To those who celebrate the murder of someone they don’t agree with on a political level, please rethink your humanity. Wishing death upon someone you don’t agree with dissolves a piece of your soul. Hoping and praying someone loses their life is vile and disgusting.
When I saw the video of Charlie Kirk being shot, I watched it about six times. The first few were hoping it was AI. The next four I turned on my news brain and was trying to figure out how somebody would cut this for a broadcast. I did the same with the awful footage of the woman being stabbed on the subway. Unfortunately, I’ve been desensitized to horrible and senseless acts of violence. It’s easy to become desensitized to violent content after editing footage of men being decapitated for not disavowing Jesus or young girls being burnt alive for refusing to become sex slaves before you become numb to the content.
Even with being desensitized to the graphic video, it has not stopped me from being disgusted by the public’s response.
People were hoping, praying, and putting out into the universe that this man would lose his life. Why? Because he holds open conversations with the public, discussing ideas and concepts that some deem controversial. Instead of the public being open to a civilized debate, this man was shot in the throat and has died. Allegedly, someone tweeted, “I hope he gets evaporated,” followed by “Let’s say something big is happening tomorrow.”
Violent tweets are not new. However, I never thought I would be alive to see people publicly write “hopes and prayers to the bullet.” Even more disturbing was seeing “Best wishes for the bullet and its family,” “best news to come out of my state,” along with “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great satisfaction.”
When people live behind a keyboard writing hate, they forget that the people they are writing about are human. Online hate is dehumanizing. It spreads toxic political discourse with its dangerous violent rhetoric. Violent rhetoric can lead to real world violence.
Don’t rob someone of their life because you dislike them, but you allow them to live rent-free in your head. There is not a single person in this world who will make another perfectly happy. There are those who will always find a reason to disagree with you. Again, just because someone may dislike you and your lifestyle doesn’t mean you deserve to die.
Stop wishing for politicians and those you politically disagree with to be assassinated.
Instead, go out and vote every two years and actually change our world. Be better humans and stop wishing everyone dead because they believe differently than you.
When does violent rhetoric end and the actions begin?
We have to be careful because once that bottle pops, you can almost never put the monster back in. Because those who murdered men and women disagreed with them on a fundamental level. When do we cross the line and act like those in Russia who jail and murder their political adversaries?
We as a nation are better than that.
Certain actions demand a death wish: rapists, murderers, and perpetrators of sexual assault of all ages. Those are the people whom you can wish death upon.
Everyone else, just ignore them. Don’t listen to their rhetoric. Don’t hate watch their content and make them famous.
Life is too short to hate. Be smart about what you put your energy in.
Remember, the political tides always change, but murder is wrong no matter what your beliefs are.
Chose to be better. Just because you have a difference of opinion does not give you the right to go after someone.