It would’ve been one of the best subtle digs in social media history. Within 24 hours of Charlie Kirk’s unfortunate death, a history page on Facebook posted an article about LeRoy Wilton Homer, Jr.

Homer was the First Officer on Flight 93, one of the men who fought with hijackers on 9/11 and prevented the plane from reaching its target.

The overview of Mr. Homer’s service would have represented some fitting and top-quality side-eye at Mr. Kirk, whose pile of infamous quotes includes stating that the mere sight of a black airline pilot would give him concerns about the pilot’s competence. But as it stands, the post about Mr. Homer wasn’t there because of Charlie. It was there because it was September 11.

I caught a whole lot of flak this week for having the temerity to express sadness for Kirk’s death, express opposition to political violence across the board, and (in a separate post the next day) remind people that Kirk was a homophobe and a bigot. Apparently, some of the same people loudly reminding us that the basic value of human life is not affected by partisan political differences also have a problem recognizing it when liberals make that very same distinction right in front of them.

Weird, right?

But really, I want to give my right-wing friends a good, long heads-up about a choice they’ll have to make next January. More than a few like to partake in the annual whitewashing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., quoting him one day every year, using the same one or two quotes.

In more than a couple of cases, it reinforces their delusion that you can support policies that erode basic human rights in a democratic society and still be a “moderate.” Dr. King had a good quote or two about that kind of “moderate,” but you don’t see them sharing any of those.

Anyway, Kirk-defending Republican friends, what’ll it be? Either you:

Recognize — out loud — Kirk’s many, many attempts to persuade every young American that brown or black = suspicious. For bonus points, maybe remind your friends how Trump attributed that military helicopter crash in DC to DEI immediately and never acknowledged that he’d been talking out of his ass. Then enjoy posting your nice, warm and fuzzy MLK quote next year with my compliments.

or,

Keep defending the ongoing civil hagiography of the man who said, “MLK was awful. He’s not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn’t believe.”

I shouldn’t actually have to say that you can’t have it both ways, but you can’t have it both ways.

Unless you’re ready to look Mrs. Homer in the eye and explain what you see when you see her husband.