America has a new “N-word” problem, and it is unsurprisingly leading to violence.
In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 by a radical leftist, the future of American politics is in a state of crisis. Trust, the vital currency of political discourse, is at its lowest point, perhaps since the ominous days leading up to shots fired on Fort Sumter.
UNIVERSITIES MUST FIX THE PROBLEM THAT LED TO CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER
For many, the assassination of Kirk was the first shot in a war. Many conservatives fear that we have passed a threshold where civilized discussion seems impossible. When you kill the man whose entire career was based around dialogue with the other side, and on their turf, how can you expect those who remain after him to do the same?
But we don’t honor Kirk’s memory by shrinking from the hard work of persuasion. How, then, should we react? Returning to business as usual and hoping the Left will police its own rhetoric is nothing short of naïve. If the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump wasn’t enough to sober their tone, why would we expect a successful attack to do so? One look at social media reveals that many on the Left have no remorse, but openly revel in the carnage their words helped incite.
Therefore, those seeking to preserve a civilized country must draw lines in the sand for acceptable political speech. We must do this from the highest institutional levels to the most basic personal interactions.
We’ve reached a point where rhetoric that demonizes opponents isn’t just reckless, it’s fatal, and we should demand its end. The words “fascist” and “Nazi” have no place being thrown around in American discourse except to refer to members of openly neo-Nazi organizations. The leader of the Aryan Brotherhood is a Nazi. Donald Trump is not.
These words have been the core of the leftist strategy to demonize the Right in recent years. Rather than call their opponents wrong, or misguided, or even stupid, the Left declared that they were Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists. They framed ordinary disagreement — and taking positions that were almost universally held just a few years ago — as a denial of someone’s existence and as sending someone to their death.
Nearly every Democrat employs this insidious tactic. Joe Biden does it. Kamala Harris does it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does it. It has become endemic of Democratic political strategy, and it has directly led to the rise of political violence and fanaticism on the left.
Their twisted logic goes that if “Nazis” are winning elections, if they are growing in power and influence through democratic means, they must be stopped, even if by brutality.
This is the thought process of a tormented 22-year-old man who climbs onto a roof with a bolt-action rifle and bullet cartridges inscribed with anti-fascist language. It was leftist rhetoric that killed Charlie Kirk.
We must insist that the use of this rhetoric end immediately.
Those who use those words should be treated the same way society treats people who casually drop the “N-Word.” We don’t tolerate it, we demand that it stop, and if it doesn’t, we disassociate with those who do it. Political discourse should have a new “N-word” and a new “F-word” moving forward. We should not platform those who spew these words. We should call out the media when it does. We should not associate with people or companies that allow such messages on their platforms. And employers should terminate employees who use that rhetoric.
GENERATION RAGE: AMERICAN YOUTH HERALD A NEW AGE OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Freedom of speech does not protect people from the consequences of their speech. And it does not shield them from being shamed and isolated by their peers. The power of association is one of the most potent tools we have to punish those who refuse to stop using such dangerous rhetoric.
We must step back from the vitriolic language that has come to define this age of American politics. If we do not, political violence will become the norm. And no one will be safe. It will come for our neighbors. It will come for our spouses. It will come for our children. We must do this for them. We must come back to the table, pick up that bloodstained microphone, and be willing to talk like Charlie did.
Bethany Shah is a partner at Jackson Walker LLP in Houston, Texas. She previously served as Deputy Associate Counsel to President Donald Trump and as a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, where she prosecuted violent crimes. Burk Ohbayashi is the Head of School of Koinonia Academy, a Catholic Classical Academy in New Jersey. The authors’ views are their own and do not represent the views of their employers.