Kyle Rittenhouse is the product of a generation brought up in the midst of social turmoil, economic decline, and endless war. It's evident that to Rittenhouse life is cheap and he speaks casually (in almost video game terms) of shooting people. They're not human beings, they're objects. He's the classic 'angry young man' and while he's a murderer, he does deserve a degree of sympathy.
While unconvicted, the charge of murder stands. Even under
the narrowest definitions of the law, what he did in Kenosha, Wisconsin cannot
be described as self-defense – all the more when he is guilty of creating the
conditions and the context for these events to take place.
Others have pointed out the similarities to the case of
George Zimmerman who murdered Trayvon Martin in 2012. Zimmerman provoked the
conflict and while it's still unclear, he may have been in the process of being
bested in a fight with Martin. Either way, the unarmed Martin was the only
person who had a claim to self-defense. Zimmerman instigated the conflict and
then killed the teenager in cold blood.
Likewise, Rittenhouse who had already expressed a desire to
shoot and kill people wandered into the legal protest, provoked a mentally ill
homeless man and then shot him when the man finally challenged him. The Right
doesn't seem to understand that pointing a gun at someone is a provocative act
– a lethal threat. Had Joseph Rosenbaum been armed, he would have been within
his 'rights' (assuming the argument) at that moment to shoot Rittenhouse dead.
Rittenhouse is clearly a child who is about the last person on earth that
should be given a gun – let alone one of that type and calibre.
The unarmed Joseph Rosenbaum was trying to defend himself and
had reacted to the provocation when Rittenhouse gunned him down. The Right has
repeatedly resorted to ad hominem
attacks, attempting to smear Rosenbaum and the other victims and yet these
points (like previous criminal records) are not salient to the case at the
hand. On the other hand, the evidence judge Schroeder suppressed regarding
Rittenhouse was extremely pertinent to the case as it evidenced both a motive
and mindset for the teenager's reckless and remorseless actions.
In the Rittenhouse trial we witnessed judicial corruption and
certainly moral corruption in terms of the jury – revealing the inherent
shortcomings of the entire system and the ideals upon which it is premised.
It's a system built by fallen man for fallen men. There are worse and better
but we must never confuse it with someone being commensurate with Christian ethics,
nor should we embrace the myths and fables of the Christian Right which
attempts to argue that the American system rests upon Christian and even more
absurdly – Biblical values.
With an active shooter on the loose and in their midst, who
had just killed an unarmed bystander, the other protestors were trying to stop
Rittenhouse – with maybe a view toward disarming him or apprehending him. He
then killed Anthony Huber who was armed with a skateboard and severely wounded
Gaige Grosskreutz who was (like Rittenhouse) illegally armed, but in his case
was actually in the position of 'self-defense' (as a member of the protest
crowd which Rittenhouse had attacked), and he was heroically trying to stop
someone who had just murdered two people.
The subsequent events are disheartening on many levels. The
judge was obviously corrupt and did all he could to tilt the scales of justice.
The Right has pointed out his Democratic affiliation but anyone who lives in a
party-dominated district knows how that works. Kenosha is a Democratic bastion.
On the other hand, where I live, the Republicans dominate and Democrats who
want to run will often switch parties simply to have a chance. In this case,
his party affiliation doesn't matter – his Right-wing sympathetic actions speak
with great clarity.
We could speak at length about the growing role of
paramilitary groups in Right-wing politics, their collaboration with law
enforcement, and the historical precedents in the rise of fascism. We could
also speak to the tragedy of Rittenhouse and his basic amorality and disregard
for human life. Additionally, the outrage once directed at the Columbine
shooters' parents seems to be absent. What should we say about a mother that
allows (or is unable to restrain) her seventeen year old to drive illegally
(unlicensed) into another state with an illegally purchased assault rifle? And
then it would seem the family, or someone connected to them literally 'cashed
in' on Rittenhouse's fame by selling mementos and souvenirs associated with him
– it's all rather sick and reveals the deep cancers within US society.
But the most tragic element of all is the Christian response.
