No One

 On Wednesday morning, I woke up ready to read the headlines about what Jimmy Kimmel said upon his return to the airwaves the night before. Was it a triumph? Was it an apology? Was it circumspect? 

I couldn't rush to the tape because there was another headline that got in my way: "Multiple Fatalities In Apparent Sniper Attack On ICE Facility."

Oh boy. 

So frustrating when real life intrudes on the world of entertainment. Initially there were reports that two ICE agents were killed and two more were seriously wounded. Authorities on the scene said that the shooter was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Then it turned out that it wasn't two dead, but just one. Not an ICE agent, but one of the detainees. The critically wounded were not agents either, but two additional detainees. 

I would say "more on this story as it develops," but it seems that these two events, a late night TV host returning from a week-long suspension for airing his thoughts about a right wing radio host's murder and the death of a detainee at an ICE facility killed in a similar fashion to the way the radio host was murdered are all just a part of the way we are currently conducting social change in the decidedly not United States. 

Alan Berg.

That was the name that popped into my head. He was a radio host in Denver back in the 1980s. The views Mister Berg expressed on his show were on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum from Charlie Kirk, but like Charlie his audience was made up with as many fans as haters. On the night of June 18, 1984 Alan Berg was shot at point blank range with a semi-automatic handgun that had been converted to fire like a machine gun. He was hit twelve times. Five of those went directly into his heart. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

One of the men convicted of killing Alan Berg was released from prison in 2024. He has been held up as an example for all Christian Nationalists who have come in his wake and considered by many to be a martyr for the cause. 

My biggest concern now is the need to continue this process of generating martyrs. It's the worst thing about being a martyr: you don't tend to lead a quiet normal life to become one. Most often you have to be surrounded by violence and death. Usually your own. It is an ugly, terrible business. 

Jimmy Kimmel is not a martyr. He said in his return to TV that he wasn't. Nor was Tyler Robinson, the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk. Neither Richard Scutari or Alan Berg are martyrs. Nor are they punchlines to anyone's social media posts. Or blog.

I leave you with this, my continuing pitch: No one deserves to be shot.

No one.