Good morning and happy Saturday.
Most Americans of goodwill are still in shock over the murder of Charlie Kirk at a campus event in Utah this week. Condemnations have poured in from the political right and left and a manhunt ended with the arrest of a suspect yesterday.
Kirk’s killing ought to be a wake-up call for the state of our discourse today. His death is the latest in a string of political violence over the last fifteen years and, among a growing number of Americans, that violence is becoming more acceptable.
I would argue that Kirk’s killing is perhaps more dangerous for our society than the attempted assassinations of the president or the killings of the state lawmaker in Minnesota.
Kirk was not an elected official. He could not change the way policy was put forward and adopted in this country. Sure, he had the ear of the president and other high-level officials, but each of them could listen to his counsel and go in other directions.
In the awful event someone attempts to kill a lawmaker or executive, they are making an attempt to stop whatever policy or policies they don’t like.
Kirk’s killing was different. Kirk was killed for voicing his beliefs.
Now, before people hop on me about not knowing the true motivation, I would challenge them to come up with a better explanation. After all, I’m fairly certain the Bratva was not hiring a 22-year-old to carry out their hit jobs. Given the suspect’s arrest and the Governor of Utah announcing he will seek the death penalty, I’m sure we will learn more about the motivation in the coming days and weeks. For now, I’m going to stick to the logical assumption that it had to do with Kirk’s popularity and political views.
Kirk’s killing is perhaps closer to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015. In that attack, two French-born Algerian Islamic extremists stormed the offices of the satirical magazine in Paris, killing twelve and injuring eleven others. Their motive: Charlie Hebdo repeatedly published images of Muhammad that some found offensive.
Like Charlie Hebdo, Kirk ruffled feathers. He vocalized opinions that were unpopular on college campuses and was unapologetic in doing so. People protested his presence on campus and made threats against him. Those threats and violence are the logical end of the idea that “speech is violence.”
Left-wing journalists and college professors have increasingly made this claim over the last fifteen years. It is a concept that somehow words that offend are equal to physical harm. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff identified the absurdity of this claim back in 2017.
If one is an adherent to the notion that offensive speech equals violence, then it ought to follow that one has a right to defend oneself against said violence; he or she has the right to end the violence against them.
What a sad state our country is in that at least one person felt the need to kill another person over speech that might have offended him.
So where do we go from here? Well, first, we all ought to take a long time to reflect on how we react to facts or opinions that make us uncomfortable. As Catholics, we can, fortunately, rely on our faith to guide us through that process.
We also need to do better at listening. When Kirk would debate with others, he would listen to their arguments and respond directly. He did not resort to ad hominem attacks or red herrings. What is our fellow American saying to us? Am I hearing what they are expressing to me?
Finally, we also need to ensure that we are preserving the dignity of every person, and that includes defending each other’s rights, given to us by God. Where someone’s rights end and ours begin can be a point of conflict. But if we are charitable and remember that we are made in the image and likeness of God, we will be better equipped to handle those situations.
Further reading:
When Is Speech Violence? - Lisa Feldman Barrett in the New York Times
Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way - Ezra Klein in the New York Times
Tomorrow on Death Comes for the Archbishop:
We conclude the series with Bishop Jean Marie Latour in failing health, reflecting on his life and his friends. Then, Father Bob Keller, OP joins me to discuss death and the last things.
Paying subscribers get access tomorrow; everyone else will receive it on Wednesday.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
This Sunday at Mass, we will hear from Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 78, Philippians 2:-11, and John 3:13-17.
Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:
Monday, September 15 - Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Tuesday, September 16 - Memorial of Sts. Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop and martyrs
Wednesday, September 17 - Memorial of St. Hildegard of Bingen, virign and doctor (optional) and Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor (optional)
Friday, September 19 - Memorial of the St. Januarius, bishop and martyr (optional)
Saturday, September 13 - Memorial of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, martyrs
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.
No headlines this week.
Have a good weekend,
Matthew