Charlie Kirk did not have to attend college — or even believe it was worthwhile — to attract fervent followings on campuses throughout the country. Widely considered liberal bastions, campuses were Mr. Kirk’s primary work space, and he arrived with a message of conservatism.

查理·柯克不必上大学——他甚至不认为大学值得一读——就能在全美大学校园里吸引狂热的追随者。大学校园虽被广泛视为自由主义堡垒，却是柯克的主要战场，他带着保守主义的信息而来。

He found young people navigating a maelstrom of political and cultural forces that sometimes caused extreme turbulence on university grounds. His clear, if occasionally caustic, answers to the country’s most vexing problems cut through, particularly for young men coming of age at a time of social isolation when lives are increasingly lived online.

他发现，年轻人正置身于政治与文化力量的漩涡中，这有时会在大学校园引发激烈动荡。他对美国最棘手问题给出的答案清晰直白，虽然这些答案偶尔也尖锐刻薄，但往往直击要害，尤其能打动那些在社交孤立、生活日益线上化的时代步入成年的年轻男性。

“It’s kind of scary to say what you believe in, especially in this cancel culture,” said Porter LaFeber, a 22-year-old studying sciences at Utah Valley University who was at an event on Wednesday where Mr. Kirk was killed. “Charlie Kirk seemed like he just went totally above that. He kind of gave a voice to the people that were maybe a little bit scared.”

“说出自己的信念是件挺可怕的事，尤其是在这种取消文化的背景下，”22岁的波特·拉费伯说。他是犹他谷大学的理科生，周三参加了柯克遇刺的那场活动。“查理·柯克好像完全不受这一套的影响。他在某种程度上给了那些可能有点胆怯的人一个发声的机会。”

“He gave me the confidence to be able to believe what I believe,” Mr. LaFeber added.

“他让我有勇气坚持自己的信念，”拉费伯还说。

The topic of trans rights was particularly fraught, Mr. LaFeber said. As a Christian, he did not always feel he could say what he actually thought about the issue.

拉费伯说，跨性别权利是个尤其棘手的话题。作为基督徒，他总觉得自己没法坦诚表达对这个问题的真实想法。

Mr. Kirk would arrive at colleges ready for rhetorical combat, willing to engage on the thorniest topics, from abortion rights to race. He railed against trans rights. He espoused traditional family values, like prioritizing marriage for men and women and having children. He argued that the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. Some students found his views profound and inspiring, others were appalled.

柯克走进大学时，总是随时准备好进行言辞交锋，愿意探讨最棘手的话题——从堕胎权到种族问题。他抨击跨性别权利，宣扬传统家庭价值观（比如主张男人和女人应优先考虑婚姻和生育），还称《民权法案》是个错误。有些学生觉得他的观点深刻且鼓舞人心，另一些则感到震惊。

His campus visits regularly provoked impassioned protests from students who disagreed with Mr. Kirk’s stances, like his criticism of transgender rights and endorsement of the so-called Great Replacement Theory, which claims that nonwhite immigrants will displace white Americans.

他的校园之行常会引发持不同意见学生的激烈抗议，比如反对他对跨性别权利的批评，以及他支持所谓的“大取代理论”——该理论称非白人移民将取代美国白人。

Demonstrators at Florida State University gathered behind barricades in February, chanting “you spread hate, you spread lies” as Mr. Kirk debated students under a pop-up tent. In April, protesters gathered during his appearance at Purdue University, holding cardboard signs and waving L.G.B.T.Q. Pride flags. Mr. Kirk’s fans seemed to relish the pushback, and posed for photos in front of the demonstrators.

今年2月，佛罗里达州立大学的抗议者聚集在路障后，当柯克在临时帐篷下与学生辩论时，他们高喊“你散播仇恨，你散播谎言”。4月，他在普渡大学公开露面时，抗议者举着硬纸板标语，挥舞LGBTQ骄傲旗。而柯克的支持者似乎很享受这种对抗，还在抗议者面前自拍合影。

Mr. Kirk had identified something that many students said they struggled with.

柯克察觉到了许多学生表示难以应对的困境。

“He exposed the rigidity of progressive culture,” said Erik Balsbaugh, a left-leaning political organizer who works with young people in online spaces, including gaming. “That made a lot of young men feel powerful and feel that they were better than the people who were enforcing these cultural norms. It was dangerous, it was subversive.”

“他揭露了进步文化的僵化，”埃里克·鲍尔斯鲍夫说。他是倾向左翼的政治组织者，在包括游戏领域的网络空间与年轻人打交道。“这让很多年轻男性感受到力量，觉得自己比那些推行这些文化规范的人更优秀。这既危险又颠覆。”

That connected with the feeling for many young men that left-leaning culture had become oppressive, humorless and, simply put, against them.

这恰好契合了许多年轻男性的感受：左翼文化变得压抑、无趣，并且，说白了就是在针对他们。

“He was a master in understanding where young men felt left behind,” Mr. Balsbaugh said.

“他深谙年轻男性被边缘化的痛点，堪称行家，”鲍尔斯鲍夫说。

Mr. Kirk started Turning Point USA when he was just 18, and built the organization from a small shoestring operation to a messaging powerhouse with podcasts, speaking tours and college events that often included debates. He was a skilled speaker and entirely native in the world of online communication, and worked relentlessly to engage students across the country.

