PERRINS: Ireland – Extremist Establishments?
A Funeral, a Professor, adn a chilling Divide: when Remembrance Becomes “Hate”
The memorial service for Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old tragically killed on a college campus for simply engaging in debate, was undeniably grand. Held in Phoenix, it drew nearly 200,000 attendees, with 90,000 packing the stadium, and millions more watching online.It was, as some described it, “americana in full swing” – deeply religious, overtly Christian, and, at times, undeniably political.
But for some, particularly within the Irish academic and media landscape, the service sparked a disturbing reaction.
Consider John O’Brennan, a Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at Maynooth University. His response to the memorial, posted on X, was stark: “A modern version of the Nuremberg rally – a festival of hatred and divisiveness masquerading as American patriotism.” He doubled down, calling it “America’s Nuremberg Rally,” and lamenting that it felt like “living in 1935.”
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t some fringe commentator. O’brennan is a respected academic, a figure of the establishment.Yet, he saw in a memorial service for a murdered young man, a service filled with prayer, song, and mourning, echoes of Nazi Germany.
Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, spoke of love and forgiveness, a core tenet of her Christian faith. She forgave her husband’s killer. Marco Rubio, a prominent political figure, offered a message of hope, speaking of the resurrection and the promise of reunion with loved ones. To O’Brennan, this was “extremism worshipped like a religion.”
This reaction is deeply troubling. If a professor, trained to analyze and understand complex issues, equates a grieving widow’s forgiveness and a message of Christian hope with a Nazi rally, we have a serious problem. It suggests