TWO weeks ago, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder and assault charges, sparking uproar among certain groups in the US.
For those who don’t know, Rittenhouse was a minor who killed, to my knowledge, two rioters and injured another with an AR-15, after being attacked by them. One hit him with a skateboard and another was coming at him with a loaded weapon (a pistol, I believe it was) before he shot them.
Rittenhouse clearly acted in self-defense. One only needed to view the video where the entire incident to come to this conclusion.
However, prosecutors of the case argued that he had forfeited that right because he had deliberately placed himself in a situation where he would be forced into conflict (a riot).
The US Judiciary system found Rittenhouse innocent on all charges. The same is not true with regard to the court of public opinion, however. Conservatives generally consider Rittenhouse innocent, and that the whole court case against him should not have been brought forth to begin with. Certain liberal segments and progressives in particular think that Rittenhouse is almost a terrorist.
The difference in public opinion is nothing new to American politics. These kinds of cases are fairly common in the US, and they are usually symptoms of what American analysts call “culture wars”. Like most wars, these have a tribalistic nature.
Americans had access to the same facts but they interpreted those facts according to their tribe, and this is the important part. Interpretation varies from group to group. Certain interpretations can be perceived to be evil or stupid by one group, while another can see it as wise and good.
This is why shortly after the Rittenhouse acquittal, there were numerous protests of the results of the case. There were even calls for violence. For example, the Waukesha Christmas Parade Terrorist Attack which killed, to my knowledge, around 50 children may have been partly caused by that case, though nothing was confirmed as of yet.
This is what happens whenever politics and judicial systems interact. They reveal fissures in a society, and in the Rittenhouse case, they seemed quite deep./PN
