As an editorial board, we would like to make something clear—we do not stand with either end of the political spectrum. In no way does our stance on political violence or the celebration of such violence tie us to one party or another.
On September 10, 2025, political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while debating policy at Utah Valley University. This act of extreme violence is abhorrent in itself, but it is equally appalling to see the onslaught of social media users celebrating the assassination.
Thousands of anonymous users seemingly seized that moment and took to social media essentially stating (or directly stating), “Thank God.” To think that so many individuals would praise the murder of any person is disappointing.
Whether or not you stood with Charlie Kirk while he was breathing is honestly irrelevant here.
The celebration of a person’s killing, especially in front of thousands of people, and ultimately, millions online, is disturbing.
A TikTok user by the username @imblizzy shared a post that has since been made private, stating, “We can all celebrate, because something really awful happened to a really, really awful guy,” after starting the video by cheering and pumping a fist in the air.
This isn’t about karma, and it certainly isn’t about “getting what was coming”—this was a human life. This was a murder based solely on political differences. The message shared in this video mirrors what so many others are heartlessly posting without second thought.
While this behavior might seem surprising, it is not all that unusual anymore—a similar reaction was had to Trump’s attempted assassination in July 2024, and has resurfaced since the attack on September 10. According to Newsweek, a middle school employee in South Dakota by the name of Cassandra Oleson was fired after posting to her Facebook page stating, “Shoot—if only he would’ve had his scope sighted in correctly.”
Not only this, but the murder of Democratic state lawmakers—Melissa and Mark Hortman (including their dog)—at the hands of conservative Vance Boelter, was also openly mocked and made into a joke on social media. Jokes included images of Tim Walz and Boelter mockingly linking Walz to the murder of the Hortmans, like the one posted by Donald Trump Jr. on instagram.
Similarly, Luigi Mangione’s killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was seen by many as a heroic act in order to advocate for victims of the healthcare system. The celebration of his violent offense is so strange—opinions on healthcare aside, he killed another human being. An online movement was started using the hashtag “#FreeLuigi” to show support during his trials, amassing over 50,000 shares on X as of December 2024.
Though instances cannot be completely equal in comparison, they are just another example of political violence being treated as insignificant. This same attitude was held when democratic speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer in his home in 2022.
No matter where you stand on any of the previously mentioned incidents, it should be understood how utterly distasteful it is to mock, celebrate, or cheer for a person’s death or threats of death against them.
As a society, we need to do better. We have to condemn this, to not allow politics to define us. As young people, students, and the future of our country, we need to educate ourselves in order to dig deeper and decipher right from wrong. Social media has warped our morals, therefore it is our job to set them straight. Murder is wrong.
