Nothing But Big Bullies

 We hear about bullying on the schoolyard and we hear about cyberbullying.  But beyond the schoolyard, bullying can be very sophisticated.  Adult bullies may engage in smear campaigns against their targets rather than insult them to their faces. They might also enlist others to bully a target on their behalf.  Such a bully’s end goal is to humiliate or harm other individuals with the intent of ruining their reputation or harming their self-worth.

Bullies victimize others by using tactics including:  Intimidation, threats, insults, intentional exclusion, spreading rumors and lies.  Cyberbullying is: the use of electronic communication to bully a person.  It includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else

Cyberbullying can lead to anxiety, depression and even suicide. Teenagers and young adults are especially vulnerable to cyberbullying.

Political, religions, educational, corporate, entertainment, and social and news media leaders all claim to oppose and attempt to educate against it.  The Federal Government via the Dept. of Health and Human services even has a web site (https://www.stopbullying.gov/) designed to prevent cyberbullying.  Teenagers and young adults are especially vulnerable to cyberbullying.

Yet, what else but cyberbullying are the lies, slander, and continuing harassment against Kyle Rittenhouse (and before him Niholas Sandmann). 

In August of 2020 in Kenosha Wisconsin there was a demonstration that turned into a riot.  Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse had attended that protest to help keep the peace (there is no evidence to contradict that statement of his intention).  At some point he legally became armed with an AK-47 as he served as guard for some private property. 

Video tape shows that Rittenhouse was attacked by protestors/rioters – one chased and threw items at him, another grabbed his gun, one stomped and kicked Rittenhouse while he was on the ground and a fourth admitted under oath that he pointed a gun at Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot at him.  Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two men and wounded a third.  He asserted that he did so in self-defense.  Worth noting is that the people whom Rittenhouse shot were not Black.  Prior to the shooting incident Rittenhouse had been seen, in addition to protecting the private property, to be cleaning up graffiti and debris caused by the protesters with whom those shot were in solidarity. 

Within hours, the Left and the media had decided that young Rittenhouse was guilty of murder, was a White supremacist and racist, was a right-wing fanatic and Trump supporter and should be destroyed.  They had no evidence of any of this and still do not.  Nonetheless, it fit the narrative to turn this boy into an evil scapegoat for all of their hate and anger.

Their rush to judgment was arrived at and as evidence came out that began to prove that judgment false, the media and the Left did not back off or apologize but instead doubled down.  The President called Rittenhouse a White Supremacist and to this moment has not withdrawn that unfounded and slanderous claim.  The narrative of the Left demanded guilt, not truth.

Once charged by an over-zealous prosecutor with several felonies that were not supportable with evidence, Kyle Rittenhouse, his family, his defense team and others associated with the case received numerous death threats.  Kyle was called names and threated on social media.  The news media referred to him as a murderer, and someone who should be put away – hopefully for life.  They named him as the poster boy for racism, hatred, white privilege and every other thing that they like to blame for victimhood. 

Again, let’s remember that those shot were not Black.  The Left’s reasoning apparently goes something like this:  The riot had been the eventual result of protests against a police shooting of a Black man.  The protest/riot was against the police who should be condemned for their systemic racism.  Therefore, anyone who was not protesting/rioting and especially anyone who was there to support calls for peace and/or to support law enforcement must of necessity be a White supremacist – the sort of person we need to get rid of.  Anyone with just a passing brush with logic will see the illogic of this thinking!

As the case worked its way through the slow and deliberative judicial system where actual facts were brought forth and actual laws reviewed the Left bullies tried to intimidate the jury into condemning Kyle Rittenhouse.  Then, even when the jury of citizens examined both facts and law (as opposed to narrative) and reached their verdict of not guilty on all counts, the press, the Left, and even the President continue their attacks on and harassment of Kyle Rittenhouse.  They seem determined to ruin his life for the rest of his days.  Many seek federal and civil actions against this young person. 

Why do they continue to bully Kyle Rittenhouse?  Not because there is any justification to do so.  Rather it is just because they did not get what they wanted; they cannot accept a verdict that did not go their way.  It is a threat to their power which they seem to believe is, or should be, absolute.

