Frank Talk of Charlie Kirk's Assassination

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to frankly Speaking, your weekly destination for insight and inspiration,
with your host, Frank Morangos. Frankly Speaking is sponsored by
Heppa four two one Chapter of North Miami in partnership
with the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Imagine a scenario during which a young man is mortally
shot in the neck while speaking before a large crowd
of college students. Now imagine that he was killed while
he was sitting under a white tent, vulnerably perched at
a folding table and honest dialogue with students with various
opposing views. And this young man was a father of
two young children. Good afternoon, and welcome to another broadcast

(00:52):
of Frankly Speaking. I'm Frank Morangos, and for the next
thirty minutes, I promise to provide you with frank talk,
very sad talk, and a light interview concerning the influence
of the ancient Hellenic ideals, values and faith on our
contemporary culture. Unfortunately, by now you all know that the
scenario with which I began today's broadcast of Frankly Speaking

(01:14):
is tragically not fictional. It actually took place on Wednesday
afternoon three days ago, when the thirty one year old
conservative activist called Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus
of Utah Valley University. The news made me sick to
my stomach, as I am certain it strongly affected many
of you my listeners as well. But I'm convinced that

(01:36):
the incident will forever mark America's consciousness as a real
world example of targeted violence, of a hatred of God,
freedom of speech, and civil discourse, a loathing that carries
with it severe consequences for the victim and his family witnesses,
as well as the wider society. Charlie Kirk was a

(01:57):
thirty one year old co founder of Turning Point USA,
an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on
high schools, colleges, and university campuses. In fact, he was
shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University
on a sunny, cloudless Wednesday afternoon, doing what he felt

(02:17):
called by his creator to do, to provide an opportunity
for civil discourse of vital societal issues. Regrettably, there are
some who fear such open dialogue, and as a result,
Charlie was transported to a hospital in critical condition. And
later pronounced dead immediately. Politicians, faith leaders, fellow conservative activists,

(02:39):
and others mourned his death, with some announcing vigils to
stand against political violence in the wake of his murder. Fortunately,
thanks to the public's help, a twenty two year old
suspect was arrested yesterday morning and is now an FBI custody.
A shooting, especially at targeted assassination such as this, is

(03:00):
a life altering traumatic event. The experience of seeing someone
being shot while engaging in public dialog introduces a profound
and violent betrayal of trust in the midst and hearts
of all of us. The psychological impact of such a
public in video captured graphic shooting extends far beyond the
immediate victim to the entire campus community that witnessed the event.

(03:23):
Eye witness expressed shock, fear, horror as a peaceful discussion
suddenly and brutally turned violent. The memory of the scene,
including the attacker and the victim, will haunt us for
a long time. The impact of such an attack radiates outward,
affecting the entire campus, the local community, and those of
us who heard the tragic news through social media outlets.

(03:47):
Events like the shooting of Charlie Kirk can trigger fears
and anxieties on other campuses. It forces people to confront
the possibility that such an event could happen to them
or their loved ones. Public acts of time targeted violence
can erode trust in community safety institutional security measures. In
the case of political and faith based violence such as this,

(04:09):
it can further polarize an already divided society. Already, the
event has provoked widespread anger, grief, and calls for action
to prevent future tragedies. Regrettably, it has also triggered a
wave of applause and disgusting social media posts from individuals
that I would characterize as spiritually tormented. But fortunately President

(04:31):
Trump officials in his administration, US politicians on both sides
of the isle, foreign leaders, and even noted sport figures
were among those who immediately condemned and expressed outrage of
such acts of political violence. The great and even legendary
Charlie Kirk is dead, Trump wrote on truth Social No
one understands or had the heart of the youth in

(04:54):
the United States of America better than Charlie. He was
loved and admired by all, Trump said, especially me, and
now he is no longer with us. Even former President
Joe Biden also wrote an X there is no place
in our country for this kind of violence. He said
it must end now. California Governor Gavin Neussom expressed anger,

(05:15):
stating that the killing was disgusting, vile, and reprehensible, adding
that in the United States of America, we must reject
political violence in every form. Charlie Kirk was murdered for
speaking truth and defending freedom, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
in Yahoo. He said this on X. He continued by saying,
a lion hearted friend of Israel, Kirk fought the lies