柯克18岁时创立了“美国转折点”，将这个不起眼的小团体打造成了一个宣传巨头，其活动包括播客、巡回演讲和经常包含辩论的校园活动。他是演说高手，深谙网络传播的门道，还不知疲倦地与全国各地的学生互动。

Mr. LaFeber was in high school when he first encountered Mr. Kirk, through listening to another right-wing podcaster, Ben Shapiro. Over the years, he came to love Mr. Kirk’s audacity — his boldness in saying what he thinks.

拉费伯在高中通过收听另一位右翼播客主持人本·夏皮罗的节目知道了柯克。这些年里，他渐渐喜欢上了柯克的大胆——那种直言自己想法的魄力。

Mr. LaFeber said he often feared expressing his thoughts around left-leaning young people, because the smallest wrong move could get him canceled, he believed. When he worked as a teller at Chase Bank, for example, several colleagues discussed politics but never asked him his view because, he surmised, they assumed he agreed with them. He didn’t, so he kept quiet.

拉费伯说，和左倾的年轻人待在一起时，他往往不敢表达自己的想法，因为他觉得，哪怕一点小错都可能导致自己被“取消”。比如，他在大通银行当出纳时，几位同事会聊政治，但是从来不问他的观点。他推测，他们觉得他肯定和他们想法一致。但他其实不认同，于是他就保持沉默。

Mr. LaFeber was excited to go to Mr. Kirk’s event on Wednesday. Standing among the crowd of about 3,000, he saw the moment Mr. Kirk was shot. Mr. LaFeber then dropped to the ground and eventually fled. He spent the rest of the day in shock.

周三，拉费伯很兴奋地去参加了柯克的活动。他站在约3000人的人群中，目睹了柯克被枪击的瞬间。随后他趴在地上，最后逃了出来。那天剩下的时间里，他一直处于震惊状态。

“I left campus, got on my motorcycle and went home. And I was sitting there by myself saying, ‘Oh, my God, did this really just happen?’” he said. “I am sad, but to be honest, I am also pissed off. Why did it have to come to this?”

“我离开校园，骑上摩托车回了家。独自一人坐在那里，心想‘天哪，这真的发生了吗？’”他说，“我很伤心，但说实话，我也很愤怒。事情为什么非要走到这一步？”

Mr. Kirk was 31, closer in age to college students than to most national politicians, reaching vast audiences of young men at a pivotal age when they are trying to understand who they are and why they believe what they believe.

柯克31岁，与大多数全国性政治人物相比，他的年龄更接近大学生。他的影响力触及大量年轻男性受众——他们正处于关键的成长阶段，正在努力理解自己的身份、并探究自身信仰的根源。

12月在亚利桑那州凤凰城的美国转折点组织活动上，盖布·圣与柯克合影。

Young men interviewed after Mr. Kirk’s death who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that a primary reason they related to Mr. Kirk was his defense of his Christian faith. They felt that mainstream, liberal culture looked down on religion and they liked that Mr. Kirk defended it.

柯克去世后，接受采访的一些耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的年轻男性说，他们能与柯克产生共鸣，一个主要原因在于他为自己的基督教信仰辩护。他们觉得主流自由主义文化看不起宗教，而柯克为宗教辩护的做法让他们很认同。

“Growing up as an active Christian, a lot of his values resonated with me,” said Colton Anderson, 21, a student at Brigham Young University, who was about 40 yards away from the stage when Mr. Kirk was shot. Mr. Anderson had been looking forward to the event for weeks and cleared his schedule to attend. He said he sometimes put Mr. Kirk’s videos on while doing homework, because they were relaxing and sometimes funny.

“我从小就是一名虔诚的基督徒，他的很多价值观都能引起我的共鸣，”21岁的科尔顿·安德森说。他是杨百翰大学的学生，柯克被枪击时，他离讲台约35米远。他期待这场活动已经好几个星期，特意空出日程来参加。他说，自己有时做作业时会放柯克的视频，因为那些视频让人放松，有时还很有趣。

Many said they didn’t like all of what Mr. Kirk said, and understood that he could be provocative. But they said that he helped them feel less lonely in a broader culture that they felt often put them down.

很多人说，他们并不认同柯克的所有言论，也知道他可能很挑衅。但他们说，在一个常让他们感到被贬低的大文化环境里，柯克让他们没那么孤独了。

Gabriel Bower, a friend of Mr. Anderson’s, said the shooting had made him feel “kind of sick.” He said he connected with Mr. Kirk as a Christian, and perhaps as meaningful was the feeling he got from seeing how many other young people liked him, too.

安德森的朋友加布里埃尔·鲍尔说，枪击事件让他“感到恶心”。他说，作为基督徒，他和柯克产生了共鸣，而同样有意义的是，看到那么多年轻人也喜欢柯克，这种感觉很特别。

“It was a relief to see that other people do have the same values and ideas as me,” said Mr. Bower. “That gives me more reassurance that I’m not alone, that I’m not a crazy radical person that people might think. That being religious is not lonely.”

“看到还有人跟我有相同的价值观和想法，真的很欣慰，”鲍尔说，“这让我更确信自己不是孤单一人，不是别人可能认为的那种疯狂的激进分子。有宗教信仰，并不意味着孤独。”

Wednesday evening, Mr. LaFeber was still trying to process what had happened, so he gathered with friends over takeout to talk about it. He said he was worried about how people might react.

周三晚上，拉费伯仍在努力消化发生的一切，于是他和朋友们点了外卖，聚在一起聊这件事。他说，他很担心人们可能的反应。

“Are they going to kill every political leader we have?” he said, recalling the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump last year. “When is it going to end?”

“他们要杀掉我们所有的政治领袖吗？”他想起去年针对特朗普的未遂暗杀。“什么时候是个头？”