The Real Battlefields Aren’t Where You Think
Civilization is being won or lost in classrooms, licensing boards, and dinner tables—not in the chaos outside.
Diogenes In Exile is reader-supported. Keep the lamp of truth burning by becoming a paying subscriber—or toss a few drachmas in the jar with a one-time or recurring donation. Cynics may live in barrels, but websites aren’t free!
On September 10, 2025, the shot that assassinated Charlie Kirk was heard around the world. It was also my first official day at the National Association of Scholars — a day that should have marked a beginning, but instead resonated with something much larger.
Over the last three and a half weeks, I have been busy both learning the ropes of my new position and grappling with the monumental shift in the emotional tenor of the country, which has left me feeling bottled up without an outlet. Today, I address that.
Since the election and the start of Trump’s second term, I have been concerned that collective tensions would boil over. I think that many who have been following cancel culture and the growing hostility toward the right since the left lost control of governmental leadership have felt the same sense of uncertain dread.
Now we stand on the cusp. The assassination, and even worse, the joy and gloating among those who counted Charlie Kirk as an enemy, even when he did not draw such lines, has opened a door that may be difficult to close.
Numerous articles and videos speculate on the likelihood of civil war.
That is certainly a path we can take, but as someone who grew up around the military, and even sandwiched between two Vietnam War veterans, I hope we choose a different way, a middle way.
Real war comes with a high cost. It is your friends, neighbors, and close family that bear the consequences. And the more any group travels down the road of dehumanization, the more they flirt with the darkest side of human nature.
As someone who has suffered mobbing, cancellation, and the loss of one career, I take inspiration from Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor and a twin who, with her sister, was tortured by SS Doctor Mengele. After the war, she founded the Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors (CANDLES) organization and forgave Dr. Mengele, along with the other Nazis, while also pushing for justice by filing suit against the Bayer company for their role in the medical experiments at Auschwitz.
If she can forgive that, and Erika Kirk can forgive the assassin, maybe anything is possible.
Necessary Changes
Forgiveness doesn’t mean abandoning justice.
If we are to find our way back to a place where we respect our differences and solve problems with words rather than violence, people should expect consequences for the behavior they choose.
For too long, punishment has been withheld under the theory that what people need is empathy and love rather than enforced boundaries to be their best selves. The results of that have been rampant crime, not peace on earth.
At the same time, those in authority have given themselves permission to use any means necessary to achieve what they are convinced will be a superior civilization, a Utopia.
While those on the right fall far short of perfection, it has primarily been those in the progressive and democrat camps that have embraced the greater abuses of power and full-throated demonization of anyone who falls outside their lines. They have allowed rage to grow and have fed it with talk of righteousness.
This demands accountability.
From the abuses I and many others have experienced in higher education, to those who have had to shutter their stores due to a lack of policing, we must demand better. We have laws, and they must be enforced. And if our laws are bad or have gaps, those need to be addressed with active citizen involvement.
Where power has collected in a professional monopoly, we must fuel competition.
Schools must be unburdened of ideologues.
These are the real battlefields, inside the bounds of the rule of law. Even if more violence comes, it is a distraction intended to prevent the return of sane government and reform.
Concluding Horizons
The real battle for the U.S. isn’t in the streets. It’s in our institutions, our homes, and the courage of our hearts. We can not allow despair and hatred to decide whether we hold to our principles.
That doesn’t mean that we can’t defend ourselves, but we can’t let fear drive us to make that decision too early.
Civilization isn’t something that you win, despite Sid Meier’s wildly successful game version that plays otherwise. It is something that must be built on truth and with both justice and mercy if it is going to be somewhere that we want to live.
We have the tools to do that, without full-on warfare; we just need to use them.
Help Keep This Conversation Going!
Share this post on social media–it costs nothing but helps a lot.
Want more perks? Subscribe to get full access to the article archive.
Become a Paid Subscriber to get video and chatroom access.
Support from readers like you keeps this project alive!
Diogenes in Exile is reader-supported. If you find value in this work, please consider becoming a pledging/paid subscriber, donating to my GiveSendgo, or buying Thought Criminal merch. I’m putting everything on the line to bring this to you because I think it is just that important, but if you can, I need your help to keep this mission alive.
Already a Premium subscriber? Share your thoughts in the chat room.
About
Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Tennessee. What I found instead was a program saturated in Critical Theories ideology—where my Buddhist practice was treated as invalidating and where dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy was met with hostility. After witnessing how this ideology undermined both ethics and the foundations of good clinical practice, I made the difficult decision to walk away.
Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to exposing the ideological capture of psychology, higher education, and related institutions. My investigative writing has appeared in Real Clear Education, Minding the Campus, The College Fix, and has been republished by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. I also speak and consult on policy reform to help rebuild public trust in once-respected professions.
Occasionally, I’m accused of being funny.
When I’m not writing or digging into documents, you’ll find me in the garden, making art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.