(05:38):
and stood tall for Judeo Christian civilization. Even the New
York Yankees responded they held a moment of silence ahead
of Wednesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. Before Tonight's game,
we held a moment of silence in memory of Charlie Kirk,
The team said. Kirk found the young activist group Turning
Point USA and had become a fixture on college campuses. Finally,

(06:02):
to ease the burden on Kirk's family, Minnesota Vikings superstar
Justin Jefferson generously pledged to pay for all the living
and the educational expenses of Charlie's two children. But it
was Utah's Governor Spencer Cox who was the first to
courageously refer to the shooting as a political assassination. Debate

(06:25):
is foundational to the formation of our country, to our
most basic constitutional rights, Cock said, And when someone takes
the life of a person because of their ideas or
their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. To
whoever did this, he continued, we will find you, and
we did. As President Trump directed flags to be flown

(06:47):
at half mass as a mark of respect for the
memory of Charlie, the US House of Representative observed a
moment of silence in response. Now, how would Aristotle view
the assassination of Charlie Kirk? I am certain that he
would unequivocally condemn it as a great injustice, a grave harm,
an act contrary to the fundamental purposes of human community.

(07:11):
And since the general focus of this year's broadcast of
Frankly Speaking is on the wisdom of the ancient Greek
philosophers and their impact on contemporary society, I would be
remiss if he did not examine the assassination of Charlie
Kirk in light of Aristotle's framework of virtue, of which
even a casual reading of his political philosophy and methods
would provide several key reasons for his strong condemnation. First,

(07:35):
and foremost, Aristotle considered murder as a great injustice. In
his famous treatise on Ethics, about which previous broadcasts of
My Weekly show has examined. Aristotle actually listed assassination or
in the Greek phonos, as an injustice imposed violently upon
another person. Rooted in his core belief that humans achieved

(07:57):
flourishing are what he called edemonia by living and pursuing
common goals together in a political community, which he caused police,
he viewed murder as intrinsically evil. Aristotle insisted that killing
an innocent member of the police is contrary to the
purpose and destroys the trust required for a community to function.

(08:17):
It replaces the politics of reason and persuasion, he said,
with the politics of violence. Murder violates the best basic
presumption that all citizens are equal under the law and
of a right not to be harmed without reason. Additionally,
Aristotle stated that violence for what some would argue you

(08:38):
is for the greater good is irrational. He rightly rejected
the idea that one could do evil that good might come.
An action like assassination is so fundamentally contrary to the
community as well being, he would insist it can never
be justified, even if the perpetrator believes that they are
serving a larger cause. According to data from the Pew

(09:01):
Research Center, due to countries polarizing politics and public discourse,
close to half of all of US adults acknowledge that
they have stopped discussing political and election news with someone
for fear of creating animosity. In total, forty five percent
of the nation's adults say that they have stopped talking
about politics and election news with someone as a result

(09:23):
of something they said, either in person or online. A
slim majority of Americans, only fifty four percent say that
they have not cut off political conversation with someone because
of something they said. Throughout history, some have justified assassination,
like that of Charlie Kirk, as a valid opinion to
achieve a political, social, or even religious goal. This perspective

(09:47):
is not singular. It is not a unified ideology, but
has appeared in different contexts for various reasons. So In
order to avoid the frequency of such violent animosity, we
would be wise to promote a time, time tested process
of civil discourse developed by Aristotle that he called endoxic method.

(10:07):
Aristotle's philosophical approach starts by identifying collecting common beliefs or
reputable views that he calls endoxa, which is the Greek
word that refers to the opinions of the many or
the wise. It then involves analyzing these endoxa to uncover
any problems or contradictions with the opinions once they had compiled.

(10:28):
The final step of Aristotle's method for honest civil discourse
is to resolve the contradictions by synthesizing the core truths
of the popular views into a more certain and robust
philosophical understanding of the subject. So there are three key
interrelated steps to Aristotle's method, which I would suggest was
the method that Charlie Kirk used on college universities and

(10:52):
campuses and the approach we should sell should learn. The
first step is to gather existing beliefs and opinions on
a given top These can include the views of everyone,
the views of most people, and then the views of
the recognized experts or the most famous reputable people. The
second step entails the objective examination of the collected indoxa

(11:14):
to find the difficulties or apparent conflicts between them. This
involves raising objections and identifying inconsistencies in the popular view,
and the final step is to find a solution to
the contradictions that have been raised. This involves in developing
a new philosophical position sometimes that can account for the
truths found in the indoxa, while also addressing and resolving

