From By STEVE BELONGER of The Response“
Conservatives Need to Acknowledge Good and Evil When Speaking of Reaction to Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
The murder of Charlie Kirk deeply affected the emotions and minds of decent people. We were angered by the murder of the innocent. We were saddened that a family lost a husband and father. We were frustrated that in America someone is motivated to kill to eliminate free speech that people do not like.
In the hours and days that followed the murder, Conservatives took to the airwaves to figure out a response, not just to the killer, but to the Leftists that were disgustingly supportive of shutting down a voice on the Right. Conservatives needed the validation of their angry feelings and thoughts. Hearing others on radio and TV discuss the event helped us know that what we were feeling was natural and right. We also wanted explanations.
In the aftermath, I was listening to a Fox radio show and they were interviewing Bill O’Reilly. He was addressing the felicity of the Left at Charlie’s murder. I waited for him to call them out. To say the truth about those people. To lay it on the line.
Boy, was I disappointed at his explanation.
O’Reilly said, “You know what’s wrong with those people who rejoice in Charlie’s death?” I waited, knowing right answer. I just wanted him to say the same thing. But he did not. He said, “What’s wrong is that those people are mentally ill.”
What a copout!
And a lie.
As complicated as mental illness is, most cases are the cause of trauma or some type of deterioration or imbalance. The Left was not happy about murder because they were victims of mental illness.
The people commenting on Charlie’s death were in full use of their intellect and senses.
The actual explanation is that their comments were evil.
That clears up our moral fog.
We can define an evil act and a good act.
It’s not an outmoded approach to life.
Good versus evil is in all the stories we read and the movies we watch.
It’s natural because it comes from being created in the image of God, the Moral Being.
No one would deny that we are moral beings so why can’t explanations for many behaviors be moral explanations?
God is not shy about using the terms evil and good.
Proverbs says, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.” Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
The words are commonplace in the sacred writings.
That is where O’Reilly let down the listeners.
They merely wanted to hear that rejoicing in the murder of the innocent was morally wrong, not an illness.
It was an expression of evil.
Why was he avoiding calling it what it was?
I really don’t expect the God-less Left to come up with the right moral responses.
But I do expect Conservatives to have a coherent worldview that is not afraid to define morality in terms of evil and good.
It seems more tolerant, more non-judgmental to avoid distinct values.
But it takes intellectual strength to adhere to objective definitions.