I’ll be honest, I’ve been deeply disturbed by the reaction of many of my friends, acquaintances, and colleagues to the horrific, televised murder of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk last Wednesday at Utah Valley University.
Now, I haven’t seen the footage myself; I’ve chosen not to because, to be honest, I don’t like seeing things like that, not even when newsworthy. My imagination can do a good enough job for me not to need to satisfy morbid curiosity or stoke whatever outrage or fear might already be festering within. I know each of those very human reactions just as well as anyone, I believe.
Very unfortunately, though, the shooting death of Kirk — some would say “assassination” — has been consumed by partisan spin, from both sides, before the facts even became clear, and I don’t believe either is done spinning, either.
Within a couple of hours, with no proof, some right-wing politicians and media outlets were already insisting the shooter must have been transgender, or a Democrat, or certainly a leftwing operative.
The truth as it emerged, however, appears to be simpler and much more predictable, though every bit as troubling. Like most ambush killers in modern America, the suspect — 21-year-old Tyler Robinson — is a young, white male from a conservative, religious, pro-Trump, pro-Republican, pro-gun background.
He was turned in by his father after he recognized his son in a TV report later that day. Obviously, his dad did the right thing, suggesting that Robinson came from a “good” home.
All of this occurred within hours of Kirk’s murder. But it took only minutes, perhaps seconds after Kirk fell, for social media to light up with hatred and threats against “the left,” that indefinable but all-encompassing boogeyman for so many so-called conservatives.
It was all so predictable and even more sad, and yes, it was scary to see.
I read online comments from people I’ve known for years, and knew as well that we didn’t always see eye-to-eye politically, but whom I still considered friends and/or respected, valued colleagues, but they were immediately calling for civil war. Literally, Civil War.
Several suggested stocking up on firepower and ammunition. You know, just in case ...
Seriously, that’s scary, not something to be thrown around lightly.
But these proponents of violence against neighbors and friends apparently didn’t care. Revenge and retribution immediately moved to the forefront of their thought process.
And I’d be neglectful if I didn’t note that President Trump added fuel to the fire. Despite initially calling for the nation “to heal,” he followed up on NBC News this past Saturday by declaring, “We’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair, and they never did.”
Seriously?
Does that sound like the calming voice of the presidency that Americans have come to rely upon? Or more like a call to arms against the perceived “other”?
Scary.
As of this writing, we still don’t know Robinson’s precise motivation, but we do know this: America’s gun problem continues.
Almost at the same time as Kirk’s murder, literally just one minute apart, two kids were gunned down about 450 miles away at their school in Colorado by a 16-year-old who’d been radicalized by online