(11:38):
the objections to them. The justification for assassination will remain
a debated topic, particularly in the context of political violence. Unfortunately,
the assassination of Charlie Kirk and other acts of political
and faith based violence will certainly spark widespread debate on
the morality of such acts, the role of political rhetoric,

(11:58):
and the justification people used to defend them. If we
are to make America great again, we need to unapologetically
advocate that by using Aristotle's model of indoxa for civil discourse,
America must first learn to talk again. Before concluding today's monologue,
I want to share what I consider the most inspirational

(12:19):
commentary about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I received it
from a friend of mine who lives in New York.
His name is Eric Metaxas, an American author, speaker, and
conservative radio talkshow host. He is also a friend of
Pumbach Atlantic University, at which he himself has frequently visited
as a guest speaker. These are Eric's powerful words after

(12:41):
hearing the tragic news of his very close friend Charlie.
I quote him, I read a text from a mutual
friend confirming what I couldn't dare to imagine. Metaxas said,
it hit me hard, and I took my head in
my hands and I wept. The cliche is true. No
words can suffice ever, And soon afterwards I realized that

(13:04):
my friend Charlie is a martyr, nothing less. He was
murdered for his faith in Jesus by forces that hate
truth and hate love, and hate God and anyone who
represents God. Jesus was at the heart of it all.
The Texas continued, which is the one reason I don't
need to mourn his death as the world mourns. No,

(13:25):
Charlie is with Jesus now. That is inescapable, glorious. However
much we will miss him, and of course We will
miss him a lot, but we can rejoice that, according
to God's plans, which are not our own, Charlie fulfilled
his assignment, and therefore Jesus says to him what we
should all earnestly desire to hear more than anything in

(13:46):
the world. Well done, good and faithful servant. I strongly
agree with Eric. May Charlie rest in peace. When we return,
I will be joined by andonios nerualis a retired US
Army croninel who served in Vietnam. He too lives in
New York and is active in both the Greek American
community and veteran associations. I look forward to talking with

(14:08):
him about his mark in his amazing life journey, and
of course, the topic of civil discourse.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
We thank the AHPPA four twenty one North Miami Chapter
for their sponsorship of Frankly speaking, they promote the ancient
Hellenic ideas of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family, and individual
excellence through community service and volunteerism. They offer scholarships annually
to support students seeking higher education. A HEPPA supports other organizations,

(14:37):
including the Saint Basol Academy in New York. Iocc Hurricane
relief efforts and the local Annunciation gooc. If you're interested
in donating to help support these efforts, email a Heppa
four twenty one, North Miami at gmail dot com.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Well, welcome back to Frankly Speaking. Apart from introducing the
greater public to the rich culture and faith heritage of
the ancient Greeks and to discuss how that history may
provide some insight to us today, the show also includes
an interview with a noted Greek philanthropist, a successful entrepreneur
or influential personality today, I'm thrilled to welcome back Adonis Neurulius.

(15:18):
A Urulius, I should say, a retired US Army colonel
who served in Vietnam from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen
sixty eight. He also attends the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
in North Miami and he is a supporter of the parish.
So Adoni, welcome back or welcome to Frankly Speaking.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
Welcome, Thank you for inviting me, and I look forward
to having an interesting chat with you, because when I
listen to your sermons church, I'm in Liden, I'm educated
and I love them.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Oh, you're very kind to say that you're all by
yourself this weekend.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yes, sir, my wife is for Cyprus and we've got
my in Cypress at the Church of Panagia vander Romeni.
He goes to Cypress a couple of times a year
because he has friends, relatives, and last years she was
taking care of her brother who passed away on October
twenty eighth last year from cancer. She loves Cypress, I

(16:21):
guess because of the close connections, as he has good
family and all that life is. Cypress is much more
congenial and much more friendly than here in America. Here
to see somebody you have to call and make an appointment.
You call up, say what are you doing? Nothing?

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Okay, live together, So what are you going to do
for a food on a Saturday evening. I know one
of your daughters, one of your daughters lives down here
in Fort Lauderdale. She comes to the parish periodically. Where's
the other daughter?

