There has indeed been a lot of news-bursts - like cloud bursts - this week. A tsunami of distraction, so may I ask what lesser news didn't make the front page? What do they want hidden from view? Adverse vaccine news? 90% of doctors now refusing boosters?
It is an interesting question. Is Charlie Kirk a Martyr?
Words matter, and (myself included) often throw around words without being sure of the defintion.
So. Lets start there. Definition of a MartyrA martyr is traditionally defined as someone who voluntarily suffers death or persecution rather than renouncing their beliefs, principles, or cause—often in a religious, ideological, or political context. The term originates from the Greek martys, meaning "witness," implying the person's death serves as testimony to their convictions. In modern usage, it extends to political figures killed for advocating controversial views, especially if the act stems from opposition to those views rather than personal disputes. Key criteria include:Causality: The death must be directly linked to the individual's advocacy or stance.
Intent: The victim does not seek or provoke the fatal outcome but persists in their cause.
Perception: The death is often framed by supporters as inspirational, amplifying the cause.
Of course, this is the secular definition. And please excuse the AI response below, as I am not a catholic or know the doctrine well enough..however
Catholic Church's Definition of a Martyr
The Catholic Church defines martyrdom as the supreme witness to the truth of the Christian faith, involving voluntary endurance of death rather than renouncing belief in Christ. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2473), it is "the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death."
Key requirements, drawn from Church teachings and canon law for recognition (e.g., in beatification processes), include:
Odium Fidei (Hatred of the Faith): The persecutor's motive must stem from hatred of the Christian faith itself, not merely personal, political, or other reasons.
Voluntary Acceptance: The victim must freely accept death as a witness to Christ, without seeking it out or provoking it unnecessarily.
Witness to Christ: The death must directly testify to faith in Jesus Christ and Catholic doctrine, often in the context of persecution for refusing to deny the faith.
I do find it interesting to see in the aftermath of this, a lot of people are posting they started to read the bible for the first time. Or they went to church for the first time.
So I suppose the question comes down to how you define Martyr
Like too many other things today, words have different meanings to different people, which makes communication between the left and right that more difficult.
Thank you for your kind words. I've been reading your posts for a while now, and always found them insightful and thought provoking. If we are in a Fourth Turning now, (and the evidence is pretty solid we are) then it is the young, GEN Z, that will carry the burden of the fight. A fair amount of ink has been spent speaking of the elder leaders (President Trump for one), but not much on the foot soldiers - the young people for whom this Fourth Turning will be the defining times of their lives. A few short hours ago, I attended a memorial gathering for Charlie organized and led by six high schoolers who are the student leaders of a Turning Point USA Chapter in one of the high schools in the county in which I live. Their high school is in what is probably the most heavily Democratic part of the county, and the county is somewhat Democrat leaning overall. About 160 folks turned out, and the young folks had organized a pretty amazing 90 minute meeting, with a former Congressman, radio hosts, and local ministers all in speaking roles. They themselves spoke, and spoke well. "Christian nationalism" has become almost a leftist slander for anyone on the conservative side of the spectrum, but these young people (three males, three females) would be well described by those terms, used without opprobrium. They were unashamedly Christian, and very much patriotic, nationalist MAGA believers. Every one of them spoke of Charlie as a role model, a hero, someone they totally respected. They especially honored him for his focus on young people. I served in various roles in the US military for some 40 years, and have been to an awful lot of memorial services over the course of that time. This gathering was as heartfelt as any I have ever attended, and frankly as well done as any I've ever been at. I suspect that that gathering is being reflected around much of the English speaking world, and beyond. If there was a theme, it was that Charlie's murder wasn't an end so much as a beginning. They noted that Turning Point USA as of last Monday had 7000 college chapters and about 1000 high school chapters. Since Charlie's murder, there have been no less than 32,000 new chapters come into existence. That's a 400% increase in less than a week. Whilst not all of those new chapters may make it, I'd venture to say most will. It is hard to overestimate just how much impact Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point organizations have had to date, and with that kind of growth, I suspect that Charlie's influence (cultural, religious and political) has only just begun. I was blown away by those numbers. That kind of organic growth is of tsunami proportions. And tsunamis change things - suddenly and a lot. I suspect we've only just begun to see the faintest beginnings of the changes to the political and social scenes that will come as a result of the murder of one man.
There are only a few moments in history which can be definitely pointed to as turning points of historic proportion. The assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in the summer of 1914, which sparked World War One, is one such moment. I suspect the assassination of Charlie James Kirk may be another. Time alone will validate or disprove that supposition, but from what I witnessed earlier this evening in person, and over the last 48 hours via the internet, the changes to come may be historically substantial, and reach across multiple nations. As Charlie might have said: history to come may "prove me wrong."