The attacks and bullying were similar in the case of Nicholas Sandmann whom you will recall stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019, wearing a MAGA hat while a native American activist stood in his path.  Nicholas, who was 16 at the time, did nothing but was immediately determined to be guilty of some sort of confrontation and of course of White Supremacy.  When video came out disproving the narrative of the Left and the media, again they did not apologize or back off but instead doubled down on their bullying of young Sandmann.

In an interview this past week discussing Kyle Rittenhouse, Sandmann stated that he has found it difficult to return to normal life after watching CNN, MSNBC and others report irresponsibly on his encounter with Native American elder Nathan Phillips.  "It was like a car crash you can't look away from, you are not able to look away. My eyes were glued to the TV watching my character get torn apart.”

He further described what bullying at a national level can do to a teen. “Well, it’s terrible, and I’ll tell you why. As a 17-year-old, in Kyle’s case, and mine 16, your mind is still developing, and so, to deal with an overload of stress where you have this feeling that half of the country, hundreds of millions of people hate you for something that you’re innocent of, but how you are painted, it can do a lot to you mentally. It takes a very strong will to be able to resist that and keep a level head. I know that Kyle is probably dealing with that right now.”

If this all isn’t bullying I don’t know what is.  Like school bullies, the media, the Left, the Democrat administration and leaders irresponsibly rush to judgment, condemn, bully, intimidate, and harass, with no concern for the young lives they are destroying.  It is about their power just as any bullying is about power. 

According to the mental health site verywellmind.com,  bullying is linked to power imbalances:  bullies target those with less power than they have.  “People who engage in this conduct: feel powerless, suffer from insecurity, need to control others, and enjoy the rewards they get from bullying.”

This is all about attacking positions and policies that contradict those put forward by the Left, its media, and its politicians.  They would do away with opposition and hence give themselves more power. 

The political bullying of the Left is, moreover, a bullying of our entire country.  We are a nation governed by law.  The refusal of the Left to accept the legal process, to assert a right to attack that very process when they do not get their way, is dangerous not only to those involved but for everyone of us who benefit from the freedoms we enjoy that are protected by that rule of law.

Bullying is wrong.  We all know it is wrong.  We teach school children not to bully.  And we tell those witnessing to speak up and stop the bullying.  Verywellmind states:

Bystanders can play important roles in ending the bullying they see, particularly if they are in positions of power or have the same rank as the bully. Rather than turning a blind eye to bullying, witnesses can call out the bully or report the bully’s behavior to others. Witnesses can also take the initiative by backing up the target’s accounts about the bully. Unfortunately, many bystanders don’t speak up because they’re afraid they’ll become the bully’s next target.

We are all bystanders to the horrendous bullying of the media and the Left.  Perhaps we are willing to tolerate it when the bullying is between politicians.  But when children are bullied because they stand by their values, follow the law, but take a position contrary to the Left narrative, we must speak up.  Yes, we may very well become the bully’s next target (personal experience tells me that will happen) but that should not stop us. 

We cannot turn a blind eye.  The Left has chosen to bully its way to power.  The media has joined that march, giving up any semblance of objective journalism.  It is up to we the people to call out the political bullying that is going on all around us.  Even if done by a party with whose policies you agree, bullying is not the way to support and enact those policies. 

We all know the saying “If you see something, say something.”  We must speak up or the bullies will destroy our country.

Learning From Today’s History

In the past 24 hours I have witnessed two important events in the history of our country.

First, enjoying the power of their one-party rule over this country and the lives of its people, the Democrat House members passed their $1,700,000,000,000 social justice bill that the CBO has told us will cost us far more than that.  Most estimates are in the area of at least $5,000,000,000,000.  It will likely add $750,000,000,000 to the deficit over five years. 

Contrary to the promises of the Democrats, the bill is not fully paid for, it will increase our national debt significantly, a debt that will fall on the heads of our children and their children’s children for generations to come.  It will increase taxes and its provisions will have the most detrimental effects on the middle class.  Its provisions are contrary to many of the core values and principles of America. 

Prior to the partisan vote on the bill, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy gave a nearly 9 hour speech, much of which I listened to, which struck me as a sort of eulogy for the greatness that has been America. He was not wrong in that view of the effects of this bill.

Second, the Kyle Rittenhouse jury came in after 3 days of deliberations and found Mr. Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts.  This they did despite overwhelming pressure to render the harshest guilty verdicts possible.  Despite the fact that the Leftist propaganda machine went into overdrive as it rushed to judgment to convict Mr. Rittenhouse, these jurors were able to keep open minds, listen, and objectively evaluate the actual facts and evidence presented in light of the actual law.

