By Howie Silbiger, Editor-in-Chief
Charlie Kirk was assassinated in front of a live audience at Utah Valley University and instead of universal shock we saw depravity. The bullet had barely ripped through his body before the mob online erupted in cheers. They posted laughing emojis, wrote that he had it coming, shouted good riddance into the abyss of social media. They did not just tolerate murder, they glorified it. That is the world we live in now, where political violence is consumed like entertainment and the death of a man who dared to defend Israel and Judeo Christian values becomes a punchline.
What is worse is that it was not just faceless trolls. On MSNBC, Matthew Dowd went on national television and had the gall to suggest that Kirk’s so called rhetoric caused his own death. He even floated the sick notion that perhaps it was a supporter who shot him in celebration. This was not analysis, it was mockery. He was later forced into a pathetic apology but the mask was already off. They could not even hide their contempt long enough to let the body cool. That is how much they hated Charlie Kirk. That is how far gone this culture is.
Charlie Kirk lived loudly and he lived bravely. He said anti Zionism is antisemitism. He stood on stage after stage and told young people that liberty is not a hollow slogan but something rooted in faith and morality. He told the truth about Israel when others stayed silent. For that he was hunted, and for that they cheered when he was killed. The snipers bullet was meant to stop him, but it was the celebration afterwards that revealed the true rot eating away at this country.
President Donald Trump lowered flags and called him legendary. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him a lion hearted friend of Israel who defended truth in a world trying to bury it. Real leaders knew what we lost. Yet the mobs laughed, and the so called journalists smirked, and that tells you everything you need to know.
This was not just an assassination. It was a national disgrace. Security failed, law enforcement stumbled, and the very people who should be defending free speech mocked the corpse of a young man whose only crime was believing in God, in Israel, and in the foundations of Western civilization. Charlie Kirk believed in debate not bullets, in truth not terror. His enemies chose murder and applause. If America shrugs this off then we are finished. If we let the celebration of his death stand unchallenged then we have already surrendered.
Is the cheering for Charlie Kirk’s death any different from the cheering after the October 7 massacre in Israel?
We are living in a very sick society I’m afraid. How to heal it is another question. Perhaps teaching history in elementary school would be helpful