I was working on some background website tasks today and took a quick break. I noticed in a news feed Charlie had been shot about an hour earlier. He died almost instantly.
This event hit me in powerful ways. It was a shock. Just because someone disagreed with what he was saying, they thought it was OK to kill him in order to silence him. This says so much about current society in the USA. This is not just a one way street. Melissa Hortman was similarly murdered this year. Charlie was right leaning, and Melissa leaned left.
I do NOT want this post to come across as political, but it will.
For some reason over the last few days I’ve been pondering, maybe in mind because of the Catholic school shooting, and realized something. I thought about several recent and less recent school shootings. Recent and less recent riots. Confrontations between governmental law enforcement and individuals thinking they are wrong. Big on my mind January sixth, but also all the rioting in the summer of 2020. How left leaning “journalists” stand in front of a burning building or car, report these protests as “…MOSTLY PEACEFUL…” Tet today, (9/10/2025) right leaning media personalities reporting this horrible murder event but refuse to acknowledge two past presidents and many others on the other side also condemn this action.
And something dawned on me.
Pretty much everyone on either side committing the acts of violence are starting from a position of entitlement. Those reporting the events on each side take a position of entitlement to present only the facts they want and ignore other facts that don’t fit the narrative they want seen. Each perpetrator and each “reporter” feels they are entitled to what ever action they are taking, report they are giving, because of how unfair the world is. And how its OK for them to make someone pay. Entitlement is what’s going through their minds as they do what they do. As they report how they report. In their minds they believe the end justifies the means, so it doesn’t matter if mistrust is sown or even if people die in the process. They themselves might not be willing to commit murder, but if one of their followers does, well that will be big news. Through the feigned shock and awe, their followers and advertisers will eat it up it. Maybe even flock to them growing their audience.
How did they get to this place in their thinking? Now the part that will sound damningly political.
I have noticed that mostly, these “entitled revolt activists” and those that report one-sidedly, are those that are most extreme in their thinking, often from political rhetoric. In fact, different sources say between 93-98% in the protests are peaceful. It only takes 2% to make a peaceful event into a riot. In 2020 millions upon millions of dollars damage was done, and dozens of people lost their lives, some being outright murdered when the left leaning “protests” occurred. Those of you believing only the left does this may not realize that anti-abortion, or anti-LGBTQ protests are just about the same. Usually the damage is lower, but the number of active participants in the damage is greater. It’s not one sided.
And all the participants and those reporting them seem to think they somehow have permission from somewhere, maybe just a morality clause in their own head, that makes this behavior OK.
It’s bothersome that somehow the major political parties in the US has drifted so far away from the actual ideals of their supporters into extreme views which actively create this entitlement in the few. These create the opinion that anyone thinking differently is an enemy and somehow needs to be stopped. The media, is chasing followers in the pretense of chasing the truth. And whether from politically leaning media or a politician presenting information, a few faithful followers are willing to take action.
I’m in my sixties now. I remember as a teen and early into my twenties, I had trouble deciding which party I supported more than the other because both had some good but also some bad ideas. One had more common sense fiscally, yet the other showed what humanity could grow into. I liked the ideals of what we could become as a race, but also knew that as we moved forward, someone somewhere sometime had to pay the check. The national debt then was about $550 billion.
I didn’t start to grasp it until recently, that politicians in both parties, no matter what they claim to support, are unconcerned about that debt. Its because some of the money they can get the government to waste, often ends up in the pockets of those backing them, and also sometimes even in their own portfolios. The media concerns are chasing those dollars too, from supporters of those politicians. Advertisers follow the largest group, and spend their money with indifference, so whoever gets the biggest following also gets the most advertising dollars.
You “influencers” reading this, aren’t you trying to build your platform into the largest number of followers you can? You want the greatest influence, recognition, power of reach. And admit it or not income as a byproduct of whatever else you present? If your audience and all chance for that income disappeared, wouldn’t you give seriously consideration to ending your platform up too? What really motivates you to do what you do is greed for power, influence, and money. Search your soul and come at me if that isn’t true.
Enough about journalists, reporters and influencers.
Greed for money and/or power drives politicians. They say they are working for “we the people” but in reality they got into politics to get rich. Or powerful. Or both. If there was no money or power in it, no one would want to join the 435 state Representatives, nor 100 Senators. For certain, they would not try to stay in it for life, or even to get a second term.
In 1975 the national debt was about $530 billion. Now that’s just the interest payment. And before you argue with me about what motivates people to get into politics, remember. First, most of them become attorneys, already a group we don’t trust. A group good about keeping secrets that could make their cause look bad. A group who’s very job it is to manipulate evidence and present or sometimes ignore facts while chasing an outcome most favorable to themselves and whoever they represent. They may not care if a murderer goes free, as long as they win the freedom of the person they are working for. Then they go into politics. For life if possible. And never having to produce actual results. They get to level up simply by manipulating evidence while including or ignoring facts such as to be the most favorable outcome to themselves in the eyes of those that will continue to vote them back into office. Make no mistake, politicians work for themselves, not the people they represent. Those people are just pawns in their game.
Enough about politicians.
Now, for a section many Christians won’t like.
Christianity’s leadership has fostered an attitude of entitlement in modern day believers. We are being fed messages from our pulpits that tell us we are somehow better than others around us. We are on the privileged inside, because non-believers are ignorant to the secrets we know. We are fed messages that draw us into self-righteousness. Leaders distract us with whatever is important to them, so we have blindness to the hurting souls we encounter around us that fall outside of whatever is important to those very same leaders. We forget(we aren’t reminded enough) that although GOD hates the sin, HE loves the one doing it. HE loves them, even as they commit the sin that we, Christians, become offended by. GOD hates the act of murder committed against Melissa and Charlie equally, but loves the murderer even while he is committing it. Just like HE loved you as you committed your greatest sin. And still loved you while doing your most recent sin.
I won’t tell anyone where to go from here. I’m not trying to influence which side is right or wrong in behavior, media influence, politics or even Christianity.
Some deep thoughts were laid out in this post. I ask you non Christian people to think about what politicians are ‘really’ doing for us, other than creating distrust and hatred of each other. Are you guilty of being gullible and falling for what your chosen media source tells you to believe? Do you really buy that you need to be afraid of, angry with, or hate someone that has a different opinion than you? I ask every Christian reading this post to go to GOD in prayer, not for the family of Charlie Kirk but for yourselves. Ask GOD what HE would have you learn about your own failings. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see what things in your life you need to fix, even while instead you just want to pick up a stone to throw at those taking actions you disagree with.
I hang my head searching my own soul as I sign off today.
Love to all,
David