Folks, I miss typed. Mea culpa. I said Turning Point had 7000 college chapters and about 1000 high school chapters, and that there had been some 32,000 applications for new chapters. I hereby wish to formally state those numbers were wrong. (I was quoting the young high schoolers who put on the memorial gathering. But I failed to check my statement.) I subsequently HAVE checked those numbers and here is a quote from a Turning Point employee and spokesperson:
(Begin quote) Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show," said that Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has received more than 37,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters. Kolvet said that TPUSA currently has 900 official college chapters and approximately 1,200 high school chapters. (End quote)
So, I was wrong. TPSA didn't go from 8,000ish chapters to having 32, 000 inquiries about starting new chapters, they went from about 2.100 chapters to having 37,000 inquiries from folks wanting to start new chapters. For the record, that is not a 400% increase, that is a 1761% increase. That's a one thousand seven hundred and sixty one percent increase, which I point out is a bit bigger than 400 percent. (Actually, about 4.4 times bigger.)
I made my error in good faith, quoting the young chapter leader. Apparently, he got his numbers wrong. The surge in growth in Turning Point USA chapters has been *far* greater than he cited.
I note that the difference only reinforces my point, and in no way diminishes it. Charlie Kirk's premeditated murder seems to have been (or is in the act of becoming) a truly significant historic turning point. If you have issues with Martin Luther King avenues and statues in cities across the USA, get ready for Charlie James Kirk avenues and monuments. Because I suspect they are coming. We live in monumental times, and to paraphrase one somewhat influential writer and social commentator, that means we live in times for which they will erect monuments to in the future. It doesn't seem like people are going to stop writing about Charlie's killing (and Charlie Kirk himself) any time soon. That's the nature of real turning points, isn't it? They just don't conveniently go away. They refuse to be shoved down the memory hole.
Is Charlie KIrk's assassination bigger than an ongoing brutal civil war between two factions of Rus tribal Vikings in Ukraine? Is it bigger than the ongoing war between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East? I don't pretend to know, but it may be, if you are an American. I guess we'll see.
With all due respect, I think you might be wrong to be so quick to dismiss the impacts of Charlie Kirk's assassination. (I'd ask if you ever listened to his radio show, or heard him speak, but I'm guessing that answer is no.) Like Obi Wan Kenobi, however, Charlie Kirk in death may be far more influential than he was in life, and in life, he was pretty impressively influential. For a younger generation that respected his courage and faith already, but for whom the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK, John Lennon, etc. are quite literally ancient history (pre-smart phone, pre-PC, even), Charlie's killing in the most public way is impactful in ways difficult for someone older (who has lived long enough to have seen other politically motivated murders of high profile, respected hero figures) to measure effectively. And a whole lot of people are really tired of the far left constantly shoving their views down everyone's throats. Really, really tired of that. The trust in traditional authority figures is close to rock bottom lows. But Charlie was not an authority figure. He was a polite, respectful, but firmly opinionated young man, whose viewpoints happen to match and/or resonate with an awful lot of folks of all ages, but particularly GEN Z. Those viewpoints happen to have been the ones the far left has been most demonizing. And people, lots of people, are fed up with that. Folks all around the world are fed up with the globalist socialists (GLOBSOC?) who have been shoving their so-called Progressive views down the throats of just about anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders. Like the fictional Obi Wan of Starwars, Charlie's ghost almost instantly became energizing spirit. Use the term martyr if you wish, but Charlie is more than that. Charlie was a nice guy - a genuinely nice guy in a world full of rather opinionated, rather power hungry not so nice people. His focus was polite debate - a public skill that has declined far too much of late. Just because the cities of the world are not burning in "mostly peaceful but fiery" protests, does not mean that Charlie's murder did not light fires in hearts and minds. To see ordinary people literally around the globe holding up pictures of Charlie and chanting his name, peacefully, mind you, but in VERY large crowds, should give the GLOBSOC cause to think rather deeply what they intend to do in retirement. Because they are about to get retired, mostly by ballot. If the GLOBSOC leftists choose to resort to increasing violence, that's also a rather poor choice. Normies and conservatives do tend to own weapons, and practice with them, even. That's not actually a group of folks you are suggested to invite to a gun fight, unless you want them on your side. No, I suggest that you are not done hearing about Charlie Kirk, and that in fact, you have only begun to hear his name. You may never have listened to him, but many, many millions did. And those folks have about had it with the radical left in all its many colors and flavors. If burning a national flag is fair game and protected free speech, then burning those rainbow and weird pastel flags is just as much fair game and free speech. It works both ways. But Charlie was a peaceful guy, and so far, that is much of what is being remembered. Pray it stays that way, and the radical left doesn't keep pushing the STUPID button. If they do, if the Antifa shock troops start getting violent, from this time forward, the end game may be rather different.
