted the harm he caused throughout his life, and refused to mourn his death.
I made that comment and thought nothing of it. In my opinion, (and the opinion of others I showed the comment to), my comment wasn’t saying anything too grievous. Besides, it was one out of several that were saying similar things.
I was surprised to find that someone had emailed Semper Floreat claiming that what I said, mainly the final sentence, was “terrorism and hatred.” Again, I thought nothing of it until I discovered that I had also been reported to UQ and my other place of employment for these comments. I don’t know if it was the same person who sent the email, but it was obvious I had been targeted.
In the email, the person also said that they agree with free speech and personal opinions, but believed my comment was not free speech. I find it quite hypocritical that these people claim to be pro-free speech until a total stranger disagrees with them, and then that total stranger must lose their job and be kicked out of the university they attend.
I haven’t reproduced the text of that comment here to avoid breaching the agreement I reached with the university, nor have I named the person who I believe reported me. But just consider for a moment why I was targeted when vitriolic hatred comes from our own student body (either current or from certain infamous alumni), and they aren’t threated with keeping their jobs, their degrees, their political freedom.
I think a lot of people who sympathise with Charlie Kirk think all the heinous things he said are magically forgiven because he died. As an Alfred Street Baptist Church Pastor, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley says:
“And I do not celebrate the killing of anyone. Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be assassinated. But I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half-staff, calling this nation to honour and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land. And hearing people with selective rage who were mad about Charlie Kirk but didn’t give a damn about Melissa Hortman and her husband when they were shot down in their home, tell me I ought to have compassion for the death of a man who had no respect for my own life. You do not become a hero in your death when you are a weapon of the enemy in your life. I can abhor the violence that took your life, I don’t have to celebrate how you chose to live.”
He goes on to say, “how you die does not redeem how you lived.”
This is how I view things. I believe that two sentences coexist: “I don’t think anyone should be assassinated for what they say” and “I’m not going to mourn a man who was actively harming the communities I’m a part of alongside other marginalised communities.”
Here are some of the things Charlie Kirk has said:
- “We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately”
- “LGBTQ is a social contagion”
- “If I see a black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified”
- On protestors: “If somebody has had enough of your antics and has to run you over to get somewhere, they shouldn’t face any penalties”
If what I said is “terrorism and hatred”, then what is what Charlie Kirk said? If what he said is “an opinion”, isn’t what I said also “an opinion”?
During a UQU council meeting, a council member moved for the UQ Union to make a statement condoning political violence, and Charlie Kirk’s death specifically. They used the vigil attendance (approx. 500 people) as a reason, saying it’s in the interest of the UQ student body. That vigil was the only one in all of Brisbane. Even if all 500 attendees were students, over 57,000 students attend UQ. That’s less than 1% of the student population.
And what about the students like me who were significantly harmed by Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric?
Written by El Bancroft
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