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Apologies, shaming and a state employee’s departure have come to Indiana following insensitive posts and comments about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Indiana’s Department of Child Services posted on social media Saturday that a worker was no longer with the agency after making a comment that was in poor taste and “does not reflect the values of this agency or the standards that have been set by this administration.”
“As public servants, state employees are held to a higher standard of conduct and ethics,” the statement continued. “That is certainly the case at the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) where child welfare and safety are paramount.”
Then, the post asked the public to stop calling Indiana’s Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline to complain about the former employee and also stop calling DCS offices about it.
“Our team members assigned to the hotline work 24/7 to address genuine child safety concerns throughout Indiana’s 92 counties,” the agency said. “Overwhelming the hotline and offices with complaints unrelated to child safety only hampers our ability to respond to emergencies.”
DCS would not confirm if the employee was fired or if she resigned.
Libs of TikTok, a conservative account, highlighted the woman’s statement: “Today was a real pain in the neck but I survived.”
Ball State University is dealing with a similar issue.
“The administration at Ball State University is aware of social media posts by two university employees. Both posts were on the employees’ personal accounts, and the posts do not reflect the culture on our campus nor the enduring values of the university,” the university said in a Friday statement. “The administration is gathering additional information about the posts in order to determine what discipline, if any, is appropriate and permissible under the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita also has a message for Hoosiers: “If you have evidence of Indiana educators or school administrators making comments that celebrate or rationalize the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we need to hear from you. These individuals must be held accountable — they have no place teaching our students.”
He encouraged people to submit evidence to his Eyes on Education portal, which previously has been used to report pro-diversity and pro-LGBTQ actions or materials.
Meanwhile, the Bartholomew County Democratic Party apologized for a post it made about Kirk.
The group had posted a news article about Kirk’s death with the comment, “Violent delights have violent ends.”
In a statement, the county party said Kirk “spent a good deal of his time advocating for the second amendment even to the moment that it took his life. In trying to convey the tragedy of this, a quote was taken from a well known Shakespearean tragedy. The quote was a message given that such a great passion like this could result in a terrible end, as this death was. It is obvious that our post was not received in the way it was meant and we are terribly sorry for the hurt it has caused.”
The party continued by saying, “We do empathize greatly with those who have lost people to gun violence and the pain that it brings, so we removed our post and its reminders from our page. We promise to be more mindful about our quote selections in the future. As always, we do not condone gun violence nor violence of any nature no matter what.”
Breitbart also published a story about a staffer for U.S. Rep. André Carson who posted the following on Instagram:
“Charlie Kirk isn’t a martyr. He’s a casualty of the violence he incited.”
“You’re never going to gaslight me into mourning a Nazi. Never.”
Carson has not commented directly on the staffer, but did condemn political violence in a post about receiving a death threat.
“My office received a death threat today—unfortunately, a common occurrence,” he wrote. “Political violence has been normalized for quite some time, and it must end. In this vulnerable time, I join my colleagues across the aisle in calling for compassionate dialogue, not reactionary hate.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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Getting fired from a government job over a post on one’s personal social media account that reads “today was a real pain in the neck but I survived ;)”? It’s insanity, and especially hilarious considering that the right considers themselves the party of free speech & “anti-doxxing”.
In any case, Kirk would probably accept his own death as collateral damage of the 2nd amendment.
“I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.” – Charlie Kirk
You have free speech, you don’t have freedom from consequences.
Yes Raymond, that’s absolutely right. The greatest irony – which perhaps I failed to articulate originally – is the extent to which conservatives tend to conflate freedom of speech & FAFO. (Among other things, see the right-wing discourse about Twitter over the last few years + Elon’s offer to pay the legal expenses of anybody who gets fired over a Tweet.)
Robert, have you heard of cancel culture? It’s something that the left initiated and crafted very well in 2020 so the Republicans are just playing along with your wonderful ideas that you’ve supported (well apparently only if it affects someone on the right).
“Cancel Culture” is just called “being held accountable for shitty actions.” Democrats didn’t invent it. I’m the farthest thing from Conservative and I think the lionization of Kirk is highly inappropriate, but so was this staffer’s actions. I don’t think it’s controversial for them to get fired for something like that.
Was never a fan of cancel culture.
Suddenly, conservatives love cancel culture. Who could have seen this coming
Michael, just giving you guys a taste of your own medicine. Liberals are only in favor of it if it works in their favor.
Wow. After ignoring/burying the number one story in the country for a week, IBJ brushes against it and look at the comments
Nate- Matthew Dowd is Open to Work
He fits the values and morals of IBJ perfectly
Hey Chuck, you know the second best way to stick it to the paper if you don’t like the stories they run? Unsubscribe. Vote with your dollars and attention.
The absolute best way would be to start your own paper, but I somehow doubt that’s a real option.
This is the third story they’ve run in less than a week.
Kirk died fighting for the right for his own assassin to own a gun. Now his family bears the pain. He is far from a hero.
If you think that gun control would have stopped this or many of the other politically minded murders we’ve witnessed over the last few years, you’re a sweet summer child.
The murder of Charlie Kirk was horrendous. Violence is never the answer to words. But I also take exception with the way in which Mr. Kirk is being celebrated by the conservatives, as if he was some incredible human being. He was nothing more than a racist, homophobic, misogynist who was articulate enough to attract a ton of young white males (and a lot of young white females) who have been raised to blame people different then themselves for their lot in life, particularly people of color, gay and trans, as well as immigrants. He made a handsome living spewing hate disguised as intellect. I am sorry for his young kids who will grow up without a father.
I’m going to spend my morning looking at past post by David, Greg, Joe, and Michael bemoaned the firing or admonishing of conservatives for the same activity……. well that was quick. Nothing.
DonOLD needs to re-read David’s comment. Get control of your emotions, dude.