By John Krull

INDIANAPOLIS – Murder isn’t a joke.

That’s why I didn’t laugh when comedienne – I use the term loosely – Kathy Griffin posted an image of her holding the bloody severed head of President Donald Trump.

Nor I did I ever chuckle when right-wing and alt-right activists showed up at rallies carrying signs of former President Barack Obama being lynched – or when they burned hanging effigies of him.

Instead, I wondered then – and I wonder now – when and how our culture became so debased that some of us seem to think that talking about killing someone is the stuff of comedy.

Her career in meltdown following the incident, Griffin apologized. She said she’d “gone too far.”

That shows that she still doesn’t get it.

The problem wasn’t that she went “too far.” The problem was that she went there at all.

To say that she’d gone “too far” indicates that there’s a morally acceptable way to joke about murdering someone. There isn’t.

There are people on the left who want to minimize Griffin’s moral obtuseness by pointing to all those images of Obama being killed. Many of the people outraged by Griffin, these progressives point out, either sat silent or even chortled at the images of a black man – America’s first black president – being lynched.

Really?

When did it start making sense to argue that one wrong justifies another wrong? When did our political dialogue become an ever-accelerating race to the bottom?

I understand that there are many, many Americans who do not like Donald Trump and consider his presidency to be an abomination and an embarrassment to the nation and world. I also understand that there are many Americans who saw Barack Obama’s presidency as a long and tragic mistake.

It is OK – actually, it is more than OK; it is a citizen’s duty – to criticize decisions our presidents make with which we disagree. It is even all right to use strong language, to speak in harsh terms, when we give voice to our differences of opinion.

All of this is part of the give-and-take of living in a nation with a government that draws its authority from the people. Americans have engaged in vigorous, robust national debates from the first moments of our founding – and that is a legacy of which we should be proud.

But suggesting, even in jest, that a political disagreement is a justification for murder isn’t robust or vigorous.

It’s depraved.

We Americans take an almost maniacal satisfaction from dividing ourselves into groups – liberal, conservative, progressive, alt-right, Democrat, Republican. Most of these divisions are along ideological or partisan lines.

But this really isn’t a partisan or ideological issue.

It’s a question of decency.

Being decent human beings requires certain things from us. Being decent means we treat other people with courtesy. Being decent means showing respect and consideration for the wants, needs and views of others, even those with whom we disagree.

And, at the very least, being decent means that we don’t talk about killing other people, even when we’re trying to be funny.

Members of the Republican and Democratic parties both try to convince us that they’re better than the other side.

Perhaps, in the current climate, the best way to do that would be to clean up one’s own house, rather than throw stones at the one across the street.

I understand that the current political wisdom, such as it is, for both Democrats and Republicans is that the way to achieve victory is by attacking, attacking, attacking in the most strident terms possible.

But that’s brought us to a point where our government is dysfunctional, neighbors and fellow citizens snarl at each other … and some of us think talking about killing the president is humorous.

My counsel to thoughtful and responsible members of both parties is to consider another course. Both Republicans and Democrats should strive to resurrect old courtesies, to show respect, to rein in rhetorical excesses.

To be decent.

The quickest way, you see, to convince people that one is better than the other guy is to be better.

Be better.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.