Via Britannica

Charlotte Renaud

Arts & Culture Editor

“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” was the message Raphaël Glucksmann, the French politician and member of the Socialist and Democrat Progressive Alliance, had for Americans a few months ago. 

The United States of America, known for its advocacy of freedom, has been losing its core principles. The right to bear arms, the right to not have any soldiers quarter a person’s house without consent, the right to a speedy trial, and most importantly the right to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, are all Amendments found in the Bill of Rights. However, the “land of the free” no longer seems to apply to what this country is becoming. Silencing through violence and media control is threatening the very thing that America prides itself on. 

What everyone seems to be talking about is every catastrophe that’s been happening in the States: Charlie Kirk and his death, Trump’s administration controlling the press, and the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. These issues can all be traced back to the same dangerous cause: a threatened freedom of speech. How can the First Amendment – the core of American beliefs and the ultimate form of freedom—be so casually infringed upon? 

The American political activist and media personality, Charlie Kirk, was known for his right-wing ideologies. He would visit college campuses and debate students on various topics— gun regulations, abortion, DEI programs, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, etc. He gained a lot of conservative support with his organization Turning Point USA, founded in 2012, from his TikTok videos and his radio program The Charlie Kirk Show. Although more than anything, Kirk’s main beliefs were loyal to Trump.

“Having an armed citizenry comes with a price and that is part of liberty… But I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth [it] to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2^nd amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” Kirk famously said. On September 10^th, he was shot during one of his talks on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. A 22-year-old from Washington, Utah, Tyler James Robinson, was arrested for the crime. The news spread like wildfire and stirred up even more conflict between the left and right. Some were mourning his death, some remained apathetic, while others went as far as celebrating it. Charlie Kirk was killed by the very thing he was defending and justifying.

“The irony behind his death begs the question: should death truly be the price to pay for freedom? “

The famous New Hampshire motto, “Live free or die,” is bitterly becoming “Live free and die.” No one should be killed for practicing their freedom of speech. Violence of all forms should never be celebrated; this comprises murder and hatred. His death should not be celebrated, nor should his hatred. 

Kirk was known for his strong opinions and statements that could be classified as hate speech. According to Bernd Debusmann Jr. and Mike Wendling’s article “How a college dropout from the suburbs became Maga star Charlie Kirk” in the BBC, “he was against gay marriage and abortion, argued for Christian nationalism and was highly critical of Islam. […] He was also an opponent of diversity programmes and spread falsehoods about topics such as Covid vaccines and voting fraud.” However, the most troubling aspects remain in his hateful statements towards specific minority groups. Chris Stein’s article in The Guardian quotes sexist and Islamophobic comments such as the one about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement, “Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge,” as well as “America has freedom of religion, of course, but we should be frank: large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America.” 

Despite everyone having the right to their opinions, hate speech is very dangerous for those who are targeted. The United Nations’ definition of hate speech is a language that “refers to offensive discourse targeting a group, or an individual based on inherent characteristics (such as race, religion, or gender) and that may threaten social peace.” Many of his statements, including the two mentioned, promote the idea of one group’s superiority over another—such as the dominance of husbands over wives and American Christian culture over Islam. The belief in the superiority of certain groups is a dangerous ideology—one that has fueled violence throughout history and continues to do so today. While there is no legal definition of hate speech in the U.S. legal system, given that it is protected under the First Amendment, speech is a powerful tool that can easily be wielded as a weapon, and we must not forget that.

After his death, his influence has only grown as many began to see him as a martyr for all these hateful and dangerous ideas. The Trump administration has gone as far as punishing and silencing those who criticized Charlie Kirk and his beliefs. The administration and president that Kirk supported is going against what he believed in: free speech. He himself expressed that “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment.” 

According to Huo Jingnan, Jude Joffe-Block, and Audrey Nguyen’s article “People are Losing Jobs due to Social Media Posts about Charlie Kirk” in NPR, “over thirty people across the country have been fired, put on leave, investigated or faced calls to resign because of social media posts criticizing Charlie Kirk.” 

The cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show came as a scary slap in the face, a harsh reality of a government impeding on people’s freedom of speech. Adrian Horton and Anna Betts’ article in The Guardian reports that Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death aggravated Trump supporters. The Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, “threatened ABC’s affiliate licenses if Disney did not ‘take action’ against the host.” The broadcast groups Nexstar and Sinclair refused to air the show, forcing Disney to suspend its production. Kimmel’s show returned to ABC on the 23^rd of September. However, the affiliate networks owned by Sinclair and Nexstar also confirmed they would pre-empt Kimmel’s show on its stations in 22 states. Therefore, the show “did not air on almost a quarter of ABC affiliate stations.” Three days later, Sinclair and Nexstar’s affiliate stations started airing his show again. 

The show’s suspension was a deliberate attempt by the Trump administration to silence American voices. During the episode of his return, Jimmy Kimmel addressed the severity of the situation—one that had a negative impact across the political spectrum. In fact, Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, and Ted Cruz, despite holding different political views from Kimmel’s, reached out to him in solidarity during the suspension of his show. Though they often stand on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they all share belief in the American principle of freedom of speech and oppose any governmental violation of it. 

On air, Kimmel powerfully expressed, “This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.” If freedom is the basis of all American values, silencing is innately anti-American. “I have many friends and family members on the ‘other side’ [whom] I love and remain close to even though we don’t agree on politics at all. I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution. And it isn’t. Ever,” Kimmel proclaimed during the episode. 

“This isn’t a war between the left and right; this is a war between our right to speak and those silencing us.”

Freedom of speech—especially speech that fosters understanding—is essential to bridging the divide and reducing the sense of alienation between people with differing views. It is what unites us all. Without speech, there is no journalism, there is no opinion, and there is no truth. Without speech, there is no freedom.