Tribal Justice: Why Selective Outrage Is the Death of Compassion

One of my favorite movies is the story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday as told in Tombstone. Perhaps one of the most iconic lines (outside of being your huckleberry) comes as Doc offers an honest assessment of his life:

“My hypocrisy knows no bounds.”— Doc Holliday, Tombstone

It’s meant as a smirk, a jab at the absurdity of moral pretense, as comparison between Doc and Wyatt.  But lately, it sounds less like movie dialogue and more like our national confession.

There’s a difference between fighting for justice and fighting for our tribe. One pursues what’s right, even when it costs us. The other pursues what’s useful, even when it’s wrong.

The tragic killing of Charlie Kirk exposed this difference in painful clarity.

Many who claim to stand for tolerance, compassion, and justice suddenly had none to offer. Some even celebrated his death — as though murder could ever be “deserved.” Meanwhile, two high school students in Colorado were shot the same week, and the national outrage machine barely noticed.

Tribal Justice: The Morality of the Mob

Tribal justice isn’t about righteousness — it’s about revenge. It operates by a few unspoken rules:

• Only our victims matter.

• Only our stories deserve to be told.

• Only our pain is matters.

Tribal justice demands loyalty, not truth. It’s why one side cheers when “their” cause is defended while also celebrating when “the other” is gunned down. It’s why the same crowd that cries for compassion becomes cruel when compassion costs them popularity.

Tribal justice has no moral compass — just emotional GPS, recalibrated daily by what gains likes and retweets.

The Performance of Rage

Tribal justice demands performative volume. You’re not allowed to mourn quietly or think slowly. You have to rage on cue.

When Charlie Kirk was killed, some voices mocked not only his death but those who grieved it. “If you’re not furious, you’re fake,” many implied. Other voices even accused the absence of rioting to “being b**less”  and not acting like how one should act!

Compassion became weakness; measured speech became cowardice. Forgiveness was a public misstep. But true justice doesn’t shout to prove sincerity. It doesn’t need profanity to sound prophetic. It holds its ground with grief, not fury.

Jesus demonstrated this in his own death. The prophet Isaiah declared that Jesus would be “oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth…” (Isaiah 53:7) Jesus didn’t rage even against his own death. Instead he blessed the oppressors with forgiveness saying, “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

When outrage becomes the test of authenticity, we’ve replaced morality with performance.

And when performance replaces conviction, truth is lost. Nobody is listening; they’re just competing to be louder.

True Justice: The Morality of the Kingdom

True justice is rooted in something far deeper. It’s not partisan. It’s personal. It doesn’t ask, “Whose side are you on?” but “Who’s suffering, and how do we help?”

True justice is the justice of Jesus — the kind that defends the woman caught in adultery, dines with the despised, and weeps over cities that reject truth. It sees every human as image-bearing, even when their politics are offensive.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”— Micah 6:8

Justice without mercy becomes cruelty. Mercy without humility becomes performance.

The Propaganda Problem

Mainstream media has become the high priest of tribal justice. It edits reality into soundbites that confirm bias and fuel contempt finding purpose in inflaming rather than informing.

When every tragedy is filtered through ideology, truth dies and propaganda takes its place. That’s why the same voices who chant “no more gun violence” could mock a man’s murder while ignoring the children caught in crossfire. The narrative, not the facts, drives the outrage.

Moral blindness is the fruit of planted folly.

A Call Back to True Justice

People who follow Jesus can’t play this game. We can’t join the mob and still claim the mantle of mercy.

True justice doesn’t belong to the left or the right — it belongs to God.

It requires compassion that transcends category, humility that outlasts outrage, and courage that refuses to put tribe over truth.