Charlie Kirk’s killer was not a lone wolf. He was part of a pack. He evolved from a toxic left-wing ecosystem that has produced a series of violent attacks in our nation in recent years. That ecosystem has a lot of players that stoke the destruction.
It starts with socialism itself. That ideology has always been based in emotion and perceived victimhood. These days they have converted our sacrosanct free speech rights into a concept called “hate speech.”
“Hate speech” is anything with which the left disagrees. They introduced a generation to a concept that hate speech also equals violence, teaching that violence should be met with actual violence.
These socialist social justice warriors then arm their followers for battle through the institutions they control.
The college and university system gives them accreditation. Higher ed is the chief incubator of these dark concepts, using our own tax money to turn these institutions into a factory manufacturing victimhood, angst and grievance. These institutions teach these kids not to think for themselves, but that there is no other side to an argument but their own. They must follow, obey, and take action.
Social media provides rocket fuel to this situation. It’s a dark, anonymous place where these ideas can be made to look real. Unchecked censorship, foreign government bots, and algorithms combine to wall these kids off from reality in an un-pierced bubble. They validate themselves and their violent justification without challenge.
The legacy media provides amplification. These institutions long ago trashed the concept of balanced presentation. They unprofessionally have become political activists for left-wing ideas. They daily give volume and repetition to phrases like “threat to democracy,” “Fascist,” “racist,” “transphobe,” “climate denier,” “vaccine denier,” and other phrases to target free people who merely disagree. They seize on any event that can support these concepts even if the facts don’t. If an event doesn’t support that narrative, they don’t report it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center gives them a target list. That shake-down organization, based in Montgomery, Ala., keeps a hate list, publishing the list of organizations and individuals with which the left disagrees as somehow threats to the country. Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk were singled out by the SPLC.
Elected officials provide an official seal of government to these concepts. They use the concepts of victimhood and hate speech not only in their cheap rhetoric, but in the laws they pass which mask mental illness as a transgender identity victim issue. They usurp parental rights in our schools under the same notion. They gut the criminal justice system which unleashed a crime wave on our cities on the notion of race victimhood. The criminals are treated as victims, so they cut them loose to harm more victims.
That whole toxic environment mainstreams the anti-free speech notion, “I am offended, therefore I am victim, so others must die.”
Before Chairlie’s death, The Foundation for Individual Rights published a survey that determined 34% of students believed violence to stop someone from speaking on campus was acceptable. That is up 10 points in four years. Charlie went to the campuses anyway.
The fruit of this poisonous tree is clear in recent years.
These neurotic narcissists have a track record. They killed Charlie Kirk. They tried to kill Trump twice. They tried to kill Justice Kavanaugh. They shot Republicans on a baseball field. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been attacked twice. They attacked people for driving Teslas. They caused billions in damage and numbers of deaths through riots and protests by BLM, Antifa, and other manufactured causes. Christian children were targeted and killed in at least two different schools by transgenders cloaked in victimhood revenge. They’ve harassed and threatened Jewish kids on college campuses. Two Israeli diplomats were executed in cold blood in D.C. A healthcare CEO and workers in the headquarters of the NFL were shot by shooters claiming to be victims of some perceived system. The scores of repeat felons murdering people in cities all around the country are too many to count, so many that the people who run these cities started changing the numbers. The most recent murders at the hands of “reimagining policing” left Iryna in Charlotte and Julie in Auburn brutally stabbed to death.
Let’s not forget the author of all this darkness: The Devil himself. I believe we are in a modern battle in a spiritual war that has existed for all of humanity. The souls and direction of an entire generation are on the line. They can follow the darkness that consumed Charlie’s assassin. Or they can follow Charlie’s example. He believed in discussion. He believed in debate. He was not violent. He believed in time-tested civility and traditions. He believed in having a family. He believed in hard work. He believed in his God. He believed in the light.
As their elders, we must pray for this generation of kids to follow the light and save this country.
Leland Whaley is the host of Leland Live, the most listened-to news talk radio show in Alabama. He can be heard weekdays from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Talk 99.5 WZRR in Birmingham.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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