The headline alone is enough.
On parts of the right, Rittenhouse has been celebrated as a defender of order against anarchy, and law enforcement against miscreants. Yet the culture that turned the 17-year-old into a revered killer — a culture of mass firearm ownership and vigilantism — is antithetical to law and order as it is conventionally understood. It is a culture premised on the illegitimacy of the state’s monopoly on violence and the incapacity of formal institutions to uphold social order or public safety. It sees America as a society forever teetering on the brink of Hobbesian breakdown, and firearms as the sole guarantor of individual security. And the more influential this culture becomes, the more its paranoid delusions come to resemble our collective reality.
Kyle Rittenhouse’s Defense Was Strong. It’s Also a Threat to the Rule of Law. (msn.com)
Self Defense Bad – Government Killing and maiming Good.
The difference between them and us is that we want Law to be the guardin of Justice for the People. They want Law to be the guardian of their Absolute Power.
Hat Tip Manny L.
Aren’t these the same people who were screaming “defund the police” and violently protesting against the government monopoly of force?
They’re simply whining that there are some jurisdictions in which hands other than theirs are on the levers of power that deploy those in the government who can lawfully initiate the use of force.
There are a lot of people who refuse to see the difference between self defense and vigilantism. The notion of “government monopoly on force” is also wrong; at the most it’s a monopoly on “lawful initiated force” — and of course libertarians would argue much of what’s wrong with governments is that they have that monopoly.
The fact that, as a deliberate political choice, the government refused to employ its monopoly on the routine lawful initiation of force in Kenosha demonstrated a clear “incapacity of formal institutions to uphold social order or public safety.”
Had the government fulfilled that most basic obligation, we never would have heard of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Matt Taibbi just murdered the establishment narrative: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-rittenhouse-verdict-is-only-shocking
I think Matt’s politics suck, but I subscribe anyway.
@JB: Matt might be thinking about switching teams. He keeps seeing the light.
The anti-Rights people won’t stop.
Then they might be surprised to find themselves in the same reeducation camp as us. Sigh.
I might wind up in a cemetery, but I will not end in a camp.
@EN2 SS: I’m pickin’ up what you’re puttin’ down.
Same words, different meanings. For the Left/Democrats the “Law” is the righteous use of official power and force against an ideological enemy. In their eyes, an individual such as Rittenhouse had no right of “self defense” against a Democratic mob. The riots and looting were a an expression of the Democratic will and any resistance must be punished.
The failure of that jury to convict Rittenhouse is one more example of why the “Party” must use election “fraud” to obtain the “correct” outcome. The “people”, like that jury, are too undependable.
culture of mass firearm ownership and vigilantism — is antithetical to law and order as it is conventionally understood.
When law and order cease to protect the People,, vigilantism is all that is left.
If a fire is raging and the fire department doesn’t show up, is it VIGILANTISM to grab a hose? WTF is with all the REEE! He solved the problem himself!!!
@Nolan Parker: I do not see mass ownership of firearms inherently problomatic.
You, me,millions of others agree.
Self defense against Leftist terrorists bad.
Self defense by a Leftist terrorist against non-leftists good.
Literally the whole point to the Second Amendment was to keep the government from having a monopoly on force.
And yes, society is always on the knife edge of a Hobbesian breakdown.
The deal we have with the government is very much “you guy are allowed to government and use fire to maintain law and order, until you don’t anymore and then we the people have the right to take matters into our own hands.” That’s practically explicit in the writings of our Founding Fathers.
Everything about this quote you pulled is factually wrong.
Please don’t include links to the original articles, the can be changed and deny them the revenue from the clicks, use an archive instead. https://archive.md/U6H8o