Speaker 4 (16:52):
The other daughter is in the New Delhi, India, and
that's an interesting been there three times. Her husband is
president of blowing out operations in India which she has
about three to four thousand employees, and they have factories.
They have an assemble aircraft or helicopter and because of her,

(17:13):
I visited in India and I got acquainted with India,
and I was acquainted also with our faith Orthodox Church
in India remained. The church is in Kolkata, India, and
they just last year celebrated on anniversary. And in India
also there's a Father Nectaria, which is the equivalent of

(17:34):
Father Teresa. And she has two orphan ingests, one for boys,
one for girls, for about seventy children in each one
of them. And she has built a high school with
about seven hundred students and it's a labor of love.
And I've stayed with the boys this year, last year now,

(17:57):
I'm sure actually this year last year. And of course
they call each other brothers because they're orphans, you know,
and I have become the big brother, the big brother,
and they're my little brothers. And I look forward to
going and again in the spring, whether it is better there.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, you know, you're an inspiration. You're an inspiration, and
I can't go pass a week without receiving two or
three emails from you about what's going on globally in Christianity.
So you know, I want to thank you for all
of that. You keep me abreast as to what's happening,
and I wanted to have you on today, especially in

(18:37):
the wake of what happened to Charlie Kirk, really a
political and faith based assassination. And the reason why I
bring that up I mentioned actually Aristotle's way of debate,
Aristotle's proposed way of civil discourse, and in the wake
of Charlie's death, I wanted to talk to you a

(18:59):
little bit about how you have cheated death. So many
times you've said, oftentimes to me and many of much
of your writings, that this is a question that haunts you.
You said, can you can you share a little bit
of that with.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
The mystery of life is something that we all ponder,
how we came on this planet, how we live in
this planet, how long we live, and what we go through.
It started very early. I was born in nineteen forty
three in a German occupied village in southern Greece on

(19:36):
different otherous conditions, and my mother was giving me birth
and what happened was I was coming feet first, not
head first, which is a normal way to come out.
And of course there were no doctors. It was at
the house, you know, with a village relatives, you know

(19:58):
and why that have participated in giving you know, helping
women give birth. So they eventually were able to pull
me out, but I was not breathing. I was dead,
and one of the relatives got hold on me and
breathed life into me. She breathed, you know, into my mouth,

(20:19):
and I started crying. So I was dead and I
became alive.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
And I did not know that that almost frames your
entire life, doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Yes, And then when I was in the seventh grade
and in the first grade, I came down with tuberkel losses.
And then we're talking about for me to nineteen fifty
when I was first grade, and thank god, I was
able to overcome this. My mother was giving English lessons

(20:52):
because she was educated. She had finished elementary school here
in America back in the twenties, and they went back
to Greece, of course, and they couldn't come back because
the doors were closed. So she had a border system.
So she was giving English lessons to the doctor, a
general practitioner, and so she was giving free medical advice.
So she he put me on penicillin, but he wasn't working,

(21:14):
you know. They took X rays and all that stuff.
So I was out of school for about a couple
of months, and eventually what saved me was original licin,
which is another form of you know, antibiotic. And I
still have a scar in my lungs from the tuberculos
as you know, exposure and whenever I have an X ray.

(21:36):
When I went, they have an X ray in my lungs,
I said, this black spoty, I said, they get paniced.
I said, what is that? What is that? I said,
and I explained to them what had happened.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
What about when you were in the army, I mean
there was some.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
Very yes, that was another you know a week back
in the sixties, serving the army was you know, the
draft was you know, mandatory had served. So when I
you know, when you're eighteen, you registered with the draft
board and all that. So I went to City College

(22:09):
in New York, joined the ROTC because you're going to
become an officer. And back in the sixth the early
six is where most of the military personnel were in Germany.
He said, well, you know you're going to be stationed
in Germany and every weekend you can you go to
your flight degrees and have a good time. I said, oh,
that's sounds good. That sounds good. So I m rolling

(22:29):
O ROTC and I graduated in February nineteen sixty six.
As an infantry officer. I went to Fort Benning and
I had orders to go to Germany. So when I
arrived at Fort Benning, the window in the office's basic course,
everybody asked, okay, you guys have any orders? And I
raised my hand, Yes, where are you going? Is Germany?
He said no, no, no, nobody's going to Germany. This

