Earlier today, American right-wing activist and media personality Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunman while speaking at a Utah university. I'm not a huge fan of the guy. He was a state supremacist with a christian nationalist vision for society. Nonetheless, assassinating him is reprehensible, and suggests a dark turn for the escalating political divisions in America.
Some people seem to think the jugular hit was deliberate. Allegedly, the shooter was about 200 yards (180 meters) from Kirk. I suspect the shot was aimed at his head or torso, and the shooter almost missed entirely rather than scoring a deliberate neck shot. Details are all up in the air and subject to change, so there really isn't room yet for detailed armchair analysis. That' isn't even my main concern, though.
This tragedy is hot on the heels of the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting where a psychopath attacked a religious school. Setting aside various conspiracy theories about the events, there were two assassination attempts against Donald Trump during his most recent presidential campaign, and before that, two ricin-tainted letters. There was also a notable congressional baseball shooting where a man targeted a team of Republican congresscritters practicing for an annual game between members of the two parties.
It's not just leftist lunatics committing politically-motivated terrorist acts. The nutjob who apparently broke into the Pelosi home a couple years ago was allegedly mentally unstable and suckered in by Q-anon nonsense, for example. However, it appears, at least on a cursory examination of events over the past decade, that the American left is far more willing to use violence against those who disagree with their views.
It's possible my data set is incomplete, of course, and both parties eagerly use official violence and threats of violence through government. However, more importantly, this reveals the violence inherent in the system. I know, I know, time to cite the Monty Python sketch...
But the fact remains that politics is violence wearing a mask of representation while driving wedges between people in civil society. The tug-of-war over political power is spreading more and more violence everywhere it reaches, and hatred is rampant on all sides. Some people snap. I see victim-blaming, hoplophobic fearmongering, demands for more surveillance and so forth, all of which creates even more division. I see Kirk's political enemies celebrating his death and condemning anyone else who dares condemn the act. The people who denounce perceived hate speech in others are the first to spew the most openly vile invective.
I contend free speech requires accepting the right of people with whom I deeply disagree to speak, too. The best weapon against bad ideas is public discourse, not bullets. I also contend that the violence of some does not justify campaigns to regulate and disarm others. The best defense against immediate credible threats of bodily harm is a weapon, and advances in technology are not the exclusive domain of government actors.
Anyway, this is another rambling attempt to sort my first impressions and what I see as deeper concerns beneath the superficial reports and web2 social media bickering. Maybe once there is more concrete information, and I've had a good night's sleep, I'll decide to take another look at this whole thing.
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