Thanks for taking the time to sincerely respond to my questions so I'll give you the same respect.
I am guessing from your picks on what to feel sad about you have some political point to make. Why don't you just make it? Yes, Charlie Kirk was having a huge impact on our national politics, and changing lives for the good if you ask me, and even though he wasn't my "friend" he easily could have been, and would have slid seamlessly into my life. Does that elicit a stronger emotional reaction? Yes, it does. Doesn't seem that complicated.
The thing is, I don't really have a political point to make. Beyond the 2 Democratic legislators and their dog being gunned down for God knows what reason, all of the other killings I would consider apolitical. I think you would agree that school shootings have very little to do with politics; they're just kids! They don't know anything about the how shit the world is and how fucked up politics are in this country. Tamir Rice was 12 and playing with an airsoft pistol in a public park with nobody else around when a police officer rolled up on him, open the door, and shot him all in the span of less than 5 seconds of video. Ahmaud Arbery was going for a run in the neighborhood he lived in, and because he was black a couple of yahoos thought he was "up to no good" and took it upon themselves to antagonize him from their pickup truck and lynch him in broad daylight.
I'm not saying that you need to cry for these victims of senseless violence in the same way that you mourn for the loss of those close to you; of course you will have stronger emotions when it involves those you care about. However, if you truly are as humane as you seem to be, I would expect you to feel some lament over the loss of those lives. But what I am seeing from other posters in this thread is ZERO empathy for victims like I have just mentioned, with justifications ranging from the political leanings of the victims to the color of their skin to what fucking US state they were in when they died as if that gives them
any information about the victims lives, while having a bleeding heart for Charlie. It's those kinds of attitudes that this country can do without. America is a melting pot, and that's what makes it great. Like is written on the Statue of Liberty:
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries shWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Yet so many on this forum have, for reasons unbeknownst to me, ignored the very foundation that America was founded on, in that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. We accept all because we are better than the places that these migrants come from.
I didn't "know" Charlie Kirk. I wasn't in his orbit, and didn't really even "follow" him in the modern vernacular, but when I did hear him speak I have to say that we were on the same page, and both understand the difference between propaganda lies and the Truth (capital T). I know he was devoted to his family, and the people coming forward and telling stories about how he lived his life, which none of us knew, are extremely touching. I have to say, that he IS someone we would go boating with and have out to the cabin, and invite on fishing and hunting trips, because he seems exactly like the kind of guy my family associates with regularly. He was certainly more outspoken than anyone I do know personally, but I have to say that his views align perfectly with my own and the vast majority of my friends, and he was killed for openly voicing those views, so yea, hits close to home and elicits a stronger emotional reaction that it would from a complete stranger or someone who believes the opposite of what I believe is the truth in this reality.
So while I might be horrified and sad that anyone in America is murdered for their political views and their exposition of truth and reality, I do feel a stronger connection to the people who see it like I do, and especially anyone who is able to speak the truth so effectively. It is not at all surprising that a happy warrior like him draws the hatred of those who live in lies and venerate them. As was said early and even first, he was killed not just for what he believed, but because he was so effective. The more I learn about him the sadder it is, because he wasn't just an advocate for the truth, he was an exceptional human being who was dedicated to winning the ideological war through dialog and peace, something the other side isn't at all interested in.
Your compassion should not end at only people who think, look, and talk like you. I'm not black, I'm not trans, I'm a homosexual, I'm not an immigrant, yet I can see the struggles these groups go through and empathize with their plight even if I would never have the opportunity to dialogue with them. Would I have a stronger bond if I was part of their community? Sure, in the same way you feel a stronger sorrow for Charlie's death than you would any of the other victims of violence I have mentioned. But if people on this forum want to preach that having feelings and emotions is a valid and normal thing, then they should extend that courtesy to
all groups, not just the ones they like or personally agree with.
You support illegal aliens. I think you should move to Somalia.
I'll take the bait because I'm in a good mood:
I'm sure you're aware of Kilmar Garcia who was
illegally (see: without due process) deported to El Salvador by ICE. Garcia may have come here illegally, but he ultimately was granted legal status insofar as being able to remain in the USA while he continued through the process of becoming a naturalized citizen. Would I have preferred if he immigrated "legally"? I'm sure we all would want immigrants to our amazing country to do so in that manner. But sometimes that's just not possible. Garcia was fleeing from violence in El Salvador; you expect him to sit in his country and wait months for the US to grant him a visa to flee here when there are gangbangers knocking down his door trying to kill him? Iryna Zarutska surely was not here "legally" by the definition of the law, but she and her family were fleeing from the war in Ukraine. I don't see you cheering her death because "hurrr durrr that's one less illegal." She and her family needed to leave because in a matter of seconds a Russian artillery shell could have destroyed their home and killed them.
Fuck outta here with your double standards.