ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- Brace yourselves. The story of political violence in America is not as bad as you think. I'm afraid it's much worse.

It's not just that awful things happen. It's that when they happen, many Americans get unhinged. We have trouble being honest, staying rational and not going too far in one direction or another.

If the tragic tale about how conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed this week while speaking at Utah Valley University was only about how exercising one's right to free speech can turn wives into widows and leave children fatherless, well, that would be bad enough.

Here, the right should concede a point to the left: Whether the victims of gun violence are schoolchildren or allies of President Donald Trump, thoughts and prayers are not sufficient. Uncle Sam has been wheeled into the emergency room, and he needs lifesaving surgery.

But what makes the story even worse is that it illustrates once again how Americans are stuck in this rigid paradigm of absolutes. In competing narratives that are currently unfolding in the sewer of social media, Kirk -- having been martyred for the MAGA cause -- gets cast as a sinner by some and a saint by others.

The 31-year-old co-founder of grassroots organizing group Turning Point USA was neither of those things. He was simply a human being who -- despite saying things in videos and speeches that were outrageous, hurtful and divisive -- did not deserve to have his life cut short in such a public and violent way and at such a young age.

Americans are hardwired to grieve the death of the innocent. Kirk's wife, Erika, and their young children (a 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter) are innocent. We should mourn with them and pray that God gives them grace and strength.

But was Kirk innocent? Not so much.

By producing hundreds of videos, hosting a radio show and giving speeches on college campuses across the country, Kirk got famous from speaking his mind on thorny subjects.

His YouTube channel has 4 million subscribers, and his Facebook page has 6.8 million followers.

He was the pied piper of Generation Z, possessing an almost magical ability to connect with and relate to young people in their teens and 20s.

As the father of three Z'ers, I can tell you: That kind of magic is not nothing.

In a post on Truth Social shortly after the shooting, Trump laid it on thick. Calling Kirk "great and even legendary," the president wrote that his friend was "loved and admired by ALL."

Well, not all. Sift through Kirk's videos, and it won't be long before you feel the need for a shower. He dismissed white privilege as a "myth" created as an excuse to unleash racism on white people. He said that highly accomplished Black women such as Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and former first lady Michelle Obama were inherently unqualified and had taken opportunities from more deserving white people. He said immigration into the United States should be "halted" (yes, legal immigration too) to make room for "real" Americans. He called being transgender a "mental disease." He accused Jewish Americans of "pushing the exact kind of hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them."

And, prophetically, Kirk also said that some gun deaths in America were "worth it" if it meant being able to preserve the Second Amendment.

This guy was a piece of work. I have no idea if he believed everything he said. Much of it might have been part of his schtick. Nevertheless, his millions of followers clung to his words and adopted his view of the world. That's a lot of power. And with power comes responsibility. Kirk did not always speak or act responsibly.

It seems at times as if Americans have lost our collective minds. We definitely have lost our way. But the losses keep piling up. We've also lost any semblance of proportion, perspective and moral consistency. We only get worked up by tragedies that we can relate to or those that affect people we care about; we shrug off the rest.

Many of the same conservatives who are furious over Kirk's murder and calling for empathy and compassion for their fallen hero and those who loved him can't seem to muster any empathy or compassion for thousands of Latino migrants being rounded up like cattle.

People want their lives to matter. Love him or hate him, Charlie Kirk mattered. To some degree, we're living in the America he helped build. Heaven help us.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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