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submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Kyle Rittenhouse abruptly departed the stage during an appearance at the University of Memphis on Wednesday, after he was confronted about comments made by Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.

Rittenhouse was invited by the college's Turning Point USA chapter to speak at the campus. However, the event was met with backlash from a number of students who objected to Rittenhouse's presence.

The 21-year-old gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, he shot and killed two men—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as well as injuring 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz—at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He said the three shootings, carried out with a semi-automatic AR-15-style firearm, were in self-defense. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest where the shootings took place was held after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer.

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[-] DozensOfDonner@mander.xyz 164 points 8 months ago

Maybe I'm missing something as I'm not from the states. Why the hell is a guy who is famous for murder invites to talk at a university?

[-] captainjaneway@lemmy.world 94 points 8 months ago

Rittenhouse was invited to speak at Wednesday's event by the university's Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. Founded in 2012, the non-profit promotes conservative politics at schools and college campuses.

[-] deweydecibel@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago

And they have another one set up for him next month at Kent State.

[-] Natanael@slrpnk.net 13 points 8 months ago

Toilet Paper USA

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[-] Gork@lemm.ee 65 points 8 months ago

Our gun culture is so nuts that it normalizes shit like this.

When you look at it this way, it is utterly unsurprising that we have so many mass shootings.

[-] PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world 37 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This isn't normalisation, it's celebration.

I'm not going to be coy about why they're celebrating him either: The pro-gun community spends hour after hour theorycrafting about how they can shoot people with their cool guns and get away with it. Kyle is being celebrated for finding a new "get out of jail free" technique that specifically targeted undesirables for murder.

That's all there is to it. They shower him with fame and money because he killed BLM protesters with America's favourite gun. It's his reward.

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[-] Stern@lemmy.world 63 points 8 months ago

He got away with it so he's automatically a power fantasy for Cons.

[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago

Don't forget that he murdered people at a BLM protest, so Cons also think he's a hero.

[-] Wiz@midwest.social 8 points 8 months ago

Yes, but remember they're not racist tho. /s

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[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 61 points 8 months ago

Because he's useful to the Republicans, our extreme-right Party.

[-] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 51 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's because the US right will celebrate literally any action that they perceive as working against what they think everyone left of them supports or enjoys. Kyle was a clean cut looking young white man who heroically skirted the edge of laws regarding firearm purchases and visited a town that was not his own where he made sure to keep looking until he find a situation that required him to use his gun. The context was protests fueled by the death of George Floyd and shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.

There were probably folks who literally touched themselves after hearing a red blooded, AR wielding young white man was able to be acquitted of murder after shooting protesters at a BLM protest. On top of that, one of the men had some form of pedophilia in his past, boosting their drumbeat of messaging claiming that folks who support LGBTQ+, and by extension all democrats and leftists, are groomers out to molest kids.

It was a perfect storm of trump supporter daydreams all centered around Kyle Rittenhouse. Folks who buy into all or most of that view are big fans.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 29 points 8 months ago

Because having someone else buy a gun for you that you can’t legally buy, traveling to a confrontational hotspot with your guns, failing to leave a situation that was escalating, and that choice leading to one shooting a mentally ill bipolar person is perfectly legal. And the right wing absolutely wants to make sure everyone knows that. So he gets to be trotted out for any occasion where they need a “famous” person who chose to exercise their right to self-defense, despite making every effort to place themselves in a situation where it might be necessary.

But that’s not his fault.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

He also managed to escape open carry laws because the judge deemed any rifle above 15 inches was not a "Deadly Weapon" despite Rittenhouse using the weapon to cause multiple deaths, due to loose interpretation of the grammar of the written laws. And the state congress in IL did nothing to correct him.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

YHGTBSM. A rifle is not a deadly weapon.

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[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.world 26 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Because of TP USA.

I feel now is a good time to pimp our community, !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world

[-] CommunityLinkFixer@lemmings.world 10 points 8 months ago

Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago

Because he’s famous for racist murder.

Yeah our country isn’t doing great. Send ethics

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[-] EatATaco@lemm.ee 18 points 8 months ago

I'm not defending him. But he was acquitted, so he's not famous for murder. A bunch of people believe that he genuinely acted in legitimate self defense, and thus he is a symbol of the correct use of arms for self defense and a victim of a system that tried to jail him for doing so.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 42 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The Judge deemed a rifle above 15 inches was not a "Deadly Weapon" due to wild interpretation of the grammar of the state laws. He went to a protest with a military style rifle and shot people in two separate confrontations, killing 2 people. He is a murderer, it's just been ruled that murdering political opponents was allowed in this case.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago

Hell he drove across state lines to get said protest. His whole purpose was to kill people he was itching to do so.

I am against killing people but if this little fucker was shot and killed I feel no remorse.

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[-] EatATaco@lemm.ee 7 points 8 months ago

No judge acquitted him. It was a jury.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The Jury did not get to decide on the gun charges because the Judge threw out the charges hours before closing statements. Any sympathy for this boy should be gone after seeing him use his "fame" to advocate shooting your political opponents, this is his chosen career path for years now.

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[-] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 8 months ago

But he was acquitted

Irrelevant.

He's famous for being a murderer, whether he was found guilty or not doesn't matter.

A bunch of people believe that he genuinely acted in legitimate self defense

They're stupid, simple as.

[-] EatATaco@lemm.ee 18 points 8 months ago

Irrelevant.

Murder is literally the illegal killing of someone. So yes it absolutely matters whether he was convicted. To claim it's irrelevant that he was found not guilty of murder just exposes how detached from reality your position is. We can argue that he should have been found guilty, but you have to realize that the people who disagree with you don't think he's a murderer.

They’re stupid, simple as.

And I've heard plenty of them make the claim anyone who thinks he is a murderer is stupid. In this regard, you're just like them.

[-] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 8 months ago

Murder is literally the illegal killing of someone

Irrelevant. People know him as a murderer, thus that is what he is famous for. Plenty of people are famous for shit thats not technically accurate.

but you have to realize that the people who disagree with you don't think he's a murderer.

I do, I just don't care what wrong people think about shit that's basic and obvious.

And I've heard plenty of them make the claim anyone who thinks he is a murderer is stupid. In this regard, you're just like them.

Yeah but those people are fucking stupid, so I wouldn't listen to them.

[-] EatATaco@lemm.ee 15 points 8 months ago

People know him as a murderer

The people inviting him to speak seen him as a victim who acted in self defense. Which is the whole point of the question: he's not a murder to them.

Yeah but those people are fucking stupid, so I wouldn’t listen to them.

It's funny how exactly like them you are, and how stupid you think they are for it.

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[-] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 33 points 8 months ago

OJ Simpson was acquitted. What's he famous for? Because it definitely isn't football.

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[-] theluckyone@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

The legal system can piss on a person and tell them it's raining, and you'd be willing to drink it.

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[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

Turning Point USA invited him, not the University.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 points 8 months ago

More specifically, TPUSA has a chapter at the university.

[-] quindraco@lemm.ee 7 points 8 months ago
  1. He's not famous for murder.
  2. The university didn't invite him to talk, it was just the venue.
[-] uienia@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

He is only famous because he is a murderer and he got away with it. He has nothing else going for him at all.

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this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
936 points (100.0% liked)

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