Letters to the Editor: The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict portends a violent future for America

I'd like to apologize for how this is presented. For some reason, fetch seed isn't working for this so I had to go Neanderthal on this. Forgive me if it looks strange. 

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

To the editor:   Vigilantes of all ages can take comfort in the   verdict of not guilty on all counts in the Kyle Rittenhouse case .

While I do not doubt that this individual, who killed two people and injured another, was fearful for his safety when he pulled the trigger again and again in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020, he chose to place himself in that situation and served to set up lethal conflict, diminishing a legitimate claim of self-defense as the prosecution alleged.

A child who is deemed in the eyes of the law to be so lacking in maturity that he was four years away from being able to legally consume alcohol at the time of the shootings gets off scot-free after taking to troubled streets with a lethal weapon. Bedlam predictably followed.

I imagine there is a future for Rittenhouse in right-wing politics or as a Fox News commentator.

Oren Spiegler, Peters Township, Penn.

Yes, Rittenhouse chose to place himself in that situation. What such proponents of such a view disregard is that everyone else there also chose to put themselves in that situation, by presence and action. Further, the abdication of responsibility for what was occurring by the duly elected officials charged with public safety also chose to do what they did. 

What is so stupid about this opinion is that this person apparently feels that Rittenhouse was the only one there with any sort of moral obligation attached to his actions. Worse, a sixteen year old, with access to a gun,  who is witnessing his sister about to be raped apparently would be unjustified in taking action because he isn't old enough to drink alcohol. 

To the editor:   A participant in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was   quoted as saying , "They're supposed to shoot BLM, but they are shooting the patriots," referring to the Black Lives Matter protesters and a Capitol Police officer's shooting of Ashli Babbitt, the only rioter fatally shot by law enforcement that day.

No one should be surprised by the sentiment behind the shocking quote. It neatly connects the dots linking the Capitol riot to the Rittenhouse acquittal, the trial of Ahmaud Arbery's killers and the House censure of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). They all involved violence or threats against the supposed "enemies" of the people.

Sadly, far too many Americans buy into this ethos of violence as a preferred means of problem solving, whether the problem is perceived or real. Unchecked, this worship of violence bodes ill for everyone.

Dienyih Chen, Redondo Beach

So, what we have here is someone stating that a banana, a sprocket, the letter P and the angle of the hypotenuse are all the same thing. Babbitt and Rosenbaum apparently had similar I.Q.'s and that's somehow the same thing as what Rittenhouse did. Babbitt was an aggressor, moving forward to do who knows what, same as Rosenbaum. Rittenhouse, on the other hand, was running away, trying to avoid confrontation. Yet in this person's mind, it's the same. 

To the editor:   Let there be no doubt that if Rittenhouse was Black, he would have been found guilty.

The worst thing adults can do is not hold others accountable for their actions. This is a miscarriage of justice, and the deaths of Rittenhouse's victims have been declared insignificant.

All lives matter, and those who kill violate the rights of their victims and set a dangerous precedent.

Valerie Okorocha, Pasadena

Sorry, but I have doubt. If Rittenhouse had been black and the circumstances were the same, I definitely would have felt the same way as I do about Rittenhouse. This would be because I'm not as racist as this poster, assuming that all white people have it out for people not white. 

As for accountability of action, this poster's opinion is so divorced from reality one must assume he's only an occasional visitor to the world we live in. What about accountability for what Rosenbaum did? Threaten twice (that we know of) to kill Rittenhouse if he can and then, for all anyone knows, attempts to carry it out. What about the skate board guy who tries to cave in Rittenhouse's skull when Rittenhouse wasn't threatening anyone? What about the protesters who were doing their best to destroy property? Where is this protester's concern for accountability on all of that? 

To the editor:   A jury of Rittenhouse's peers has acquitted him. It is time for all of us to accept this verdict and move on from this tragic period and not foment an irreversible spiral of violence and retribution from which we may never recover.

We also need to understand that violence will never solve anything, and that those who go looking for trouble will ultimately find it, particularly in an era when guns are way too plentiful.

Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nev.

Actually, violence solves quite a lot. Just ask the police. Ask those who fought the Nazis in WWII. 

To the editor: Rittenhouse, the Jan. 6 insurrections and the El Paso Walmart shooter are all cut from the same cloth.

They're irregulars, or what would've been called brownshirts in 1930s Germany. Rittenhouse is the clearest example because he took a gun to a protest full of people who didn't agree with him, and he killed two people.

That's what brownshirts do: They achieve political gains by unaccountable thuggery that uniformed officers would not get away with. They will take American democracy down and replace it with racist fascism if given the chance.

Branden Frankel, Arcadia

Okay. So, Rittenhouse's desire to keep people from destroying a place is the same as the idiots who went to the capitol to destroy it. Got it. Don't understand it but I got it. Also, someone walking into a Walmart and indiscriminately shooting people is the same as Rittenhouse only shooting people who were attacking him, threatening his life, as far as he knew. Got it. Again, don't understand it, but I got it. 

A part of me hopes people like this take over our country. Not because I think it would be a good thing. Quite the opposite, and that's the point. I have this stupid idea that once they destroy this nation, as is basically already occurring, they will finally understand how stupid they are. But of course, no matter how badly they destroy this nation it would not be enough to remove the scales from their eyes. No matter what, they will never abandon the magical fantasy in their heads for reality. 

P.S. Sorry about the image. There's a humorous story behind it if anyone is interested. 

This story originally appeared in   Los Angeles Times .