SPECIAL: Toxic Thinking Exposed by Charlie Kirk's Death

There is a great deal of toxic thinking patterns exposed by the responses to Charlie Kirk's death. Can you separate the truth from the lies? Listen to my observations of how the internet responded to this recent event.

Transcript

I’m Coach Chez, and I am an African American woman, a Christian life coach and a homeschooling mother. To be honest, I did not know who Charlie Kirk was until recent events. I have seen both ends of the spectrum with regards to his supporters and his haters. I’ve spent time listening to his words and interactions and tracing back misleading quotes to the sources. I’ve reserved judgement on whether or not to believe other people’s opinions about him until I was able to process the situation and evaluate his content, perspectives, and lifestyle. I have drawn my own conclusions about him, but that’s not the focus of my talk today. What I want to address today is the way that people in our nation have responded to the death of Charlie Kirk and the dangerous mindsets (toxic thinking) that are being revealed.

There is a great deal of toxic thinking in our society. There are certain thought patterns that are becoming more and more common in the world today that are basically keeping people from experiencing the blessings that God has for them. These lies need to be exposed and torn down. Charlie Kirk was instrumental in exposing many of these lies. Unfortunately, more lies, misquotes, and ideas taken out of context have painted an evil picture of who he was and what he stood for that prevent people from seeing the truth that could liberate their souls. As a Christian life coach, my mission is to help people recognize and eliminate toxic thinking patterns from their minds so they can live a life of true freedom. Here is my take on what has been going on, my thoughts on some of the ideas that Charlie Kirk brought to the table, and some toxic thought patterns that you may be subscribed to that you may need to make a mental shift on.

Toxic thinking pattern #1 Adopting unfounded opinions

There is an alarming number of people who believe that Charlie Kirk was a racist. In my investigation of these claims, I found an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary. There are quotations being spread around, and not all of them are accurate or given with context. This is a very common thing with the speed of the internet and to viral nature of social media. My issue with this is that short clips with bias interpretations spread like wildfire, and many people get upset, they share it, and they form an opinion based on a couple of sentences that someone else clipped from a larger conversation you know nothing about. We need to protect ourselves from misinformation and we should never form an opinion about another individual based on limited, second and third hand information or someone else’s opinion and previously drawn conclusions. This is toxic.

My advice here is to investigate the validity of anything you watch or read on the internet. Even if you trust the source, do your homework. As a Christian, this includes fact checking preachers and teachers who claim to serve the Lord. You must do the work to find the truth for yourself. We should never take prepackaged opinions and adopt them as our own. If you develop a strong opinion about something, it should be rooted in evidence, facts, and truth, not just emotions. Charlie Kirk never spoke out about something he didn’t understand and he always had well informed reasons for taking the positions on the issues that he stood for or against.

Toxic thinking pattern #2 Focusing on our differences

There is a very sneaky, long standing, underlying poison within American culture, and that is highlighting our differences. Every special interest group wants representation, their own national holiday, and awareness month, and a parade. I think it is so great that in this country we have so many languages, and culture, religions, and heritages. I think it’s a shame that rather than finding the common links, the shared beliefs, and the similarities, we thrive on the divisions and exclusive groups. Racism is a product of our society that insists that we as human beings have differences that are so rooted in us that we can’t coexist on equal footing as a united people. It always has to be about quote unquote “race.” Charlie Kirk didn’t believe that we should focus on skin tone, ethnicity or sexual orientation. He cared about intelligence, character and skills and he saw everyone through a colorblind lens, as someone made in the image of God. He spoke out against how divisive the concept of race itself actually is. I am inclined to agree that our society focuses too much about how we look and where we may come from and not enough on our characters and abilities. Maybe if we saw each other as Americans, rather than insert ethnicity hyphen Americans, we can shift our focus to really matters: who are you on the inside?

Toxic thinking pattern #3 Assuming that disagreement equals hate

People become personally offended when someone disagrees with them. Rather than seek to understand where the other side is coming from, they become hurt, they distance themselves and accuse the other side of being hateful. To reject someone’s opinion is to reject who they are as a person, and I believe that is taking it too far. There will always be differences of opinion on a wide variety of issues, but that’s normal. The problem is that people don’t have open minded conversations, and they aren’t willing to consider other opinions. They simply try to argue their points better rather than accept that they could be wrong about something. 

It is always us versus them, agree with me or I don’t respect you, if you don’t agree with me that means you hate me, etc. The unfriend/unfollow those who disagree trend. Cancel culture is toxic. People would rather disassociate with you than actually have calm, rational, intelligent discussions that could lead to enlightenment on both sides. We as a society could be a lot more peaceful and unified if we weren’t too stubborn to shift perspectives for a moment and see where the other person is actually coming from.

There is an unwillingness to change your mind or admit that your initial opinion was perhaps misguided or misinformed. My advice on this: listen more than you speak. Seek to understand. Don’t be afraid to change your mind. It doesn’t matter how strongly you felt about something before, you can strongly feel the opposite once you’ve educated yourself more about the other point of view. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind. Seek to know the truth, not just to win the argument. You don’t have to be “right.” If you come to an impasse just agree to disagree.

A big part of my mission on this podcast is help people overcome limiting beliefs. My job as a life coach is to help people break free from mindsets that hinder them so that they can reach the full potential in life. I love the work that Charlie Kirk did because he had a similar goal. I want people to be educated about the truth. I want to believe the best in people beyond what they look like or their political affiliation. 

I am now so inspired and encouraged to be bold in what I believe in. So many people buy into the lies that circulate so rapidly all over the internet. The truth is so important and people need to hear it. If you are interested in actually knowing the truth and opening your mind the God’s word and being able to recognize the lies that are out there, let’s explore it together. 

In the next few episodes, for subscribers only, I will be talking about toxic thinking that how to recognize and overcome it. The biggest battles we will ever face are in the mind and I have an entire series on renewing your mind and how to go about doing that with God’s word. I teach CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) methods for monitoring and shifting your thoughts, moods, and behaviors to that you can overcome limiting beliefs, reduce stress and boost productivity. If that sounds good to you click on support the show in the description.

God bless and take care!