Authored by John Hilton-O'Brien via The Epoch Times,
On Aug. 22, young Iryna Zarutska was murdered—not with a gun, but with a knife. The horror in the video circulating online comes less from the weapon than from the killer’s casual comment to a bystander: “I got that white girl.”
Those words reveal this was not simply an outburst of rage. They show a moral framework in which killing “that white girl” was normalized—even justified.
That is also what makes the assassination of Charlie Kirk so alarming. Some want to minimize it as just another “gun crime.”
But Kirk was not targeted because of a weapon. He was targeted because of an idea: the belief that violence against political opponents can be righteous.
English-speaking culture, shaped by centuries of conflict, became very good at violence—but also at directing it toward legitimate ends. Shakespeare celebrated warrior kings like Henry V, whose “band of brothers” fought at Agincourt. Churchill, who rallied Britain against Nazi Germany, spoke of the power of short words—and “war” is remarkably amongst the shortest words in English. Violence itself is not evil—the problem comes when it is misdirected or undisciplined.
The original push for public education, born of a revival of classical learning, insisted that young people be taught to love truth rather than their own factions. It was a genuine attempt to train the passions of young citizens toward virtue—habits of mental and physical excellence.
But these insights have largely been abandoned by our public schools.
From the “Communist Manifesto” onward, Marxism has reduced human life to a battle between oppressors and oppressed. Class analysis cast revolution as liberation, and political violence as justice.
American professor Herbert Marcuse made this logic explicit in “Repressive Tolerance” in the 1960s. He argued that “tolerance” itself only served oppressors, and that silencing opponents of the left was a moral duty. He stopped short of calling for bloodshed—but his framework made the step to violence all too small.
Today’s identity politics simply works through the consequences of Marcuse’s script. “Oppressed and oppressor” is how we divide society. And you can define almost anyone as “the oppressor.” Classmates, political opponents, and even parents are cast as enemies. Rage becomes virtue. Political violence becomes justice.
This helps explain why Iryna’s killer believed his act was acceptable. It also helps explain how someone could see the assassination of Charlie Kirk not just as permissible, but as virtuous.
The most disturbing part is that this framework is not confined to radical academics or activists. It is being actively taught in our schools.
The idea is simple—easier to understand and teach than virtue—and it is deeply seductive.
When a teacher introduces Marxist analysis, it feels like sharing a secret. Suddenly, teacher and student are “in” on something together—a hidden truth about how the world really works. That dynamic transforms the relationship.
Classroom management becomes easier. Students enjoy lessons that make them feel clever, even heroic: You and I see the truth, while the world out there is blind or corrupt. But the price of that intimacy is enormous. Once students buy into this “you and me against the world” dynamic, it becomes much harder for them to listen to anyone who is not “on their side.” Teachers become allies—including against parents.
This is how education cultivates political violence instead of virtue. We have seen what happens when children are raised this way. In Cyprus, whole generations were taught to see their neighbours as enemies. The result was decades of recurring conflict.
The same seeds are being planted here, in our own schools, under the banner of “equity” and “critical thinking.”
Once young people accept this worldview, they no longer see opponents as neighbours or fellow citizens. They see enemies. And once that shift occurs, political violence no longer shocks them. It can be rationalized—even praised.
The crisis we face is not about weapons. Iryna Zarutska’s murderer carried a knife. Charlie Kirk’s assassin used a gun. Different tools, same logic: Both believed their violence was righteous.
That script is not picked up by accident. It is taught. It is reinforced every time a classroom divides the world into “oppressors” and “oppressed.” It is strengthened every time students are told that to silence or punish opponents is to do justice.
We will not end political violence until we root out the Marxist framework that legitimizes it. Education must once again teach virtue: to love truth, to hate injustice, and to direct courage against genuine threats to the common good.
Only then can we raise a generation ready to defend their neighbours—not destroy them.
It’s time to take Marxism out of schools.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.