By The Author

When Paul Pelosi was bludgeoned with a hammer in his own home, the nation should have recoiled in horror. Instead, many on the right snickered, spread conspiracy theories, and treated the assault as fodder for memes. This wasn’t just cruelty; it was a symptom of a deeper disease in our politics: selective indignation.

Selective indignation is outrage deployed only when it’s politically convenient. It’s the moral double standard that treats violence against “us” as a national tragedy but violence against “them” as a punchline. From Charlottesville to January 6th to Gaza, our public life is riddled with this hypocrisy.

One Standard for Them, Another for Us

Consider the sharp contrasts of the past decade. In 2017, Donald Trump brushed off white nationalists at Charlottesville with his infamous “very fine people on both sides” remark. A few years later, he described the January 6th mob—who smashed their way into the Capitol—as “patriots.” Yet those same voices demanded crackdowns when Black Lives Matter protestors blocked highways or when left-wing activists confronted conservative judges at home.

The left is hardly immune. During the George Floyd protests of 2020, Democratic leaders often downplayed rioting as the by-product of righteous anger. But when liberal activists later posted support for violence against right-wing figures, the Biden administration came down like a hammer—demanding firings, boycotts, and public shaming. Tech platforms echoed the imbalance: Trump’s account was banned in 2021 for incitement, while incendiary rhetoric from progressive accounts often slid by with little consequence.

Beyond Our Borders

The pattern doesn’t stop at home. Western governments rightly call Russia’s invasion of Ukraine barbaric. Yet when U.S. allies bombed civilians in Yemen, or when Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed thousands, the rhetoric softened. Words like “tragedy” and “complexity” replaced the clarity of condemnation. Which deaths earn outrage, and which deaths earn excuses, depends less on principle than on alliances.

The Cost of Hypocrisy

Selective indignation is not just hypocrisy—it’s poison. It corrodes trust in institutions. Americans notice when outrage is filtered through partisan lenses. The lesson many draw is bleak: politics is theater, morality is performance, and principles are for suckers.

Worse, it fuels escalation. If our violence is excusable and theirs unforgivable, then every side has license to go further. One faction’s normalization becomes the other’s justification. Left unchecked, selective indignation doesn’t just polarize—it destabilizes.

A Different Standard

Democracy requires consistent principles. Violence must be condemned, always. Free speech must be protected, even for those we despise. Leaders must show empathy for victims, regardless of party. These are not partisan niceties—they are the foundations of a civic culture capable of surviving disagreement.

Our politics cannot survive if moral outrage is nothing more than a tribal loyalty test. It’s time we demanded something rarer, and far more powerful: indignation applied evenly.