No, I don't think you are done hearing Charlie Kirk's name. And likely won't be - for a long, long time to come.
Thank you, David -- this is a thoughtful, thorough, and heartfelt comment. We appreciate the time you took to express your insights.
What we probably did not articulate very well is this: we're not sick of hearing about the life, legacy, and impact of Charlie Kirk, the man. What we're sick of is the groups on all sides who (likely with even less knowledge about him than us) are seizing on this tragedy and manipulating it for their own purposes. This is very dangerous and hence our carefully included reference to the political maneuvering in the days after 9/11... the consequences of which we still live with. Without denying the tragedy, we aimed to acknowledge the nefarious forces that use it to their advantage. (Yes, it's cynical, to be sure.)
You are right that we were not following his work very closely, but we did understand that he was an important role model for a group of people who really need someone like him. The manner of his ultimate demise is an egregious betrayal of America's fundamental values and thus a frightening wake-up call to anyone like yourself (and us) who dares speak out in ways that are unconventional or threatening to the hegemony and its warped ambition to pit this nation against itself. It is actually why we said in our Thursday article that all of us are now Charlie Kirk — we are all potential targets and the precedent is one which, while it galvanizes one side, emboldens the other. It's a zero-sum game: If we — we as a society, as Americans — risk everything for the emotional, we stand to lose it all to the ideological.
There is lots more to say, but we'll keep our response at that. We recognize and appreciate the care you put into your comment; We hope to see you back here again soon. Your conscientious writing is what we need more of in the world and this is precisely why we published what we did. We want to see intelligent and informed thinking over the irrational and impulsive. You get it, and for that, we are grateful and honored to have you part of the community.
There has indeed been a lot of news-bursts - like cloud bursts - this week. A tsunami of distraction, so may I ask what lesser news didn't make the front page? What do they want hidden from view? Adverse vaccine news? 90% of doctors now refusing boosters?
Gosh what a stunning round up, things are certainly hotting up as the Empire unravels at speed.
It is an interesting question. Is Charlie Kirk a Martyr?
Words matter, and (myself included) often throw around words without being sure of the defintion.
So. Lets start there. Definition of a MartyrA martyr is traditionally defined as someone who voluntarily suffers death or persecution rather than renouncing their beliefs, principles, or cause—often in a religious, ideological, or political context. The term originates from the Greek martys, meaning "witness," implying the person's death serves as testimony to their convictions. In modern usage, it extends to political figures killed for advocating controversial views, especially if the act stems from opposition to those views rather than personal disputes. Key criteria include:Causality: The death must be directly linked to the individual's advocacy or stance.
Intent: The victim does not seek or provoke the fatal outcome but persists in their cause.
Perception: The death is often framed by supporters as inspirational, amplifying the cause.
Of course, this is the secular definition. And please excuse the AI response below, as I am not a catholic or know the doctrine well enough..however
Catholic Church's Definition of a Martyr
The Catholic Church defines martyrdom as the supreme witness to the truth of the Christian faith, involving voluntary endurance of death rather than renouncing belief in Christ. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2473), it is "the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death."
Key requirements, drawn from Church teachings and canon law for recognition (e.g., in beatification processes), include:
Odium Fidei (Hatred of the Faith): The persecutor's motive must stem from hatred of the Christian faith itself, not merely personal, political, or other reasons.
Voluntary Acceptance: The victim must freely accept death as a witness to Christ, without seeking it out or provoking it unnecessarily.
Witness to Christ: The death must directly testify to faith in Jesus Christ and Catholic doctrine, often in the context of persecution for refusing to deny the faith.
I do find it interesting to see in the aftermath of this, a lot of people are posting they started to read the bible for the first time. Or they went to church for the first time.
So I suppose the question comes down to how you define Martyr
Like too many other things today, words have different meanings to different people, which makes communication between the left and right that more difficult.
For example: What is a woman?
