When is Political Violence Okay?

I woke up on July 16th to the news that Tenacious D had canceled all of their upcoming tours. For you who do not know, Tenacious D is a band that has two main players, Kyle Glass and Jack Black.

When at first I could not care less that two middle aged rock star men who often make fart jokes canceling their tour, until I started to notice the apology messages that came after.

Jack Black and Kyle Glass both posted apologies on Instagram for condoning political acts of violence.

I was interested. What on earth happened at this damn show in Australia?

A quick google later,I found that it was one of the singers birthdays. When a cake was brought out, Black asked Kyle what he wished for. He stated something along the lines of “that the shooter didn’t miss Trump.”

Black, clearly feeling awkward and shocked at this comment, muttered back a mere “thanks,” like anyone would normally say to someone that just blew out a candle for their birthday.

Not only that but the Australian Government is now calling for their deportation for condoning political acts of violence.

For days after on social media, news articles were flooded with comments ranging from “wish he didn’t miss” to “how could you say that! He is a person” and it seems the narrative we have all agreed to settle on regarding this Trump assassination attempt is “this is a sad day in America. We should never turn to violence.”

I myself am not a stark Trump supporter. In all actuality, I am your typical San Francisco born — hippie bread, “weed is not a drug” voter. That being said, my friends and family come from the “oh that man is deplorable!” camp in regards to Trump. And yet, the reactions in my circle were all myriad.

I was with my brother trying to work on finding a new job when I learned of the news. I leaned over to him and said “finally someone got around to it.”

My brother is also from the same liberal hippie camp as I am from, and yet, I was surprised at his reaction.

He furrowed his brow and frowned “that’s not funny. We should never condone violence.”

I suddenly felt this wash of guilt and shame come over me. What was I thinking? Joking about murder? Actually thinking I was upset that the shooter missed? What was wrong with me?

I let this sit for a couple days while my friends either stuck by their britches of “he should’ve nailed him” to “what a sad day in America!” And in all actuality, knowing how much hatred there is in my hippie — liberal voting camp, I wondered how many of these people were actually being honest with their sympathies for Trump? When a week prior, I heard these very same people calling him a “monster” and a “scary candidate who threatens our democracy.”

Isn’t this the same man who spearheaded the January 6th Insurrection leading to the deaths of capitol police and even some of his own followers? Isn’t that the epitome of political violence?

I chose to, instead of shaming my friends who coldoned the violence, merely asked them a question of morality now. In what circumstance is a life worth losing? What needs to happen to make it “okay” to take a life?

Trump and his now 2 assassination attempts aside, we as a country are more than fine it seems with political violence with the way we invade other countries and the death sentence we will put on our own people for breaking the law. So why is this incident with Trump any different?

Everyday we put people to death in this country under the death sentence, because they “killed a family of 3” or “murdered countless people.” Okay, so is murdering 3 people enough to justify a death? Could this be counted as political violence since this murder is only occurring due to a political law being in put in place? Speaking of “killed a family of 3”, there were certainly at least 3 deaths due to the January 6th insurrection and yet, we are still holding condolences for Trump?

And what about Al-Qaeda? While I am not holding any sympathy for a man who killed over 2,000 people in one of the largest terrorism attacks in history, it is an interesting comparison. In fact, when Al-Qaeda was killed, applauds were heard from the oval office to around the country.

And yet it is odd, when the question of morality comes up with this Trump assassination attempt. And now I wish, when my brother said “We should never condone violence,” I would’ve countered that and said “well what is it. We do not condone violence unless it serves us and our country? Or do we not condone violence at all?”