Adam Van Muyden
Sartell
Last Wednesday, a young husband and father was shot in the neck and murdered for having the audacity to share his political beliefs with young people, peacefully and without hatred.
On one of the cartridges found with the gun, the shooter carved ‘Hey Fascist – catch!’ The young man who murdered Charlie Kirk was radicalized by people calling those on the right Fascists, Nazis, homophobes, transphobes; pick your label. This paper itself has many times said the same about our political leaders on the right.
As I type this, there is a website cataloging over 30,000 social media profiles who have celebrated the murder of this innocent man. https://www.charliesmurderers.com/. These people have been radicalized to hate people who disagree with them. Not the ‘hatred’ that those on the right are labeled with in this paper and all left-leaning rags, not the ‘hatred’ that is actually someone disagreeing with your politics.
The columnists in this paper throw around Nazi and Fascist and king and authoritarian like they don’t mean anything. Yet radicalized people take these words to heart and are turning to murder because of it.
Please, please stop your vile political rants and rhetoric. As our dear Lord Jesus said when beginning His public ministry, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
(Editor’s note: This newspaper has a policy of not countering opinions expressed in letters to editor. However, Van Muyden’s letter above makes serious claims that must be countered. In its 36 years, this newspaper, in its editorial stances, has always without exception deplored violence, including political violence. We condemned it categorically in the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk, the murders of House Rep. Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
Yes, on the Newsleaders Opinion Page there have been many caustic criticisms of Trump during his first and now second term. He is indeed acting as a king, an authoritarian and thus he should be criticized in no uncertain terms. Vociferous disagreements do not equate to incitement to violence.
Ironically, Trump is blaming political violence on the “Lunatic Left.” He himself has indulged in dog-whistle incitements to violence for a very long time, including his siccing of rioters against the National Capitol police officers on Jan. 6, 2021. His incitements continue – against immigrants, universities, the law, states’ rights and the media.
One more note: We have published every pro-Trump letter to editor and every anti-Newsleaders letter we’ve ever received.)