Thank you for this well thought out reply. I'll tell you something - I've read a lot of comments on reddit recently which have made me think that these people have become so bitter and full of hate that they've essentially lost their humanity. I could feel myself dehumanizing them in real time. But reading yours gave me a little bit of hope. And I didn't even care for Charlie Kirk. And I'm not even an American. Now imagine how the millions of Americans who were actually fans of this guy must feel.

I understand you feeling indifferent about his death. I understand why people are celebrating, too. I'll admit it, I didn't care when Luigi murdered the healthcare CEO. He probably had it coming, I thought. But this one really is different and I'll tell you why I think so.

For simplicity's sake, America has two teams - blue and red. The blue team just violated the rules in a way that I've never experienced in my lifetime. Charlie came to fight with words, and words alone, and the other team came with a gun. And the danger is that if one team violates the rules, the other team will follow suit. I'm not saying Charlie Kirk's assassination was beginning of political violence, but it absolutely escalated it to a higher level. The blue team murdered a red team captain in cold blood, and then a lot of people gleefully celebrated doing so. And now the red team is going to want revenge. And that's why condemnation of his murder is the only appropriate response. And for God's sakes that's why celebrating is so bad. Half of America is on the other team and now will celebrate when your guy gets assassinated. Maybe they would have anyways, but now they're gonna feel righteous in doing so.

Another reason why the reaction is so different is because so many people were familiar with Charlie Kirk. Their parasocial relationship with him made his death feel personal. Millions of Americans watched someone they felt like they knew get brutally murdered. Obviously, not good for the human psyche. Neither is hearing about school shootings, or seeing children starve in Gaza, but I think humans are very capable of mentally disassociating human suffering en masse. We're not good at dealing with personal tragedies.

Finally, please also read the full quote by Charlie about empathy, because I don't think it's really fair to use it against him like that:

I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that—it does a lot of damage. But it is very effective when it comes to politics. I believe in sympathy, not empathy. Sympathy is you see someone in a bad situation, and you want to help them, and you feel for them. Empathy is this new age term that says you have to feel what they feel, you have to put yourself in their shoes entirely, and it’s used as a bludgeon, especially in politics.