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Hi Friends,
Fair warning – this month’s newsletter is political. If you don’t want to read, feel free to delete.
I was doxxed a few weeks ago, because I posted a video on social media in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder saying that gun violence is NEVER deserved, and that I did not agree with his views, and that the tragedy of his death does not erase, for me, the things he said while alive that hurt many people. (You may disagree with me. That’s cool! We are all allowed to have our opinions, it’s what free expression is and it’s why his podcast was successful.) Anyway, stating the above got me placed on multiple “lists” of authors “not to read” and a list of 60,000 people who Kirk supporters believe “celebrated” his death. I was slammed on social media by people who were angry with me for stating a POV different from their own. I was called a b*tch, a c*nt, wh*re, ugly, a truly evil devil worshiper, and threats like these: “We know everything about you, however you know nothing about us. We could be in the stall beside you, your uber driver, your server at a restaurant and even someone you walk past in the street. I promise you we will be waiting in line at your book signings. You will never know. My suggestion to you would be to remove the video you made about Charlie, or face some devastating consequences. The clock starts now,” and “Stay in hiding, b*tch. Good luck with those public engagements.” I filed reports with police. I also received emails from readers saying they were getting rid of my books and donating the proceeds to Turning Point USA. (They were absolutely within their rights to do so!) Finally, there were emails from readers who told me they burned my books, so no one else can read them.
However, I have had several email conversations with Kirk supporters who were willing to actually have a discussion instead of spewing filth and hatred. It was educational and enlightening. I learned two things: what I was shown on my social media and news sources about Kirk was different from what they were shown. They heard him talk about the Bible and fatherhood. I heard him demean Black people and say Joe Biden deserved the death penalty and that doctors who prove gender affirming care should be executed. Clearly two different messages, though they came from the same man. What this tells me is that the algorithms for social media are locking us in our echo chambers. They WANT us to look left or right, instead of UP. They want us to detest each other. We are ALL being manipulated by the billionaires who control this media. You know how both sides say “they’re living in a different reality!” Well, we are. And it’s a reality that is shaped for us by the content that doubles down on our own belief systems, which makes it harder to hear any other opinion. Second, I learned that the people who supported Kirk want the same thing I do: a better world for our kids and grandkids, a safer world. But their version of what that world looks like is very different from mine. The people with whom I have been emailing tell me there is no racism anymore, and minorities have been given such a prominent voice and freedoms that they’ve taken more than their share of jobs, education, etc. To them, immigrants came flooding into the country with Covid. To them, vaccines are a danger to our health and the reason autism is so prevalent. To them, guns don’t kill people — people kill people. Personally, I think that the world is a better place when systems are dismantled that favor one group and that we must encourage true equality instead. I think immigrants MAKE this country. I believe in science, and the years of research done on mRNA vaccines. And I have long been an advocate for common sense gun reform.
For my own mental health and safety, I finally had to disable my contact information on my website, which breaks my heart. It stops the flow of threats, but it also keeps me from hearing from readers who have loved my books, and getting to engage with them.
It’s getting harder and harder for me to imagine this country coming together, with such disparate visions of a perfect society. And that makes me so, so sad.
These are my opinions, just like Charlie Kirk had his opinions. But apparently for some people in this country, freedom of expression only goes one way. In no way am I celebrating the horrific death of a man at the hand of gun violence. Yet, also, I can’t understand his canonization, when others who died (some by gun violence!) did not receive the same. I don’t understand why flags were lowered to half-mast when Jimmy Carter did not receive that honor. I don’t understand why a Congresswoman petitioned for the deceased to lie in state in the Capitol because his death was an act of political violence, although Minnesota State Rep Melissa Hortman’s death didn’t even warrant comment – in spite of the fact that the shooter who killed her, her husband, and her dog literally had a list of twenty-plus Democrats he planned to kill. I don’t understand why the President of the United States blamed Democrats for this man’s shooting and then proclaimed at his funeral that he did not want to forgive his enemies, even if it was the Christian thing to do. I don’t understand how people can’t see that although you have the right to say whatever you want in America, what you DO choose to say has consequences – and that if you spend years throwing gasoline onto a fire you can’t be surprised if it explodes.
I don’t understand why this man’s shooting eclipsed the school shooting that LITERALLY happened an hour afterward. I’d like to talk about THAT, for a moment, simply because it’s been glossed over. It occurred at Evergreen High School outside of Denver, Colorado. A male student used a revolver and shot two other students, one critically. The shooter died of self inflicted injuries. At the time of the Evergreen shooting, there had been 47 school shootings in America in 2025. What makes this particular shooting more upsetting is that it took place in Jefferson County -the same county where the Columbine shooting happened. In fact one of the parents of a girl at Evergreen High School was a first responder during Columbine. I’ve met with kids who are survivors of school shootings, for research during the writing of NINETEEN MINUTES. These kids talk about how they literally ran out of their shoes. How they hid in air duct vents. They talk about how after the shooting, you could trail your hands down the hallway and still feel the spots the bullets hit. How the school administration now won’t let anyone carry a backpack anymore and how they lock the doors once school starts - and these kids don’t get it … because how does any of that help when the shooter is already sitting next to you in French class? I read somewhere that school shootings have been happening for so long now that kids who began active shooter drills on elementary school are now high school students committing the acts of violence. And that because they went through the drills, they know exactly where the other kids are hiding. Let that sink in.
I don’t really want to live in a world where there are so many shootings that the news coverage of one is interrupted by another. I don’t want to live in a world where the lives of children matter less than the life of a podcaster. I don’t want to live in a world where instead of fixing gun violence, Congress and the President use it to blame their opponents. Honestly, who have we become, as a country?
If you disagree with me, that’s fine. Because I DO believe in freedom of expression and that means you have it too. (I will qualify this by saying that I also believe there’s a difference between hate speech and free speech, and if Canada has figured that out, surely the US can too.) But please don’t write to tell me you will never read my books anymore, etc. You have that right, of course, but frankly, I don’t need to hear it. I hope you find authors within your own silo, if that is your preference. I also hope you’ll consider that I’ve made a living out of presenting all different points of view for difficult topics — and that maybe if more people were willing to listen to other points of view, we would not be resorting to violence.
But if do you agree with me, please call your reps and demand common sense gun reform, because the lives of your kids and grandkids literally depend on it. 5calls.org is a great place to start.
XO,
Jodi
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