As the Christian-Right championed George Zimmerman, the Evangelical and
Catholic-Right has also rallied behind Rittenhouse. The false convert and
charlatan Mike Lindell paid a large amount of his bail. Christian crowdfunding
raised almost $600,000 in support for him. He has received a great deal of
attention from this community and has become an icon, symbol, and hero to them
and the idolatrous and heretical enshrinement of the Second Amendment to the US
Constitution – a so-called 'right' in direct contradiction to Christ's
imperatives.
One can understand lost people pursuing such ideologies, but
it's a disgrace to see Christians so blatantly reject Christ's doctrines and
then dare to enshrine pagan ethics as Christian.
Rittenhouse is a murderer but worse his language and conduct
has proven that he is reckless and disdainful toward life. It is yet another
instance revealing the utter hypocrisy of Evangelicals when it comes to the
'Life' issue. Just as corporate America has become very talented in terms of
'green-washing' or 'rainbow-washing' their businesses and products in order to
check the right social boxes, the Evangelical world plays the life card
whenever they can and yet their actions speak otherwise and it's clear the
so-called Pro-Life position is often little more than 'Life-washing' in order
to manipulate an audience.
Figures like Al Mohler hypocritically speak of the 'culture
of death' – the Evangelical embrace of Rittenhouse is actually an expression of
that culture. And given the tortured and twisted commentary provided by the
Evangelical leadership, it's no wonder things are the way they are in the
Church. The ethics of the New Testament are rejected with prejudice.
Rittenhouse's morality is un-Christian – more animal than
human. Again, even if by some stretch of ethical imagination and a tortured
restrictive reading of the law you thought him innocent of the charges – how
can these people 'get behind' and support this young man? If his actions and
words weren't enough before, certainly his post-bail conduct would eradicate
any doubt. While donning a 'Free as Fuck' t-shirt, arm in arm with the White
Supremacist Proud Boys, flashing their hands signs and singing their anthems,
he quaffed beer in a celebratory pub party after his bail-release in January
2021.
How is Rittenhouse the kind of person that Christians want to
support?
And while his supporters have tried to suggest he's suffering
from PTSD, he has already appeared on FOX with one of its chief purveyors of
filth and disinformation – Tucker Carlson. And he's even already made the pilgrimage
to Mar-a-Lago to visit Donald Trump. He's a star on the rise and the Right and
the so-called Christian Right love to have it so.
This is one of the effects of the Trumpian shift in ethics.
Christians have already thrown in with a rapist, thief, liar, adulterer, and
murderer. They justified his unrepented of sins and in many cases called them
'good'. It's no surprise therefore that Rittenhouse would be supported. The
Christian-Right has long supported such people, but the politicians and leaders
they supported at least gave an appearance of morality, they at least
maintained a semi-plausible veneer of character and ethical principle. At this
point that has been cast aside and immorality and bestial conduct are openly
embraced.
We've reached a point in which good is called evil and evil
is praised as good. The Christian responses to his November 2021 acquittal only
make this all too clear. This is judgment and apostasy. I don't really care
about Rittenhouse. He may have been acquitted in the corrupt American court
system but he'll be held to account by a higher Judge – you can count on it.
But I am concerned about those who profess Christ and yet have supported this
evil. They stand condemned. Romans 1 makes it clear that it's not only those
who perpetrate the evil who are held to account but those who support or have
pleasure in those who do such things.
This case represents a stark warning to American society – as
his acquittal represents an open door to Right-wing violence. The Arbery case in
Georgia represented a rejection of lynching and had a distinct racial element. The
Rittenhouse case is related and yet it touches on the larger issue of
Right-wing paramilitarism contra Left-wing street protests. The Rittenhouse
case suggests that the Right can wade into such gatherings and kill with
impunity on the basis of self-defense. The Arbery case had implications for
minority communities as does the Rittenhouse case, but the latter also touches
on much larger questions and political issues beyond the question of race and
his affiliation with the White Supremacist Proud Boys and other elements of
Trumpite fascism.
But it's also a stark warning to the Church. If you're
sharing pews with people who praise murder and murderers, who may have given
money to his cause, who have abandoned all morality in the name of power – then
you might need to re-think your position. And what can we say about the
Christian leaders who have rallied around Rittenhouse? We know them by their
fruits. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. There's no other way to say it.