A Tribute to Charlie Kirk: When Violence Silences Ideas, We All Lose Our Freedom

[00:00] Yesterday, a guy I would call a friend,

[00:02] Charlie Kirk, was murdered. Um, I wasn't

[00:05] sure I was gonna do anything about it. I

[00:09] was going to post anything publicly

[00:10] about it because I can't even imagine

[00:13] what his family is going through and

[00:15] what his really close friends are going

[00:17] through. Uh, you see, few years ago now,

[00:21] Charlie Kirk and I talked about

[00:23] potentially doing something on college

[00:24] campuses together. uh he believed like I

[00:27] do that education is maybe the most

[00:30] important thing uh that we do. Charlie

[00:32] and I didn't agree on everything. Um and

[00:35] I I don't think that's something we

[00:37] should strive for in humans. Actually, I

[00:39] think it's a really good thing for you

[00:41] to disagree sometimes intensely with

[00:43] other people. But we were talking about

[00:46] or really I was trying to convince

[00:47] Charlie that we should talk about

[00:49] business and economics and uh making

[00:51] money on college campuses because it

[00:53] felt like kids had no hope there

[00:56] anymore. Like they thought that the

[00:58] generations before them uh got it better

[01:01] than they did and they did not have

[01:03] economic opportunity. And I wanted to

[01:05] talk to them about how could we change

[01:08] that for them. And then time got away

[01:10] from us and um Charlie kept kept going

[01:16] um until he became one of the biggest

[01:18] speakers on college campuses all around

[01:19] this country. And the reason I'm doing a

[01:23] quick podcast on it is because it has

[01:25] rattled me so deeply. I think the that

[01:28] freedom of speech and the first

[01:29] amendment is one of the power most

[01:30] powerful things we can have as a

[01:33] country. I'm a former journalist. our

[01:35] entire profession is built upon that

[01:38] that right to speak

[01:42] and that you know I have a belief that

[01:44] deep down inside if you cannot beat

[01:46] someone's arguments then you need to be

[01:49] better skilled not to hope they die.

[01:54] I wrote down a few things because I

[01:56] didn't want to mess this up too badly by

[01:59] doing it publicly. But I have a couple

[02:01] thoughts. And the first thought is that

[02:05] you builders, the people who listen to

[02:06] this, we need you now more than ever. I

[02:09] think this country was built by doers

[02:11] just like you. Those who believed that

[02:13] you could build stronger and not have to

[02:16] tear things down. See, I believe uh that

[02:20] it's harder to build a house than it is

[02:22] to burn it down. I don't know how to

[02:24] build a house, but I could burn one

[02:25] down. And so, inherently, it is always

[02:28] easier to tear down others. And it is

[02:30] always easier to apparently even kill

[02:33] another than it is to push back on their

[02:35] ideas by having better ideas yourself.

[02:39] The only other side of this is that I I

[02:41] do actually believe in you. I meet you

[02:43] all over the world, everywhere, every

[02:46] day, real humans

[02:49] who I think are building the world that

[02:51] you want. And um whether you agree with

[02:56] Charlie or many of the things that he

[02:58] stood for is sort of irrelevant. I think

[03:01] it's a call to action for me at least to

[03:04] stand up and stop playing small and to

[03:07] keep building bigger and to get in the

[03:09] arena and to allow the competition of

[03:11] ideas to expand and to be thrilled at

[03:15] the idea that another human could have a

[03:18] debate with you like an old school style

[03:22] debate in which ideology could com could

[03:26] combat against one another and see what

[03:29] the best for humanity could come out on

[03:31] the other side.

[03:34] H I think it's a tragedy when anybody

[03:37] passes. I think it's a tragedy that we

[03:39] lost multiple youth as well on the same

[03:42] day. But having known Charlie albeit

[03:47] briefly on the internet, uh I can say

[03:51] that the ideology to me of faith and

[03:54] freedom

[03:56] and believing that others should be

[03:58] heard even when you disagree with them

[04:00] is probably one of the most potent

[04:02] things that we can do. And there was a

[04:06] quote from Charlie that I love and it's

[04:09] that if you believe in something, you

[04:11] need to have the courage to fight for

[04:12] those ideas, not run away from them or

[04:16] try and silence them. I think the worst

[04:18] thing that we could ever do is allow vi

[04:21] violence by anyone to silence another.

[04:24] And I won't be preachy about anything on

[04:26] here, but I will say that anybody who is

[04:30] cheering

[04:33] a fellow citizen

[04:35] and them being murdered

[04:38] probably doesn't want you to win either.

[04:40] And eventually they turn on you whether

[04:43] you want to or not. And so I think as a

[04:48] society and as a country, we need to

[04:50] come together a little bit more with the

[04:53] idea that it's not a good thing for

[04:56] people to be assassinated in this

[04:57] country. I called my parents last night

[04:59] actually cuz I was I was really sad. And

[05:04] so I called my dad and said, "Do you

[05:05] remember when assassinations happen in

[05:08] the US when you were uh a kid?" And he

[05:10] said, "But it was a different time

[05:11] because social media isn't around you

[05:13] constantly." So, you know, their family

[05:16] members didn't have to see people

[05:18] celebrating and dancing on TikTok when

[05:20] they passed. You know, they didn't have

[05:24] to hear jokes and puns about it

[05:27] immediately following. And I just think

[05:30] that maybe a little bit of kindness

[05:32] would be something really useful both

[05:33] sides could use right now.

[05:37] And if you take nothing else away from

[05:39] this and what we're talking about

[05:44] maybe you take this

[05:46] which is your ability to defend your

[05:49] ideas and then change your mind once you

[05:52] find better ones is the single greatest

[05:55] reason you will succeed in life. Our

[05:57] democracy, this country and any other

[05:59] country falls if we actually do not

[06:02] allow our ideas to compete. It's core to

[06:05] humans

[06:08] and it matters in science and it matters

[06:09] in math and it matters in business. You

[06:11] know on this podcast we've had Hindu

[06:14] monks, we've had a former pastor, we've

[06:18] had politicians on both sides of the

[06:20] aisle, Democrats and Republicans. We've

[06:22] had billionaires. We've had people who

[06:26] are broke. We've had the whole gambit.

[06:28] And the reason why is because we have to

[06:31] think like contrarians and question

[06:34] everything.

[06:35] And so today I'm sad and my cons my

[06:38] condolences go out so deeply with his

[06:41] family and his wife and his beautiful

[06:43] children and with all of us who would

[06:48] struggle in a world in which violence is

[06:51] the action to difference of opinion. So,

[06:54] thank you for listening

[06:57] and I hope this is a little bit of a

[06:58] tribute to a man that to me made a very

[07:02] big impression and who was not afraid to

[07:04] say his quiet part out loud.