The recent tragedy surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination has been sitting in headlines for a little over a week now. Despite the unfortunate circumstances that befell the campus event at Utah Valley University, some people still believe that Kirk’s previous actions warrant speaking ill of him now. In fact, an employee at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, was fired for having made online comments about Kirk’s death. This is only one of several similar cases that have been attributed to the death of the modern American conservative.
The above video details a bit about how an Emory University associate was terminated from their position over social media posts concerning the death of Charlie Kirk. There is no information available about exactly what was found on social media, nor by whom it was found, although the action taken to punish that person was swift. Despite it only having been a bit over a week since Kirk’s assassination, there have been at least three dozen educators who have been fired or resigned on similar terms.
The First Amendment in the United States is meant to protect your five fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of speech and the freedom to petition the government. From my understanding, that means comments made by those not directly related to their line of work shouldn’t be penalized. If the comments were not made while the person was on school grounds or working, then I don’t see why the school would need to take any action about it. However, I can definitely understand if a third-party person approached the university and asked them to terminate the associate. One of the top comments underneath the above video says, “Smells like a law suit to me…Please pursue it!”
Similar to this, late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel had his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, indefinitely taken off-air because of comments concerning Charlie Kirk. While again, the death of Kirk is a monumental tragedy, and no one deserves to die in the manner he did, the opinions of others are just that: opinions. There are various television shows and news outlets that vehemently defend their radical positions without government interference. So, why is it that now there’s a problem with what’s being said out loud? Hopefully, those who lost their jobs due to Charlie Kirk’s death will find solid ground to grow from soon enough.
