At a time of fear and anger, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is setting an admirable example in calling on all of us to tamp down the hate and remove ourselves from the inferno of social media.
It’s not a perfect example, to be sure. But it is the best our divided nation is likely to get, and we should be happy it is coming from one of our state’s leaders.
When conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in Orem, Cox projected the right amount of sorrow, concern and calm. On that day and since, on the national and world stage.
Well, almost the right amount.
“I don’t want to get too preachy, but I think it’s important that we understand with eyes wide open what’s happening in our country today,” Cox said two days after the murder. “It’s also so much bigger than an attack on an individual. It’s an attack on all of us. It’s an attack on the American experiment.”
The governor repeated his oft-stated, and correct, belief that the anger and division deliberately egged on by social media platforms that make billions of dollars from such negative “engagement” are “a cancer” on American society. That all of us need to “choose a different path.”
The governor did much to reduce tensions by stressing that the killer apparently acted alone and was not part of any organization or deep conspiracy.
Cox might have stopped there and sent a powerful and necessary message.
He would have been well advised to leave out the speculative statements about how the suspect was supposedly “radicalized” by “leftist” online forums.
Cox fed the fires of transphobia by pointlessly mentioning that the suspect’s roommate is in the process of transitioning from male to female — even as he said the roommate had no involvement in the crime and was fully cooperating with investigators.
MAGA loudmouths such as former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon are absurdly blaming Cox and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for creating the environment for Kirk’s murder and demanding he be investigated by the FBI.
Cox should be cautious not to support, or be seen to support, Trumpist calls to use the Kirk murder as a reason for cracking down on constitutionally protected free speech — for example, pushing ABC to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air. Or siccing law enforcement agencies on any who may disagree with the administration.
Still, Utah’s governor has laid useful groundwork for proper efforts to end the growing trend in our politics to reflexively demonize those with whom we disagree. To decry violence, no matter where it comes from.
Please, Governor, don’t let the online trolls get you down.