I was a toddler on 9/11, too young to understand what really happened that day — a day that, though I did not know it at the time, unified a hurting nation. My parents told me stories of strangers helping strangers, American flags flying from every porch, and political differences set aside, just for a moment, in the name of shared humanity and national grief. For a nation built upon liberty, 9/11 struck a nerve that awakened a deep and unified resolve to protect what mattered most.
Compare that to Sept. 10, 2025.
CHARLIE KIRK EPITOMIZED THE BEST OF OUR CIVIC TRADITION
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young husband, father, prominent conservative commentator, and free speech advocate, should have been a moment of national mourning and unity for the country. So why wasn’t it?
Kirk was just 31 years old. He and his wife, Erika, were married in 2021 and had two children, a daughter in 2022 and a son in 2024. He was devoted to his family and his faith, and that his grieving widow and family now have to witness the dehumanizing reactions to his death is a sobering reflection of just how polarized and performative our culture has become.
Online mockery, hot takes, and derogatory partisan jabs quickly drowned out the initial shock of Kirk’s murder. Social media, the modern-day town square, showed its ugliest side — where the bidding war for likes exposes people for what they really are.
It’s disgusting, and it revealed just how fractured the American psyche has become. Everything from criticisms of his pro-gun policies to indifference based on his faith, to traumatizing footage being circulated repeatedly, none of it pointed to reflection or mourning. Instead, it demonstrated a culture incapable of slowing down long enough to feel. While leaders across the political spectrum, including President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden, condemned the killing, social media told a darker story.
Posts on TikTok mocking Kirk’s death racked up millions of views. Some influencers even openly celebrated it, calling it “karma” or “justice.” Others used their platforms to validate the public’s lack of empathy, saying it was OK not to feel compassion for Kirk’s death because, “if someone spent their life dismissing other people’s pain, mocking it, minimizing it, even actively contributing to it, it makes sense that your empathy tank might run dry.”
Also on social media, calls for gun reform began almost immediately. Leaders from states such as California and Oregon issued emotional statements on X, condemning violence while also reviving tired debates about firearm restrictions. But these weren’t conversations rooted in grief. They were political responses that appeared ready-made as soon as the shooting occurred.
Yes, political violence is wrong, but so is using grief to erode constitutional rights.
And Kirk was no ordinary public figure. He represented a large swath of Americans who feel unheard, alienated, and dismissed by the media and government. His advocacy for youth and their right to freedom of speech encouraged healthy debates in good faith on college campuses across the country. He championed a life that balanced politics and religion, family life, and entrepreneurship. His ideals and all that he stood for were an inspiration to thousands of young people looking to find their voice in today’s political climate.
CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH IS AMERICA’S TURNING POINT
His death should have sparked a sobering reflection about how far we’ve strayed from being able to disagree without dehumanizing. Instead, it became clickbait.
Over the course of my 25 years as an American, our country has transformed from one that found unity in tragedy to one that exploits it for political gain. We no longer mourn together. We fight over who deserves to be mourned. The loss isn’t just of one man’s life. It’s of a shared national conscience. And that’s the deeper tragedy.
Colleen Dean is the Media Relations Coordinator for the Network of enlightened Women (NeW), where she promotes intellectual diversity on college campuses.