Madeline Bryce/Daily Nexus

Somewhat right-wing political “activist” Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at a rally at Utah Valley University. The presumably politically motivated act led to hundreds of politicians and normal people to take to social media.

One UC Santa Barbara student was particularly disturbed by the assassination of the innocent and holy Kirk. Second-year economics and accounting major and non-voter Dylan Connor Andrew took to his Instagram account that has 1,283 followers to preach his message.

“thoughts and prayers to charlie’s family fr. ts is fucked up. politics should never be violent,” Andrew posted in a story shortly after the incident. 

The rest of Andrew’s Instagram story archives include photos of him peeing off of the side of a cliff, holding fish as trophies, and random sports celebrations and statistics from his favorite team. His heartfelt message to the Kirk family was a curious break from his typical content.

We were thankful enough to secure an exclusive interview with Andrew, where we discussed his sudden empathy for sympathizers of political violence.

“America is a free and peaceful country. Can’t we all just get along?” Andrew said. “Politics has gotten so serious. Charlie had kids and was a real dude. We can’t just go around killing people.”

To study the greater impact of the Kirk assassination, we scanned social media for posts from higher-profile members of Santa Barbara society.

“Political violence has no place in America. The American government has not started or funded war, committed violence against its own citizens, or fostered violence against political violence against its enemies since 1776. I cannot believe someone would think that violence is the issue to political issues,” Santa Barbara Congressional Representative Gary Rowe said in an X post.

Rather than focusing on greater political violence, some users also took to speaking on how Kirk’s character did not deserve to be spoken ill of after his death.

“Charlie Kirk merely discussed his opinions and rallied people online. He has never promoted hate, violence, or the use of guns. This is not political, this is human,” Santa Barbara State Senator Patricia Horne said on her Instagram story.

The Daily Nexus sends its most earnest thoughts and prayers down to Kirk.

Joseph R. Biden thinks that empathy is a “made-up, new age term”.