When Outrage Becomes Entertainment: A Reflection on Our Response to Violence

There are moments in history when a tragic event forces us to look in the mirror — not just at what happened, but at how we, as a society, responded to it.

The recent assassination of a public figure should have been one of those moments. A time to pause. To grieve. To wrestle with the weight of a life lost, regardless of political position or public opinion. But what followed — from headlines to hashtags, from memes to mocking commentary — revealed something much deeper and far more troubling.

Some celebrated. Others sensationalized. Many scrolled and shared without a second thought. And somewhere in the noise, the sacredness of life was drowned out by the buzz of digital reaction.

It’s tempting to distance ourselves from it — to say “that’s just the internet” or “that’s how media works now.” But the truth is, our collective response to violence says something about who we are becoming. The laughter. The mockery. The applause. It all points to a subtle erosion — not of politics or policies, but of our souls.

We’re not just witnessing a desensitization to death; we’re participating in it. When a tragedy becomes a spectacle, when the loss of life becomes content, we lose more than just our empathy — we lose our moral compass.

There was a time when death, no matter how controversial the person, called for dignity. When grief demanded reverence. When disagreement didn’t cancel out compassion. But now, we find ourselves trading reflection for reaction, and reverence for retweets.

So where do we go from here?

We can’t undo what’s been done. But we can choose how we respond going forward. We can be people who still feel. Who still pause. Who still refuse to let death become entertainment. Who ask hard questions about what we celebrate, and why.

This isn’t about political sides — it’s about the state of our hearts. About whether we still believe that every life bears the image of God, even when we disagree with the person. About whether we still value dignity over drama, compassion over chaos.

Because if we lose our ability to mourn loss — even the complicated kind — what else will we lose along the way?

Let this moment be more than noise. Let it be a wake-up call. A quiet reminder that the way we respond to violence reveals more than just our opinions — it reveals the condition of our hearts.

May God search us. Heal us. And have mercy on us.