After Charlie Kirk's assassination and the resulting sense of outrage on the right and rejoicing on the left, I was concerned that the violence would escalate. The number of leftists celebrating was shocking. It was possible, I thought, that left extremists might be encouraged to step up attacks and right extremists might retaliate. I am very relieved that hasn't happened and impressed that the right has broadly responded peacefully, both in remembering Kirk and in their recognition that there is an extreme element of the left that hates them. I sense a stiffening of the spine on the right which is nonetheless peaceful.
In the comments here soon after Kirk's assassination I said that, while I didn't think it probable, for the first time I felt there was the chance of a civil war. I used the term "civil war" just because it's been floating around for some years now and that's what came to mind. However, it's a particularly good time to use language clearly. I do not at all fear a civil war like the US war from 1861-1865. What I fear is more of a low-intensity conflict, like "Bleeding Kansas" in the five years leading up to the Civil War or like the Troubles in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s to 1998. The 1960s and '70s here in the US had more violence as well with riots and the Weather Underground bombings, etc. Maybe a return to that as Angela Davis and other leftist terrorists are now leading lights on the left. That said, I am much relieved by the right's reaction over the last week. We'll see how it plays out.
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