“Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”
SOPHIA: This was part of President Trump’s video statement announcing the death of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, which he released before the suspect, Tyler Robinson, was even in custody. Along with the wide range of reactions from the public on social media — from mourning Kirk to saying he “deserved it” because of his support for looser gun regulations — this reveals a disturbing multitude of issues in our attitudes toward political violence. As political violence grows increasingly common in the U.S., it’s time for us to examine how we react to violence as well as whether it truly creates the changes in society that we want to see.
OLIVIA: The rhetoric pushed by our leaders — and perpetuated by citizens across the country — in the wake of political violence is too often one that blames the other party. But directing our energy toward this partisan finger-pointing leads to us detaching ourselves from the real effects of the issue, be it gun laws or the federal budget. This takes away both the gravity of the situation and our willingness to work together — and across the aisle, if need be — to solve it. This isn’t just an issue for lawmakers. It’s also our responsibility to be conscious of the rhetoric we perpetuate, including on social media, and the viewpoints we give our attention to. We can’t afford to keep promoting political violence.
SOPHIA: We really can’t, especially since sensationalizing political violence also means that we become desensitized, and violence starts to sound like a viable, even appealing way to enact change.
OLIVIA: That’s true — in fact, there has already been an uptick in the proportion of people on both sides of the political spectrum who believe political violence is necessary. According to a poll conducted by NPR and PBS News, the percentage of Republicans who think political violence is the only way to “get the country back on track” has increased from 28% to 31%, while Democrats jumped from 12% to 28%.
SOPHIA: Along with this shift in attitudes, there has been a substantial increase in actual threats against political figures at both the state and federal levels. This is reflected by recurring incidents of political violence, such as the shootings of Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, who were both Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers. The suspect in the Minnesota shootings, Vance Luther Boelter, equipped with firearms and dressed up as a legal enforcement officer, drove to both of their homes and repeatedly shot them and their spouses. In his car, law enforcement recovered a list of dozens of Minnesota state and federal officials. Boelter has been arrested and charged at both state and federal levels, including counts of stalking and murder.
OLIVIA: This kind of violence is exactly what makes headlines and creates sensationalized discourse. Charlie Kirk’s assassination had a similar effect — for some people, it was an event to celebrate, while others mourned, but both these groups had significant social media presence and argued over reactions rather than issues. His death also illustrated an instance where people take themselves out of the gravity of violence and are desensitized to the topic of death in the face of publicity and social media. It was certainly a traumatizing experience for all the people at the event, as well as Kirk’s children and wife. While his rhetoric was certainly harmful to groups of individuals or inspiring to others, death is still a very real topic and not something to be taken lightly or disregarded due to the views or beliefs of an individual, and violence shouldn’t be celebrated.
SOPHIA: However, it is understandable that the state of our politics and society can be frustrating. There is reason to believe that political violence has become increasingly prevalent due to a lack of change from the government.
OLIVIA: However, political violence is not productive in creating change. Lilliana Mason, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, warns that people are much more likely to engage in violence once others have already started it, and this retaliatory violence could send us down a vicious spiral.
SOPHIA: We can already see the beginnings of this in our society. After Charlie Kirk’s death, right-wing advocates strung together incidents of violence to paint a picture of the left attacking them — President Trump’s video statement is an example of this, and so is podcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ repeated statement that “this is war.” These come even though, according to data collected by The Conversation, right-wing extremist violence is both more frequent and more deadly than left-wing violence.
OLIVIA: As political violence becomes more common, it also creates a climate of fear, especially for elected representatives. Some become discouraged from running for office, and since political violence disproportionately targets women and people of color, these demographics end up even less represented.
SOPHIA: This is especially important for Asian Americans since we are already severely underrepresented in politics. In an area like MVHS, which is 80% Asian American, if we want representatives at the state and national level who match our demographics to feel safe in their jobs, we need to curb this cycle of violence. So how do we do that?
OLIVIA: First of all, we need to stand against leaders who are inciting and promoting violence. Since political leaders and celebrities get so much media attention, simply not engaging with sensationalized posts is a great place to start. To go further, we can call these leaders out publicly and post to balance out their rhetoric.
SOPHIA: And we’re definitely capable of doing that. After reports of racist and violent language in the Young Republicans group chat were leaked, Vice President JD Vance dismissed the statements, but there was such widespread public outrage across both parties that five GOP leaders resigned.
OLIVIA: Second, rather than pushing for short-term bursts of movement, our frustration should be channeled into longer-term efforts. What is needed is organizing consistently and at a large scale in order to put significant pressure on the government and to outweigh corporate and money-driven interests. For example, a census on the Black Lives Matter movement reflects a 10% to 15% decrease in deaths. This effect was more prominent when protests were larger and more frequent. Other than political campaigns, smaller actions like voting people into office can contribute to overall political change and action over time.
SOPHIA: And even for students, staying informed, engaging in honest conversation with those around us and promoting an environment online where violence is not encouraged can help us avoid further tragedies, while still pushing for the causes we care about.
