Political violence has been happening every day, and we are all just choosing to ignore it.
Within the past few days after the passing of Charlie Kirk, I was forced to genuinely contemplate some of my political opinions, as well as the importance of what people say.
While I didn’t agree with Kirk, nor was I a fan by any means, he deserved the right of freedom of speech and to do that without consequence. He was sadly shot in the neck while demonstrating that right. This is a tragic and disappointing way for someone with so much influence to go.
However, after Kirk’s passing, I noticed a huge influx of people who were suddenly against political violence and cared about human lives “no matter what their politics were.”
This was the most conflicting part for me since political violence had been everywhere and extremely potent from the day I was born until now.
I have witnessed things on news channels and in history books. I’ve seen Black people who decided to speak what they thought and were punished for it. Notably, Kirk would speak on the death of Black victims in a way that made the victims the perpetrators.
Kirk himself congratulated and sided with people like Kyle Rittenhouse and Derek Chauvin. He openly disrespected George Floyd, who, even if not completely innocent, was a victim of police brutality.
I am in no way saying it is wrong for people to say political violence is bad; it’s just that I don’t believe that people calling for the end of political violence actually care about political violence in the way they preach.
Perhaps, in my own instance, I’m biased. However, other than Kirk specifically, we have seen extreme political violence for things like January 6th, the murder of Melissa and Mark Hortman, the use of the National Guard in multiple states, and the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
Where was the outrage then?
Pelosi’s husband was almost beaten to death with a hammer. On January 6th, rioters stormed the Capitol, causing multiple casualties. The National Guard was deployed into states to battle against things like protesting (which a Californian judge had deemed illegal). Lastly, the entire Hortman family (including their dog) was killed, along with the politician herself.
They were quite literally assassinated, and I cannot blame everyone for maybe not knowing this information, but I can blame people like Kirk and the 47th President of the USA, who made grossly inappropriate statements.
Kirk and President Trump both made statements regarding all four of these events I just listed. Most notably, Kirk said the person who assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband should be released and urged his fans to do so.
On January 6th, Kirk tweeted that his organization, Turning Point Action, was sending “80+ buses full of patriots” to the Capitol. Then, after the January 6th riots, Turning Point Action portrayed the riot as “bad judgment.”
Trump, on the other hand, made no comment on the murdered Hortman family, incited the January 6th riot (or insurrection, whatever you prefer), was the one who deployed the National Guard, and was the one who perpetuated the idea of a rigged election, which fed into the extremism that caused Pelosi’s husband to be attacked.
“[Nancy Pelosi is] against building a wall on our border, even though there was a wall around her house, which obviously didn’t do a very good job,” Trump said about the attack on Pelosi.
These are all examples of political violence that have been happening within recent years.
While everyone is entitled to their opinions and emotions, I can’t stand by idly and watch as the country I’ve grown to love becomes more hypocritical.
I am glad and respect everyone who has now taken a stand against political violence and gun violence as of late, but as a society, we cannot pretend that this was the first time this has happened, or pretend like it’s only one side of the political spectrum doing it.
From now on, we should take a firm stand against political violence; as a generation, it is our duty to do so, even if there are many 50+-year-old politicians who disagree.