(22:52):
was nineteen sixty six. Everybody's going to be an I said,
but I have orders from the division. They're welcoming. He says,
forget it.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
So your life was spirit wearing Vietnam with the first time.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
Yeah. And one of the missions we were going on
it was sort of a search mission to find the
via con. So we're going to an area, uh and
actually it was the area was called Finite Pineapple Plantation
because it was they were talt e any pineapples. But

(23:23):
it was over grown and it was a journal. And
all of a sudden, as we earned an open area
ready to go into do most of search, what happened
was they motor rounds started landing in our midst four
or five motor rounds exploding and all of a sudden,
you have, you know where this is coming from, and

(23:44):
a couple of people got killed. My machine gunner, of
my platoon machine gunner, which was a Greek American, was
hit by a fragment from a motor round and he
was on the ground, you know, bleeding and shouting mana mumna,
mumana MoU. And of course we called the medic to

(24:05):
take care of him. And you know, it was a
question of minutes that you know, that this thing happens
and it's over. So then we call, you know, for
support with artillery, and we left to go back. And
when I got to buy base camp, the M sixteen
as a magazine and you can push a button to

(24:26):
release the magazine. I'm pushing the button to release the
magazine and it's not coming out, I said. And I
looked more thoroughly at the M I six sixteen. It
had been hit on two places by mortal fragments. And
I said to myself, oh my god, you know, this
fragment should have hit me because I was holding them sixteen,

(24:48):
you know, in my hands, you.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Know, so the gun literally saved your life.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
It saved my life. It saved my life.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
What is the higher purpose that you think in your
life that you were spared so many times? Because I
know there are others.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
I asked that question. I was watching an interview a
book that was written about President Bush. The father. He
raised the question with a person who was you know
or write the book says, why was I spared? What
for what purpose? The person who was going to write
a book, sir, you served this country as a CIA director,

(25:29):
as an ambassador in China, as a vice president, as
a president, So you served these countries very well, and
that's why you were saved. So I was going through
a I was seeing a psychiatrist because we all suffer
from some kind of PTSD symptoms after we served, you know,
and it doesn't have to be the military. You have

(25:49):
a traumatic experience and it has an affect on you.
So I asked the psychiatrist, I said, I can understand
why President Bush was saved, and I gave him more,
you know, the explanation. I says, why why me? He
looked on me and he said, because you have built

(26:12):
a beautiful family. You have a beautiful family, and that
is a blessing.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
That's a fantastic way for us to come to the
end of the interview. I wish I had more time
to have you on. I have to invite you to
come on, frankly speaking again and get more into detail
because I'm really interested as well about the poem Ithaca
and because you find that very moving for you and insightful.

(26:40):
I know it was the famous poem that was read
at Jackie Kennedy on Nassis's funeral. Yes, sir, and it
actually talks about oh do say us, you know in
the Homer's Odyssey returning to from the Trojan War. Uh.
And I think that you know you said that you
don't have a sense of smell, but you know what

(27:00):
you yourself are an aroma to use Saint Paul's phrase. You know,
whenever you're around people, you leave a certain beautiful aroma
of your wisdom, your insights in your life. So if
there is a higher purpose, that's your higher purpose and
that you've been an influence to other people's lives. And

(27:22):
I thank you so very much, and DOONI for being
unfrankly speaking, God bless you, thank.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Your father for all for what you have done and
what you continue to do.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well thank you. I appreciate it. God bless you. Thank
you for joining me on this mournful afternoon on Frankly Speaking.
Before concluding today's broadcast, I want to briefly discuss the
Greek word used by Aristotle to describe his method of dialogue,
namely endoxia. So I mentioned in my monologue, the word
in doxia is derived from the root of the Greek

(27:54):
word doxa, meaning opinion or belief. The word later evolved
to signify glory, honor, or splendor. In addition, the adjective
endoxos is a root of various English words such as
doxology and dogma. The Greek word doxa itself refers to honor, splendor,
and majesty, and is often translated as glory in English. So,

(28:17):
as mister Gus Portocalis insists in my big fat Greek wedding,
there you go. Give me any word and I will
show you its Greek root. Thank you for joining me
today on Frankly Speaking, a show that seeks to provide
frank talk and a lively interview, but the influence of
ancient Hellenic ideals, values, and faith in our contemporary culture
to help make America Greek again. If you would like

(28:39):
to share a question and or suggest a future guest
or topic, I'd love to hear from you at franktalkradio
dot com.