“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” The translated quote by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong was famously used at the brink of what would become the Chinese Civil War. With the barrel of a gun just taking the life of right-wing conservative debater and public speaker Charlie Kirk, and the United States being at its most polarized state since perhaps our own Civil War, we at The Tower believe that Zedong’s quote closely captures the political mood and moment of our nation.
The Kirk shooting has been at the heart of deeply contentious discussion in recent media, but he is nowhere near the first victim of violence caused by political tension. Debates over police brutality, immigration, climate change, abortion and countless other issues have accelerated the divide, and modern technology has only made that easier. In the last decade, we have witnessed social media’s role as a greater game-changer in politics than ever before. With 20 percent of Americans getting the majority of their political news from some form of social media, according to the Pew Research Center, many campaign missions are being targeted towards specific platforms such as TikTok. It is easy to source some of the causes of political tension today back to the innovation and spread of modern technology.
We at The Tower believe that people involved in current U.S. politics deafen themselves to opposing viewpoints to a level that causes excessive conflict and violates our Constitutional rights as citizens to govern the nation as a fair and democratic republic. With heightened contention over countless political topics in recent years involving the media and Constitutional freedoms, empathy has been lost in American politics, forgotten most by those with the greatest power to change our country, and we as a nation must come together to disarm America’s gun.
Some Americans would say that the first step to stopping the harm being done in our country is to control guns, while some say it is to deport illegal immigrants. While all of these topics are worthy of discussion, we at The Tower regard the exercise and protection of free speech rights as fundamental in determining the trajectory of our future as a country and necessary to address first and foremost.
News companies and television entertainers such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are being pulled from the air and shut down for speaking out against controversial political issues, which is evidence of the flagrant attempts to censor the First Amendment rights that are key to a thriving democracy. On top of this censorship, Kirk’s assassination, along with the recent violence against two Minnesota state lawmakers, exemplifies the current dangers of expressing free speech and political ideology in America. By limiting acts of violence that silence each side from being heard, and more importantly, by trying to understand each other and our ideas to the best of our abilities, we as a nation will be one step closer to finding a level of peace with ourselves, so that we can better address current issues.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” the immutable statement from Abraham Lincoln on the edge of Civil War with the Confederacy mirrors Zedong’s quote, this time with the conflict now in America. The polarized conflict of the country that is famous for being “free” is slowly ripping the shingles, shattering the windows and breaking down the support of the United House of America. However dark the day may seem, we at The Tower believe that it is our duty as Americans to move forward as a society, accepting each other and hearing everyone’s beliefs, no matter how divided they may seem, to help fix and rebuild our home to make a better future for generations to come.
