Civil War?

By Amy L. Glover Drake

It’s not common for my twenty-something son to invite me to watch something on TV, so when he suggested watching the dystopian war film Civil War, directed by Alex Garland (2024), I grabbed the front row seat on the sofa. The script doesn’t go into much detail about the reasons behind the armed conflict in the United States; rather, it focuses on a group of journalists covering the violence between two western states that have broken away from the union and the federation. Unfortunately, the film relies heavily on crude violence. Still, seeing the two sides kill each other mercilessly shook me; within the national context, it seemed plausible.

The death of Charlie Kirk, a young far-right activist, has deepened the divide. Kirk was a fundamentalist Christian who always claimed to wish the best for people who thought differently from him. At the memorial ceremony, however, Trump took the opportunity to reveal his own view on empathy: “I hate my opponents and I don’t wish them the best. I’m sorry.” His comment faithfully describes the toxicity of his leadership, which, far from healing a people sick with fear and paranoia, will help justify even more violence.

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