The story is the same. A middle-class kid raised in a loving home gets radicalized and kills someone. In this case, it's a young man from Utah who fired a deadly shot at Charlie Kirk.
Where do we go from here? It feels different this time. I agree with Christopher Bedford:
This time is different. There’s no embattled but victorious defiance. There’s a quiet, sinking feeling. It was hard to go to sleep last night knowing that Charlie's widow put her toddler and baby to bed in a world where Daddy isn’t coming home. In the morning, nothing had changed that. Capitol Hill was quiet, and St. Peter's lonely bells marked the moment the Pentagon had been hit. They could have tolled for a country once more on the brink, 24 years on.
There’s another difference between Utah and Butler. It’s a sad thing to admit, but the American people know presidential assassinations. We know assassinations of politicians, too. If you lived a full life in these United States, born any time in the past 200 years, you’ve seen a president shot or even killed. We don’t like it, but we understand that our presidents have stepped into the arena. Even awful attacks on representatives, senators, governors, and mayors seem to somehow fit into our violent American experience.
Charlie doesn’t fit. He was young -- far too young. He held conventions and he had a podcast, and he went to college campuses to set up a tent to debate other viewpoints and see if he could convince or be convinced himself. He didn’t insult people or try to make them look stupid for clicks and laughs. If he was “controversial” and “divisive,” it was because some people disagreed with his beliefs -- beliefs shared by millions of normal Americans.
Charlie changed the rules. He didn't deliver a lecture at some auditorium. He went directly to the students. opened the microphone, and debated them. I had never seen that before. He challenged them to challenge him. What a concept.
My guess is that Charlie will be hard to replace, but his disciples will flood the colleges and universities very soon. They will find new recruits and do it in Charlie's name. This is why I’m hurting but feel optimistic.
As for the media, they need some soul searching, especially from the people who sponsor them. It may be time to unplug MSNBC or whatever their new name is. Their coverage was often shameful.
So parents keep an eye on what your kids are watching on social media. Furthermore, don't let your kids watch MSNBC. It's bad for their minds.
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Image: MSNBC