COLUMN: Think Again – Political violence threatens us all

It’s the kind of thing no decent person wants to see. Thirty-one-year-old Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck at a public event when he was in the middle of answering a question.

Kirk was a conservative political activist in the United States. But that doesn’t really matter. Whether he was a conservative, a liberal, or something else entirely, no one deserves to be shot and killed for expressing an opinion. Because that’s what Kirk was doing.

I was also disgusted by the number of people who openly celebrated Kirk’s assassination. For example, Manitoba’s Minister of Families Nahanni Fontaine shared a social media post condemning Kirk as a “racist, xenophobic, transphobic, sexist white nationalist mouthpiece” and stating, “I extend no sympathy for people like that.”

Only after experiencing significant public blowback did Fontaine issue a perfunctory apology. Frankly, I’m amazed that Premier Wab Kinew is letting Fontaine remain in cabinet. It must be a low bar indeed to remain one of Kinew’s cabinet ministers.

One of the defining marks of a healthy democracy is that we settle differences at the ballot box rather than through violence. Instead of killing our political opponents, we vote them out of office. If an election doesn’t go the way we want, we start organizing for the next one.

Another important element in a democracy is that we allow people to express their views freely. If we disagree with what someone says, we rebut them with facts and evidence. And if we can’t stand listening to someone’s misguided opinions, we ignore them. No one is forcing us to watch television shows we don’t like, to listen to podcasts that we hate, or to read books that we think should never have been published.

To be honest, I never followed Charlie Kirk that closely. I was vaguely familiar with his Turning Point USA organization, but I didn’t know much about his views other than that he was a conservative activist. From what I’ve read about Kirk since his death, he sounds like someone who enjoyed dialoguing with people who disagreed with him.

I am deeply concerned by the rising toxicity of political discourse in both Canada and the United States. No doubt social media has played a huge role in this trend since it’s become easier than ever for people to isolate themselves in their echo chambers.

One of the best things we can do to resist this trend is to step out of our echo chambers. If you are on social media, try to follow people from a variety of perspectives, not just the people who say the things you like to hear. This will give you a more complete picture of the things happening around you.

Even more important, develop and cultivate friendships with people who disagree with you. Some of my best friends are people who strongly disagree with me about politics and religion. When we get together, we have some interesting discussions, and yes, some heated debates. But most of the time, we aren’t arguing with each other. Rather, we just accept that we disagree on some things and have honest discussions about life.

When you become friends with people who disagree with you, it becomes harder to demonize others who think like them. This helps us see the human side of other people. In the end, we realize that the differences aren’t always as big as we think.

There’s nothing wrong with expressing strongly held views. After all, that’s what I do every week in this opinion column. Just remember that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, even when you disagree with them.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.