Thank you for your kind words. I've been reading your posts for a while now, and always found them insightful and thought provoking. If we are in a Fourth Turning now, (and the evidence is pretty solid we are) then it is the young, GEN Z, that will carry the burden of the fight. A fair amount of ink has been spent speaking of the elder leaders (President Trump for one), but not much on the foot soldiers - the young people for whom this Fourth Turning will be the defining times of their lives. A few short hours ago, I attended a memorial gathering for Charlie organized and led by six high schoolers who are the student leaders of a Turning Point USA Chapter in one of the high schools in the county in which I live. Their high school is in what is probably the most heavily Democratic part of the county, and the county is somewhat Democrat leaning overall. About 160 folks turned out, and the young folks had organized a pretty amazing 90 minute meeting, with a former Congressman, radio hosts, and local ministers all in speaking roles. They themselves spoke, and spoke well. "Christian nationalism" has become almost a leftist slander for anyone on the conservative side of the spectrum, but these young people (three males, three females) would be well described by those terms, used without opprobrium. They were unashamedly Christian, and very much patriotic, nationalist MAGA believers. Every one of them spoke of Charlie as a role model, a hero, someone they totally respected. They especially honored him for his focus on young people. I served in various roles in the US military for some 40 years, and have been to an awful lot of memorial services over the course of that time. This gathering was as heartfelt as any I have ever attended, and frankly as well done as any I've ever been at. I suspect that that gathering is being reflected around much of the English speaking world, and beyond. If there was a theme, it was that Charlie's murder wasn't an end so much as a beginning. They noted that Turning Point USA as of last Monday had 7000 college chapters and about 1000 high school chapters. Since Charlie's murder, there have been no less than 32,000 new chapters come into existence. That's a 400% increase in less than a week. Whilst not all of those new chapters may make it, I'd venture to say most will. It is hard to overestimate just how much impact Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point organizations have had to date, and with that kind of growth, I suspect that Charlie's influence (cultural, religious and political) has only just begun. I was blown away by those numbers. That kind of organic growth is of tsunami proportions. And tsunamis change things - suddenly and a lot. I suspect we've only just begun to see the faintest beginnings of the changes to the political and social scenes that will come as a result of the murder of one man.
There are only a few moments in history which can be definitely pointed to as turning points of historic proportion. The assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in the summer of 1914, which sparked World War One, is one such moment. I suspect the assassination of Charlie James Kirk may be another. Time alone will validate or disprove that supposition, but from what I witnessed earlier this evening in person, and over the last 48 hours via the internet, the changes to come may be historically substantial, and reach across multiple nations. As Charlie might have said: history to come may "prove me wrong."
Folks, I miss typed. Mea culpa. I said Turning Point had 7000 college chapters and about 1000 high school chapters, and that there had been some 32,000 applications for new chapters. I hereby wish to formally state those numbers were wrong. (I was quoting the young high schoolers who put on the memorial gathering. But I failed to check my statement.) I subsequently HAVE checked those numbers and here is a quote from a Turning Point employee and spokesperson:
(Begin quote) Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show," said that Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has received more than 37,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters. Kolvet said that TPUSA currently has 900 official college chapters and approximately 1,200 high school chapters. (End quote)
So, I was wrong. TPSA didn't go from 8,000ish chapters to having 32, 000 inquiries about starting new chapters, they went from about 2.100 chapters to having 37,000 inquiries from folks wanting to start new chapters. For the record, that is not a 400% increase, that is a 1761% increase. That's a one thousand seven hundred and sixty one percent increase, which I point out is a bit bigger than 400 percent. (Actually, about 4.4 times bigger.)
I made my error in good faith, quoting the young chapter leader. Apparently, he got his numbers wrong. The surge in growth in Turning Point USA chapters has been *far* greater than he cited.
I note that the difference only reinforces my point, and in no way diminishes it. Charlie Kirk's premeditated murder seems to have been (or is in the act of becoming) a truly significant historic turning point. If you have issues with Martin Luther King avenues and statues in cities across the USA, get ready for Charlie James Kirk avenues and monuments. Because I suspect they are coming. We live in monumental times, and to paraphrase one somewhat influential writer and social commentator, that means we live in times for which they will erect monuments to in the future. It doesn't seem like people are going to stop writing about Charlie's killing (and Charlie Kirk himself) any time soon. That's the nature of real turning points, isn't it? They just don't conveniently go away. They refuse to be shoved down the memory hole.
Is Charlie KIrk's assassination bigger than an ongoing brutal civil war between two factions of Rus tribal Vikings in Ukraine? Is it bigger than the ongoing war between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East? I don't pretend to know, but it may be, if you are an American. I guess we'll see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8VJsXdWvV0
ai rewrites the past
1. hamas is a cia/israel client force since 2002
2. russia is deploying hyper sonic missles to venezula
3. fda waived right of consent for personal digital twin / healthcare 4.0
https://rumble.com/v6xtnzu-codex-911-premiering-aug-24th-6pm-et.html
Shhhhh!!! You're not supposed to say the quiet things out loud!
