• ringwraithfish@startrek.website
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      9 months ago

      Same way “Joe the Plumber”, Kim Davis, Kyle Rittenhouse, etc. GOP elevates their story to the national spotlight to “prove their point” and then leaves them out to dry after their 15 minutes of fame have been used up.

      • Kaboom@reddthat.com
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        9 months ago

        Kyle Rittenhouse was CNN and BLM racebaiting. Turns out he shot white people.

        • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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          9 months ago

          Everyone knew he shot white people. They’re just mad that he didn’t let people kill him or burn down private businesses.

          • DeepGradientAscent@programming.dev
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            9 months ago

            Everyone is a “class-traitor” to a mob of looters and bullies.

            Both you and the commenter you replied to are down-voted to hell, but I agree, and I’ll immolate myself on this hill with you. There’s little room for nuance on <insert_social_media_here>, but we must uphold a torch for civic comprehension and reasoning, despite the heavy taxation of internet points for doing so.

            Are police a para-military gang with zero accountability and dog-shit standards of entry and education requirements? Yes.

            Do black lives matter? I take the Cthulhu position: no lives matter, and that’s a fact.

            Should Kyle Rittenhouse have been in that situation as an armed teenager with zero de-escalation skills? No.

            Did Kyle Rittenhouse have the right to defend themselves and property (it wasn’t his property) from harm from threatening rioters and looters of any ethnicity with lethal force? Does anyone? Yes.

            Did he have to use lethal force in that situation? My opinion is no, but it also goes back to the fact that he shouldn’t be there in the first place.

            Should he go to jail for it? In this case, judging by the video evidence in his case, no.

            Did the “soft-Authoritarian left” demonize him without nuance to make him into a scapegoat, radicalizing him even more towards authoritarian-right philosophies and talking-points? Absolutely.

            • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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              9 months ago

              I agree with all your points except your opening comment and your final point.

              I’d replace your final line with:

              Did he go there hoping to use his shiny new gun, and stay in a volatile environment he should never have entered until finally he got the legally defensible excuse he went there looking for? Yes.

              https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/kyle-rittenhouse/prosecutors-want-to-use-video-of-kyle-rittenhouse-allegedly-expressing-desire-to-shoot-a-black-man-with-his-ar/

              And as a bonus:

              Does anyone at all believe that ridiculous crying act he pulled during the trial? God I hope not.

              The law is the law (especially if you are white) and he managed to stay within it. I acknowledge that without for one minute believing he went there for any reason but hoping to use that gun.

              Edit: While I’m at it –

              Did the “soft-Authoritarian left” demonize him without nuance to make him into a scapegoat, radicalizing him towards authoritarian-right philosophies and talking-points? Absolutely.

              Huh. I thought “personal responsibility” was a big thing with right wingers. I say he made his own choices to be there and do what he did, and he made his own choices to behave like a racist scumbag. He can choose to stop on any day. That responsibility lies on him.

              https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kyle-rittenhouse-out-bail-flashed-white-power-signs-bar-prosecutors-n1254250

              • DeepGradientAscent@programming.dev
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                9 months ago

                That responsibility lies on him.

                Morally, yes, I would say it does, but laws aren’t designed moral per se, they are (in part) designed to differentiate and assign culpability.

                In the jury’s interpretation of the law, the mob of looters and their aggression is more culpable for the deaths in question than Kyle was. As a DA, I would have tried him for manslaughter, not capital murder (if I’m recalling correctly).

                Under the law, in that situation, he acted in self-defense. Was he hoping to do so? Yes. He got his wish, tragically.

                Did the auth-left narrative feed into his spiralling down the right-wing rabbit hole and the MAGA people’s victim-complex? Yes, absolutely. Also, a tragedy.

                • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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                  9 months ago

                  I’m just not seeing the justification for your last statement, though I continue to agree with your comment regarding legality. No one’s opinions about me are going to turn me into a maga, and I can’t see how they would.

                  • DeepGradientAscent@programming.dev
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                    9 months ago

                    A boy, whose brain and reasoning/dialectical thinking faculties are still maturing but is showing right-wing indoctrinated tendencies, gets called a racist (when he killed people of his own “race”), vile bigot, SS officer-in-training, murdering psychopath, who doesn’t deserve a trial, a boot-licker, <insert_not_completely_fair_pejorative_here> will cause them to double-down with more fervor to the aforementioned belief systems.

            • Kaboom@reddthat.com
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              9 months ago

              I would argue he had the right to be there. He worked in that town, and lived maybe 15 minutes away. And further more, it was a public area. Angry mobs dont own the street.

              • DeepGradientAscent@programming.dev
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                9 months ago

                I agree.

                He, and any American citizen, has a right to be anywhere that’s his property or public land/property. Freedom of movement, unless lawfully restricted, is one of our fundamental legal rights.

                Should he have been there? Probably not. And definitely not armed with zero training or combat experience with an AR-15. Also, it’s safe to say he wasn’t trying to protect his property, or any property, in a de-escalation-first mentality.

                Is that illegal? No. Is it reckless and dumb? Yes, very much.