To paraphrase Voltaire

Set aside the fact that Charlie Kirk was a vile bigot.¹ Set aside the question of what motivated his killer.²

It is a performative contradiction to claim simultaneously that his legacy is one of free speech and open debate and that anybody who says bad things about him should be fired from their job. Such vehement rhetoric is incoherent on its face.

A true champion of free speech might wholly disapprove of what someone says, but would defend in their death the right to say it.

1. He was.
2. Political operators eagerly jumped to conclusions that the killer was a leftist to call for wild retribution. He wasn’t.