Quote:
Originally Posted by meridian5850
(Post 2031575)
And here is another person that paid no attention to this case and doesn't believe it was self-defense based on the words in your post. He wasn't there to play hero and the 3 people shot - in self-defense - all tried to attack him and all of them were criminals, one a pedophile convicted of raping 5 children. The world is a better place because Kyle successfully defended himself.
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I can’t help but wonder if we are not seeing the forest for the trees here. Kyle Rittenhouse is one person. There are two dead people and one seriously wounded one as a result of what happened that night. So we focus on that—and by so doing, in my opinion, are completely missing the big picture here.
It has been said that in America, when the law won't, or can't, keep the peace, then the average citizen will step in and see to it that peace is kept. The focus on the Rittenhouse trial has been--rightfully--on Rittenhouse: what he did, and whether or not he had legal culpability for his actions. But we need to look beyond that, to the organization he was with, why they were there and focused on keeping the peace, and keeping the rioters away from private property. The reason is simple and yet profound: it happened because in August of 2020 Kenosha suffered through several days of rioting, arson and looting, and the authorities there at the time were either unable (or not allowed) to employ sufficient force to control the situation.
Kenosha was being patrolled the night of the Rittenhouse incident, not so much by the cops (who were not making much of a difference in controlling things), but by armed men making a visible presence. I guarantee we'd not have heard a word about it, had their presence alone been enough to keep the rioters at bay. But things got out of hand and people died. Regrettable, for a variety of reasons. But let's not overlook the intent, on both sides. Those armed men were there because they were not willing to see their city continue to suffer violence and vandalism. THAT is the real issue here.
It is far from new. NPR, on June 10 of this year in an article by Nate Hegyi, described a like incident in Missoula, Montana, regarding one of those George Floyd "protests". About 200 obviously armed citizens showed up at the rally. It didn't make the news because their appearance had the desired effect: things remained peaceful. As one of the armed men said, they were not there to squelch protests, but to ensure that it remained peaceful. Hard to see how anyone can argue with that.
It happened in the sleepy little Southern MN town where I lived before leaving Minnesota, about an hour from Ground Zero where the George Floyd riots had caused so much destruction. Word got out that a protest was to be held in our town the one of the days immediately following the George Floyd protests in the Twin Cities. Sure enough, several vanloads of protesters arrived early the next morning, waving signs and chanting slogans. But another group, not attached to the main group but affiliated with them, had planned on a smash-and-grab at a local store that sold guns. A lot of guns. Only the citizenry heard of it ahead of time, and when they arrived to do their mischief they found a parking lot full of obviously armed men. Those planning to do the smash-and-grab showed good sense and left immediately. The main body of protesters, in like fashion, recognized early on that the police were not the only people with guns ringing their demonstration, and so they kept things peaceful, staying in the area allotted to them by police. They were noisy and profane, but the kept it where it was supposed to be kept.
Again, this is a lot more common than we think. A group calling itself "Everytown Research and Policy" stated that "Between January 2020 and June 2021, there were more than 30,000 public demonstrations in the US. Of those, at least 560 demonstrations included the presence of an armed individual, other than law enforcement." I'm not sure where they got their numbers but I have no reason to doubt them. If anything though I think that the ratio is a lot closer than 30,000 to 560. We hear about what happened with Kyle Rittenhouse and the group he was part of. We don't hear about the ones where the mere presence of armed men was enough to keep the rioters in check, although in my estimation those incidents are equally newsworthy. "We Push For Peace", the group that Kyle Rittenhouse was a part of, that group in Missoula, Montana, and many more...they are out there, and they ARE making a difference—only, of course, the MSM never tells us about the ones that end peacefully.
The Rittenhouse trial is over. But the reasons it happened in the first place still exist. We need to stop fixating on one man, and start figuring out ways to prevent the causes. Because until we do, I guarantee that there will be many more Kyle Rittenhouses.
