We posted mid-week with regard to Kyle Rittenhouse and we haven't changed our perspective because the reasoning still holds. In terms of the verdict, it was the narrow points of confrontation, in which Mr. Rittenhouse had to defend himself and the jury made a decision based on the charges with regard to those moments. What wasn't taken into full account, it seems, was that Mr. Rittenhouse was the initial provocatur by the fact that he was the one who brought the semi-automatic rifle into the equation.
Our issue isn't with the jury or the narrowness of the case, it's with the judge. Two young men are dead at the hands of Mr. Rittenhouse and the judge dictated that they could not be deemed 'victims.' In his eyes maybe not, but tell that to the one of the men's mother and fiance. The judge also threw out the unlawful possession of a fire arm charge and reckless endangerment, the latter he is surely guilty of for in fact putting himself in danger.
The nuances can of course be debated, glofifying Mr. Rittenhouse as a hero is wrong, and sad because we're elevating a misguided teen who is responsible, no matter how you look at it, for the deaths of two people and permanently crippling a third person. Civil Rights attorney David Anderson was succinct and accurate when he said that politicians should not be celebrating any loss of Americans lives (paraphrasing), but that's what they are doing.
Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said something that we need to unpack a bit. The senator stated that 'people have the right to protect themselves with the increase in violence.' If there is an increase in violence, glorifying someone who killed two people or in the case of Congressman Paul Gosar, not condemning social media posts depicting violence against a colleague then you're part of the problem. Twenty-six states with open carry and 32 states with stand your ground laws surely cannot be the way to deescalate. Add in the acceptance of violent political threats and it only makes society more volitile.
And speaking of Mr. Gosar and for those who excuse what he did, one has to pose the question. At your job, if some posted a cartoon of them murdering you or others at work, would you report it? Would you expect that person to be repremmanded at the least or perhaps fired? No company would accept that type of behavior so why should we condone it in the House of Representatives?
Holding ourselves to a higher standard seems like something that we no longer aspire to. We all see that shining city on the hill, but we're definitely not in it.
Panel: Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News; Reverend Al Sharpton, Political Action Network; Kristen Soltis Anderson, Republican Strategist; David Anderson, Civil Right Attorney
No comments:
Post a Comment