It’s a hashtag I’ve been spreading around on Twitter to vent my frustration on the outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
It’s disturbing that so many people look at a young man who killed two people as the exemplar of patriotism and bravery. The right wing half of society is putting him on a pedestal, labeling him a “hero” for standing up to rioters and looters. Or protestors. Whatever you want to call them to fit your world view.
And their favorite go-to for justifying these killings?
“They were felons!”
“A child molester!”
“A wife beater!”
“One had a gun!”
Now of course, I don’t support burning down businesses and looting. And if I was a business owner, I would indeed want to protect my business as well. Would that mean killing someone? I hope not, but I would do what’s necessary to protect myself and my property.
Okay, that being said. Did Kyle have a business? No. Did he have property being threatened? No. Should he have gone looking to defend other peoples businesses that he had nothing to do with? No. But other people sorely disagree.
Kyle went looking for trouble. Plain and simple. If there’s a group of people with whom you’re ideologically opposed to, you don’t go and confront them armed with a weapon, expecting to hold hands and sing kumbaya.
And the fact that these men that Kyle shot happened to be low-lives is convenient. Because for once, the people being shot by a 17 year old weren’t fellow teenagers, school children, or innocent bystanders. It’s like all these right wing, Second Amendment nuts can finally sigh in relief knowing that a gun was used for “good.”
But regardless of wether or not these men “deserved” to be gunned down, it’s the precedent that Kyle going free sets. Because now it may embolden trigger-happy gun owners who might want to attend future protests of their ideologically opposed enemies, and incite violence. But hey, it doesn’t matter if they instigated the violence to erupt, as long as they were “defending” themselves, they can get away with murder!
So as I said:
Fuck Kyle.
