Happy Friday, this is Baratunde Thurston.
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One of the most rewarding aspects of my work at Puck has been receiving feedback from our engaged community of subscribers. This week, in the wake of the Rittenhouse verdict, the dawn of Meta, and yet another school shooting, I’m opening my notebook to respond to some of the most urgent emails from readers. If you have critiques, additions, or further questions, write me back by replying to this note. My inbox is always open.
Thanks, In the wake of his not guilty verdict, Kyle Rittenhouse has been turned into a hero on the right: he appeared on Tucker Carlson, was endorsed by members of congress, and will be the subject of a documentary. How have you interpreted and internalized the Rittenhouse trial?
To be honest, I didn’t internalize the Rittenhouse trial. I can’t give my energy to every tragic failure of American society. I can’t ingest and process all the racialized trauma this country serves up, just like none of us can give equal attention and empathy to every school shooting. It’s sad but true. I did, however, read up on the trial after it was over and listened to some quality analysis, which helped me to update my own understanding of what went down in Kenosha—primarily that this was a story of white people fighting white people in the streets at a protest over police killing a Black man. I didn’t see that coming! Here are a few other thoughts:
First, the right needs better heroes. They worship that sad white couple who brandished guns at a protest that wasn’t concerned with them. They made “Let’s Go Brandon” a rallying cry as a new way to say “Fuck Joe Biden,” which is just immaturity atop immaturity. Millions of them are listening to the MyPillow guy. Others are so enamored of The Lost Cause, of sovereign citizenship and the valorization of extrajudicial violence that I was not surprised when they rallied behind a man-child who helped create a dangerous situation and then used that legal pretext to kill people. For a deeper and better analysis of the militia culture on the far right, read my colleague Tina Nguyen’s article about the G.O.P. becoming the party of Rittenhouse.
Second, Wisconsin needs better gun laws and probably better prosecutors. The fact that Rittenhouse escaped responsibility in part due to the length of his rifle just feels like bad legislation (or perhaps legislation corrupted by effective and well-funded lobbying). Acknowledging the experience and effectiveness of Rittenhouse’s defense team (he performed very well on the stand) doesn’t negate the fact that the prosecution couldn’t even load the multimedia evidence effectively. It was embarrassing.
Third and last, we have to decide if we really want to live in a society in which everyone we encounter is potentially, legally, carrying a firearm. Rittenhouse goes to Kenosha to help defend some building and decides to grab a gun. A medic goes to a rally and decides to grab a gun. They meet, guns drawn; one has his arm nearly blown off. Another two assailants, both unarmed, are shot and killed. We already have grotesque levels of gun violence in this country. And we will only have more when any argument can plausibly escalate to an armed conflict. When I leave for my morning walk, is my new exit protocol going to be, “phone, wallet, keys… glock?” That’s so broken and so sad.
I lied when I said the third point was the last. Here’s one more. Who benefits when everyone buys a gun? People who make and sell guns...
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