What do we learn about our country and its people from the above two events?

I think that one thing we learn is that there are politicians in Washington (and probably in state leadership roles as well) who have forgotten who and what they and their role are.  They no longer listen to and then represent the will and best interests of their constituents, the people to whom the government and future of our country actually belong.  Instead, they have decided that they know what is best for all of us, they will make us into who and what they desire, all while furthering and expanding their own power.

While these politicians will pretend that what they do is for this country and its people, they must know that what they are doing is destroying America and with it the rich diversity of individuals within.  They would have us all walk in lockstep with their plans while our individual beliefs, dreams, goals, lives as well as our children, grandchildren, and generations beyond be damned, as long as the Left gets its way.

Interestingly, the Democrats chose to ignore the CBO evaluation of their bill, stating they liked the White House’s figures better.  No matter to them that those figures are, if not wrong, clearly in question, clearly a threat to the American people.  But we should know by now that facts and reality do not matter to the Left; rather it is all about the narrative –  a narrative structured on lies and omissions if necessary to support their thirst for power and control.

Which brings me to the Rittenhouse verdict and most importantly the jurors.  These are the true people of America.  These are the people who still believe in the rule of law, in facts and evidence rather than opinion and ideology. 

From the Rittenhouse jury we learn about the heroism of everyday Americans.

This jury is heroic in my view.   Not because of the specific verdict (though my understanding of the evidence and the law leads me to believe that no other verdict was possible), but because they sat in the courtroom with open minds and listened to the actual evidence. They listened to the law upon which they were instructed and applied that law to the actual facts.  And then they reached their verdict.   They did this despite ugly, loud, and sometimes violent protests demanding guilty verdicts that could be heard inside the courtroom and the jury deliberation room.  They then put forth the verdict that their deliberations determined to be just.  

This is not what the Left, the media, the President, the mob would have had them do.

The Rittenhouse jurors deliberated according to the law. They did this despite the fact that before the trial had even begun the media had already convicted Mr. Rittenhouse, plastering the airwaves with sometimes false and usually misleading information about the events of his arrest.  Even when exculpatory evidence, some even put forth by the prosecution, was presented, the media doubled down on its condemnation of Mr. Rittenhouse.  Even under instructions not to read or watch the news about this trial, in a 24/7 media madhouse, it must have been hard to avoid it entirely when going home each day from the courthouse.

The media was caught following the jurors home and perhaps taking their pictures.  Various Leftist groups threatened violence if the jurors did not render a guilty verdict.  Despite such attempts at intimidation, the jurors did their job. 

Despite the questionable ethics of the prosecution in relationship to the question of withholding key evidence and of actually investigating the facts and reading the relevant law before charging a defendant, the jury did its job. 

The jurors deliberated according to the law and the facts despite President Biden and his administration rushing to judgment and almost immediately proclaiming Mr. Rittenhouse to be a White Supremacist and racist. Biden and his administration maintained this view through the trial, notwithstanding that there was and remains absolutely no evidence of that. 

These jurors are heroes who taught us how the American legal system works including its fairness and its refusal to prejudge or be swayed by the mob. 

The jurors took their job seriously.  They kept their minds open in this complicated and politically charged case.  They listened to the judge’s instructions on the law.  They applied that law to the actual facts and spent 3 days doing all this in detail in the jury deliberation room. 

Having reached their verdict, the jury then had the courage to bring forth their verdict knowing that the haters and the ideologues would condemn them, the verdict, the defendant, and possibly destroy their city. 

This jury is a profile in courage.   And it is these jurors that represent the people of this country and who and what we are.   America is not the politicians who do as they please without regard to reality and the actual people who live within it.  America is the people who understand and defend the ideas of fairness and justice, of innocence until proof of guilt, and the rule of law. 

As long as we have citizens with the strength and honesty of this Rittenhouse jury, we will have hope for America.  We Americans must, however, demand that our politicians not forget who we are.  We must demand that they hold first and foremost in their policies and actions the sort of strength and honesty exhibited by the Rittenhouse American jury, rather than their own lust for power and authority.  Our nation and the good of its people demand nothing less.