Posted by By Staff Writer: Bodhi Stevens
I am sure many of you saw the close-up video. I am also sure a number of you saw it unintentionally. Maybe a friend showed you without you knowing, maybe you scrolled onto it on X. It spread throughout the internet with the speed and force of a wildfire, exposing countless people to the brutality of gun violence being done towards someone who many saw as an impenetrable bastion of free speech. For those unaware, Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point U.S.A. and famous political influencer, was shot dead on September 10th while attending a public debate at Utah Valley University.
I am not here to discuss the context of his death; with the way social media works, I believe that everyone has already formed an opinion and will likely hold onto that opinion steadfast, no matter what I say. However, something that I think most people can agree on is the sheer abrasiveness of the video itself. The angle that I was shown felt more personal than the violence most often shown online. Shot from maybe 100 feet away, it displayed a guy, who I was familiar with and had known about for a while, dying in real time.
I think that the sentiment has been done to death at this point
As the news was breaking, I can remember a friend of mine sending the video to a group chat with zero warning. For some of my peers, this was the first time hearing about it, let alone witnessing it. It made me think–has there ever in history been an equivalent to that moment? There has almost always been some sort of delay in information; print news, cable television, and word of mouth all have their limitations. But that day, mere minutes after its occurrence, my friend was able to bombard the device in my pocket with a ten second video depicting a grotesque murder of a human being in high quality.
We’ve all heard something to the effect of “back in my day, we had to look things up in an encyclopedia!” from an older relative, teacher, or neighbor. I think that the sentiment has been done to death at this point, and I myself have heard it so many times that I almost instantly tune out the rest of their talking. On September 10th, however, it clicked for me. I am not quite as grateful as I should be to be living in such an age with so much knowledge and power at my fingertips at all times. In this context, there truly has not been a time in history comparable to right now.
Will the next generation pay any mind to the plights of strangers?
Naturally, this comes with untold consequences. The level of extreme violence that is so accessible to nearly everyone is ten times higher than what has ever been accepted or considered to be “normal”. What is this doing to us, as people? To developing children? Constantly, young adolescents are bombarded with violent, criminal imagery and are left such little time to process or really feel it all. How could anyone actually process it? It’s not real, it’s not tangible; It’s all just pixels on a screen.
I believe that this kind of desensitization is one of the most important perils facing our country today. We are losing empathy. The threshold of sensitivity to violence has undoubtedly been raised, and very likely will continue to follow the trend. Will the next generation pay any mind to the plights of strangers? The problems of people that they have not met firsthand? I sure hope so, because it is that very attitude of “not real, not my problem” that can do no good.
The Maroon 