When Disagreement turns Deadly
What the murder of Charlie Kirk reveals about dissent in America.
The murder of Charlie Kirk is disturbing for several reasons.
Not just because someone was killed in broad daylight at a political event from 200 yards away (!!)—which is insane—but because it reveals the state of American dissent.
You don’t have to agree with Kirk or even like him to see this for what it is: a literal attack on free speech, open debate, and the idea that we settle differences with words, not weapons.
His murder has shaken me in a way I didn’t expect—not because of who he was, but because of what he represents: a public villain.
What’s unsettling about the murder of Charlie Kirk is how clear it is that if you’re branded a villain for having the wrong views, you’re no longer just annoying or problematic or even a menace to society; you’re a target for murder.
Political violence isn’t new, but this one feels different because Kirk wasn’t a politician. He was best known as an influencer who people either adored or abhorred. For over a decade, people developed a parasocial relationship with him through his vast online presence.
Political violence has ramped up over the last decade. And it has no allegiance.
Let me lay it out for you like the world’s worst CVS receipt:
Shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords (2011)
Shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (2017)
Plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (2020)
Pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC (2021)
Jan 6 (2021)
Attack on Paul Pelosi (2022)
Attempted assassinations of Donald Trump (2024)
Murder of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO by Luigi Mangione (2024) (people celebrated this bc Luigi is hot and big pharma is not)
Arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, on the 1st night of Passover, dubbed “genocide josh” because he’s a pro-Israel Jew (April 2025)
D.C. Jewish Museum shooting of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky (May 2025)
Assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife (Jun 2025)
This is obviously an incomplete list, but you get the gist. Like, WHAT the actual 🦊 America? Are we okay? (No. No, we are not.) This is not the behavior of a stable nation.
In my neighborhood, this has been up for months ↓↓↓
History is a cruel teacher, and we seem determined to ignore its lessons.
Once you legitimize violence against those with the “wrong” views, it never stops with just them. The definition of “wrong” keeps expanding.
The Death of Debate
The test of a healthy society isn’t whether it protects the people you like. It’s whether it protects the people you don’t.
That’s why Kirk’s murder is so shocking. If your opponent deserves to be killed for their convictions, then it is only a matter of time before someone decides you do too.
Label someone a villain, and suddenly the morality becomes easy: if they disappear, the world improves.
The First Amendment wasn’t written to protect bland, agreeable speech; it was written to protect the sh*t that makes you want to throw your laptop across the room.
We often hear about people being “silenced” or “canceled.” But in Charlie Kirk’s case, that rhetorical abstraction became reality. He was permanently silenced for holding views that someone found objectionable.
The erosion of dissent
America’s culture of pluralism is eroding. And it’s eroding from both sides.
On the right, violence is dressed up in the distorted name of patriotism: storming the Capitol, attacking lawmakers, plotting kidnappings.
On the left, violence is rationalized in the name of justice and liberation: supporting intifadas, excusing murder as “resistance,” framing terrorism as freedom-fighting, and targeting anyone deemed complicit in the vast web of capitalism, imperialism, or settler colonialism—however loosely defined.
Both are corrosive. Both are dangerous. Both are tearing at the fabric of democracy.
We can keep going down this road. Or we can make a different choice.