Strassel: The Charlie Kirk Example

Strassel relates the following, and I could absolutely not agree with Kirk more:

In a clip posted in April 2024, Kirk was asked by a (somewhat scornful) college student: “Why are you here?” Kirk responded: “OK, I’ve been asked that question a lot. First of all, the question should not even have to be asked. But when people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. When marriages stop talking, divorce happens. When civilizations stop talking, civil war ensues. When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group. . . . What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement, where violence is not an option.”