Over the past week, and really over the past year, as we have listened to the news and talked with people, one thing has become clear: emotion is driving much of our national conversation. Anger, fear, and outrage dominate what we hear. Reactions are immediate and intense. Feelings are loud. That leads to a basic question worth asking: does the law operate on emotion?
It does not. The law exists because emotion is unstable. Feelings change quickly, but facts do not. Laws are meant to be built on evidence, process, and restraint, not on how strongly something feels in the moment. Emotion can express pain or grief, but it cannot define truth. Justice depends on facts.
That difference has been lost in the recent killing of a woman during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. Before the facts were fully known, emotion took control of the narrative. Media outlets rushed to fill airtime. Special interest groups rushed to frame conclusions. Stories hardened while investigations were still unfolding. Outrage moved faster than evidence, and reaction replaced patience.
Grief after a death is natural. Emotion is human. But a deeper question must be asked: who benefits when emotion is continually stirred and sustained? Emotion does not remain high on its own. It is fed. The media benefits because outrage keeps people watching, clicking, and reacting. Calm truth does not hold attention the same way anger and fear do.
Some special interest groups benefit in a deeper way. Funding is not always the goal. Power and influence are. Their agenda is not simply to protest or reform, but to weaken the foundational principles that hold the nation together. They understand that a united people grounded in law, truth, and shared values is difficult to control. A divided people ruled by emotion is not.
Heightened emotion gives them leverage. When people are angry or afraid, they stop asking hard questions. Facts become obstacles because facts slow things down and bring clarity. Emotion creates urgency, and urgency allows pressure to be applied before truth can surface. Confusion replaces understanding, and reaction replaces reason.
These groups often speak the language of justice, but unity is rarely the goal. Division keeps attention focused. Prolonged outrage keeps people emotionally invested. When emotion fades, influence fades. That is why outrage is rarely allowed to settle.
This does not mean a life did not matter. It means justice cannot be rushed. Facts exist for a reason. They slow us down. They protect fairness. They prevent outcomes from being decided by pressure or passion. Without facts, law becomes reaction, and justice becomes unstable.
Scripture reminds us of this principle in James 1:19–20: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
Aristotle observed, “The law is reason, free from passion.” That insight still matters. When reason is removed and passion takes control, justice is weakened.
The law exists to rise above emotion, not to be driven by it. When emotion is constantly stirred, it is worth asking who is doing the stirring, and why. Justice cannot be built on feeling alone. Without facts, neither justice nor freedom can endure.