Ni5: Perspectives

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Your outrage is outrageous

Date: 2021-Nov-19 Author: Barry Shatzman

So... you're outraged about the OJ Rittenhouse verdict?

While i feel your pain, can you explain why your opinion is more valid than that of the unanimous jury who heard every word of the trial and saw every bit of evidence?

Still, it's easy to feel outrage for what they did. But you know what they didn't do? They didn't get out of jury duty. If you've ever bragged about getting out of jury duty, then you removed a better juror (you) from consideration. And now you're outraged?

Are you outraged about the judge for allowing those Rittenhouse shot to be called rioters but not victims? Tell me... what's the last election that you researched judicial candidates and voted for one with your newfound knowledge?

Sure, there's no doubt Rittenhouse is at best a reckless idiot. But he apparently broke no laws carrying that killer weapon around (even if he got a lucky technical break). And he didn't chase anyone. Does that mean we should feel safe with him on the streets? I sure don't. But it means a unanimous jury found reasonable doubt that it wasn't self-defense. That's how our justice system works. And, just like with The Juice, it did.

So you don't like Rittenhouse, but your problem isn't with him. It's with the laws that allowed him to put himself and others into his dangerous situation. So, since you're outraged, i assume you're expressing that outrage to your representatives urging them to enact reasonable gun laws? Or will you be outraged at Facebook next? I mean... you did tell Facebook of your outrage, and they haven't fixed it yet. You do know why that is, right? (Hint... it has absolutely nothing to do with Mark Zuckerberg).

Of course, it's easy to get outraged at a case that the media tells you to be outraged about. But tell me... why did this case get so much air time, while the simultaneous trial of Ahmaud Arbery's killers has gotten just a fraction of that time. Yet they're on trial for hunting a jogger down and murdering him in what can only be described as a good-ole Southern lynching. If these fine people get off and your outrage isn't 20,0000 times as angry, then i'll be outraged that you're a victim of news sensationalism. Or worse.

Want a more clean-cut example? Here ya go. Remember Brock Turner? Sure you do. Your outrage was loud enough to wake up a passed out college kid when Turner was convicted of raping one and spent a piddly three months of his life in jail for it.

Good-looking rich white guy, he is.

So tell me, why haven't i seen your outrage about Christopher Belter?

Who dat, you ask?

I wonder who didn't vote for this judge's competitor.

Here's my point. Outrage can be like the Indy 500. It helps you burn off a lot of energy, but at the end of the 500 miles you still end up in Indianapolis. So break out of your endless loop of outrage if you actually wanna get somewhere.