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The horrific shooting of Charlie Kirk is a profound shock for Americans. Many will have disagreed with the firebrand conservative activist but few, particularly among the young, will not have heard of him. As of Thursday afternoon police were still hunting an unnamed suspect said to be of college age; the possible motive was unknown. But the killing is yet more evidence of the intensifying menace of violence that cuts across America’s political spectrum.
查理•柯克(Charlie Kirk)遭遇的骇人枪击在美国引起深刻的震动。许多人或许不同意这位保守派政治煽动者的主张，但很少有人，尤其是年轻人，没听说过他。截至周四下午，警方仍在追缉一名未具名、据称年龄在大学阶段的嫌疑人；其可能动机尚不清楚。但这起命案再次表明，跨越美国政治光谱的暴力威胁正日益加剧。
Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, was credited by Donald Trump with delivering the youth vote and transforming the demography of the US president’s base. He used his huge social media presence to propagate the Maga worldview to a new generation of Americans. Yet he was happy to engage in traditional forms of political disputation. He toured universities across the US, challenging often hostile student audiences to debate him on issues ranging from gun rights to abortion and LGBT+ rights. He propounded often chauvinistic and xenophobic ideas. Nothing, however, excuses violence even against views people find abhorrent.
现年31岁、育有两名子女的柯克，被唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)誉为赢得青年选票、改变美国总统基本盘人口结构的关键人物。他借助巨大的社交媒体影响力，将“让美国再次伟大”(Maga)的世界观传播给新一代美国人。与此同时，他也乐于参与传统的政治辩论：他在全美高校巡回，挑战常常抱有敌意的学生听众，就持枪权、堕胎与LGBT+权利等议题与之辩论。他宣扬的观点常带有沙文主义和仇外倾向。但无论观点多么令人反感，暴力行为都绝无正当理由。
US history has, sadly, been marked by political violence for generations; America has no monopoly on such occurrences, though its culture of gun ownership can worsen the consequences. The country has lived through upsurges in assassinations before, notably in the 1960s. But the tempo has quickened alarmingly during this decade. President Trump himself survived an assassination attempt last year, with another gunman later arrested close to where he was playing golf. A Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband were killed in their home in June. In April, the home of Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor Josh Shapiro was set alight while he and his family slept inside.
可悲的是，美国历史世代以来都留下了政治暴力的烙印；此类事件并非美国独有，但其枪支文化会加剧后果。这个国家曾经历过暗杀浪潮，尤以20世纪60年代为甚。但本十年的暴力节奏的加快令人忧心。特朗普总统本人去年遭遇过一次暗杀未遂，之后又有一名持枪者在他打高尔夫的场地附近被捕。明尼苏达一名民主党州议员与其丈夫于今年6月在家中遇害。4月，宾夕法尼亚民主党籍州长乔希•夏皮罗(Josh Shapiro)的住宅被人纵火，当时他与家人正在屋内熟睡。
Such assaults have intensified in tandem with the coarsening and polarisation of the political discourse, in America more than in any large democracy. It has become common not merely to express reasoned disagreement but to denounce opponents as enemies intent on harm. The rise of social media has propelled many Americans towards more extreme and entrenched positions — and exposed millions to graphic clips of Kirk’s shooting.
随着政治话语日益粗鄙化与极化，此类袭击也同步加剧，这种情况在美国比任何大型民主国家都更为明显。如今人们不仅习惯于表达理性分歧，更常将对手斥为蓄意加害的敌人。社交媒体的兴起推动许多美国人滑向更极端、更固化的立场——并让数以百万计民众接触到了柯克遭枪击的直观视频片段。
The response of the US political class will determine the path the country now goes down. Previous generations viewed it as incumbent on them in such cases to bring the country together, and not launch political witch-hunts. That spirit needs to be rediscovered today. Some leading figures from both sides of the partisan divide hit the right notes in warning that violence had no place in American public life. Yet in the House of Representatives, tensions over how to show respect to Kirk descended into a shouting match.
美国政界的反应将决定国家接下来的走向。以往的几代人认为，在这种情况下，他们有责任团结国家，而不是发动政治猎巫。今天需要重拾这种精神。两党阵营中的一些领袖人物发出了正确的声音，警告暴力在美国公共生活中没有容身之地。然而，在众议院(House of Representatives)，围绕如何表达对柯克的敬意的分歧却演变成了一场喊叫争执。
The imperative to respond responsibly extends to a president who has both ridden and amplified the wave of political polarisation. Trump called on Americans to recognise that “violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonising those with whom you disagree”. But in a four-minute video he blamed Kirk’s death on the “radical left”, and vowed that his administration would root out political violence against fellow conservatives. The president’s erstwhile backer Elon Musk posted to millions on his X network that the “Left is the party of murder”.
总统本人也必须负责任地作出回应，而他本人既是政治极化浪潮的推手，又助长了这种浪潮。特朗普呼吁美国人认识到，“暴力与谋杀是将持不同意见者妖魔化的悲剧性后果”。但他在一段四分钟的视频中将柯克之死归咎于“激进左派”，并誓言其政府将铲除针对保守派同僚的政治暴力。这位总统昔日的支持者埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)则在其X平台向数百万用户发帖称，“左派是谋杀之党”。
For all the pain and outrage surrounding Kirk’s death, attempts to use such language to frame him as a partisan martyr are dangerously incendiary. For the sake of US democracy and social stability, those in roles of influence should be united in urging de-escalation and condemning violence against anybody — especially their political opponents.
围绕柯克之死所引发的痛苦与愤慨固然强烈，但试图以这种措辞将他塑造成党派烈士，危险且煽动性十足。为了美国的民主与社会稳定，所有具有影响力的人士都应齐声呼吁降级对抗，并谴责任何形式的暴力——尤其是针对其政治对手的暴力。