‘Ask Americans who is to blame for the recent rise of political violence in USA And you will receive conflicting answers, “writes Wall Street Journal in today’s (15.09.2025). murder by Charlie Kerk.
The Left in the US cites Whitmer’s abduction attempt, the beating of Paul Pelosi, the shootings against the Democrats of Minnesota Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, as well as the riots in the Capitol on January 6th.
The Right highlights the shot during Congress’s baseball training, the murder of Unitedhehealth Brian Thomson, the two attempts by Donald Trump and the murder of Charlie Kerk. Each side considers the other as dangerous, and reactions to every new act of politically motivated violence are rapidly turning into a party confrontation.
However, The biggest gap in support of political violence is not ideological, but genealogical.
According to the Institute for Individual Rights and Expression on Freedom of Speech at Universities, more than one third of students He now considers the “use of violence to stop a speech at university”.
This should be an alarm in the classrooms, the teachers’ classrooms and the offices of the country’s Rectors.
‘Teach intolerance’
In the last decade, University institutions have become a theater of continuous demonstrations against invited speakers, While the rectors are doubting the importance of political tolerance. At the same time, students are bombarded with orientation material, lectures and curricula that recast the expression of opinion as violence and praise resistance to the name of social justice. Many critics have come to the conclusion that Colleges and universities “teach intolerance”.
However, support for violence with the aim of suppressing expression is much deeper than university institutions. In a 2024 national survey, respondents presented a list of eight political divisive and possibly offensive statements (eg “all whites are racist oppressors”, “America got what was worth it on September 11”, “January 6th was a peaceful protest”. They were then asked to choose from the list the statement they considered more offensive. After this option, respondents were invited to answer whether “the use of violence to stop a speech” that supports the idea they chose as more offensive is “never”, “rare”, “sometimes” or “always” accepted.
The good news is that almost 80%of Americans reject efforts to suppress freedom of speech, with a vast majority of democrats (77%), independent (80%) and Republicans (82%) stating that violence is never accepted.
The bad news is that the picture changes dramatically when we look at different generations. While 93% of baby boomers and 86% of generation X say that violence is never accepted, only 71% of millennials and 58% of the generation Z agree.
These findings reject two comfortable myths: that only the “other side” supports political violence and that colleges and universities are the only ones responsible for it.
The generation of political polarization
It is possible that Gen Z’s obsession will violently suppress the regiment -protected freedom of speech to be temporary. Perhaps time will bring moderation and greater appreciation for the fragility of liberal democracy. AThis generation became adults in a time of deep political polarizationincreasing economic uncertainty, covid and unrest in 2020. As these experiences fade from memory, its members can overcome their anti -liberal extremism.
In the meantime, the country is in dire need of leaders – in universities, in government and in the media – that is committed to the basic liberal idea that Violence is never an acceptable answer to expression. In particular, higher education institutions must resist the temptation to retire from their role as a forum for controversial views. Colleges and universities would do well to use this tragedy as an opportunity to increase, and not to reduce, the number of conservatives they invite to their space. As former White House spokesman Ari Fleiser wrote on Twitter, “academic space cannot be a banned zone for conservatives. … It will help to heal the country if the liberal left -wing -dominated colleges actively approach and peacefully welcome the Right. “
Violence is contagious and its spread threatens the basic promise of a free society: That citizens can be expressed, concentrated and participated in public life without fear. If we want a freer future, we must teach and impose the principle of persuasion against forced violence, especially to Gen Z members who are more willing to abandon it.