'revelation of the method' is part of the game
With all due respect, I think you might be wrong to be so quick to dismiss the impacts of Charlie Kirk's assassination. (I'd ask if you ever listened to his radio show, or heard him speak, but I'm guessing that answer is no.) Like Obi Wan Kenobi, however, Charlie Kirk in death may be far more influential than he was in life, and in life, he was pretty impressively influential. For a younger generation that respected his courage and faith already, but for whom the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK, John Lennon, etc. are quite literally ancient history (pre-smart phone, pre-PC, even), Charlie's killing in the most public way is impactful in ways difficult for someone older (who has lived long enough to have seen other politically motivated murders of high profile, respected hero figures) to measure effectively. And a whole lot of people are really tired of the far left constantly shoving their views down everyone's throats. Really, really tired of that. The trust in traditional authority figures is close to rock bottom lows. But Charlie was not an authority figure. He was a polite, respectful, but firmly opinionated young man, whose viewpoints happen to match and/or resonate with an awful lot of folks of all ages, but particularly GEN Z. Those viewpoints happen to have been the ones the far left has been most demonizing. And people, lots of people, are fed up with that. Folks all around the world are fed up with the globalist socialists (GLOBSOC?) who have been shoving their so-called Progressive views down the throats of just about anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders. Like the fictional Obi Wan of Starwars, Charlie's ghost almost instantly became energizing spirit. Use the term martyr if you wish, but Charlie is more than that. Charlie was a nice guy - a genuinely nice guy in a world full of rather opinionated, rather power hungry not so nice people. His focus was polite debate - a public skill that has declined far too much of late. Just because the cities of the world are not burning in "mostly peaceful but fiery" protests, does not mean that Charlie's murder did not light fires in hearts and minds. To see ordinary people literally around the globe holding up pictures of Charlie and chanting his name, peacefully, mind you, but in VERY large crowds, should give the GLOBSOC cause to think rather deeply what they intend to do in retirement. Because they are about to get retired, mostly by ballot. If the GLOBSOC leftists choose to resort to increasing violence, that's also a rather poor choice. Normies and conservatives do tend to own weapons, and practice with them, even. That's not actually a group of folks you are suggested to invite to a gun fight, unless you want them on your side. No, I suggest that you are not done hearing about Charlie Kirk, and that in fact, you have only begun to hear his name. You may never have listened to him, but many, many millions did. And those folks have about had it with the radical left in all its many colors and flavors. If burning a national flag is fair game and protected free speech, then burning those rainbow and weird pastel flags is just as much fair game and free speech. It works both ways. But Charlie was a peaceful guy, and so far, that is much of what is being remembered. Pray it stays that way, and the radical left doesn't keep pushing the STUPID button. If they do, if the Antifa shock troops start getting violent, from this time forward, the end game may be rather different.
No, I don't think you are done hearing Charlie Kirk's name. And likely won't be - for a long, long time to come.
Thank you, David -- this is a thoughtful, thorough, and heartfelt comment. We appreciate the time you took to express your insights.
What we probably did not articulate very well is this: we're not sick of hearing about the life, legacy, and impact of Charlie Kirk, the man. What we're sick of is the groups on all sides who (likely with even less knowledge about him than us) are seizing on this tragedy and manipulating it for their own purposes. This is very dangerous and hence our carefully included reference to the political maneuvering in the days after 9/11... the consequences of which we still live with. Without denying the tragedy, we aimed to acknowledge the nefarious forces that use it to their advantage. (Yes, it's cynical, to be sure.)
You are right that we were not following his work very closely, but we did understand that he was an important role model for a group of people who really need someone like him. The manner of his ultimate demise is an egregious betrayal of America's fundamental values and thus a frightening wake-up call to anyone like yourself (and us) who dares speak out in ways that are unconventional or threatening to the hegemony and its warped ambition to pit this nation against itself. It is actually why we said in our Thursday article that all of us are now Charlie Kirk — we are all potential targets and the precedent is one which, while it galvanizes one side, emboldens the other. It's a zero-sum game: If we — we as a society, as Americans — risk everything for the emotional, we stand to lose it all to the ideological.
There is lots more to say, but we'll keep our response at that. We recognize and appreciate the care you put into your comment; We hope to see you back here again soon. Your conscientious writing is what we need more of in the world and this is precisely why we published what we did. We want to see intelligent and informed thinking over the irrational and impulsive. You get it, and for that, we are grateful and honored to have you part of the community.