Rittenhouse, American Culture, and the American Criminal-Justice System

What the Rittenhouse trial meant for American values and the rule of law

By Darryl Weng

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American culture can never be defined by a single thing. Some say ideals like patriotism and The American Dream are American culture, always attracting people of different cultures and religions to assimilate themselves into the American way of life. Others say characteristics - the constant drive for more wealth, competition, justice, and self-expression, just to name a few traits so many Americans share. But, more commonly, many see American values as our culture - values of political correctness, competition, nostalgia, and freedom, enveloping the hearts and minds of Americans. These American values, in the past decade, have found themselves heavily under fire.

Luckily, many of our American values find shelter under the Constitution, specifically the Bill of Rights. As our founding fathers created the Constitution, the American criminal-justice system was born, serving the well-being of Americans and, indirectly, protecting American culture - and American values - through due process. Since the founding of America, our criminal-justice system has served to protect innocent citizens and hold criminals responsible for their crimes.

The recent Kyle Rittenhouse case proved the efficacy of our criminal-justice system in bringing justice and protecting American values, despite recent political divide and raucous riots. But, moreover, the Rittenhouse case serves as a testament to how well both the American criminal-justice system and culture have braced under the political storm of major progressive figures tainting, defaming, and vilifying Rittenhouse through racially motivated slurs, just for their extreme political agendas.

The Rittenhouse case, understood by many, revolves around whether or not Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. Rittenhouse, just 17 at the time, faced three men - the first attempting to grab Rittenhouse’s gun, the second swinging a skateboard at Rittenhouse, and the third pointing his handgun at Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot - who had malicious attempts to hurt him physically.

Yet with the clear evidence laid out before the court, progressives believed Rittenhouse acted not in self-defense but through murderous and racial intent. Progressives tried to politicize American culture by branding Rittenhouse as a perpetrator using a rifle to murder and injure “individuals,” even giving Rittenhouse additional nicknames like “white vigilante.” Politicizing American culture, progressives changed the meaning of values like liberty, equality, and individualism that defined much of American culture. According to progressives, liberty is now “mob freedom,” equality is “suppressing the majority,” and individualism is now defined by one’s color of skin. And yet, defying all political influence, American culture stood firm, standing athwart progressives.

This is mainly because guns are a vital part of American culture, whether or not one supports it. Guns in American culture, commonly referred to as American gun culture, are heavily supported by many Americans, not to mention the 2nd Amendment and its creators. American gun culture has become very notable in American history, especially during the American Revolutionary War. Due to American gun culture often being mentioned alongside patriotism and anti-tyranny, to antagonize the culture would be detrimental to progressives.

As Rittenhouse continuously receives spotlight for backlash from progressives, Rittenhouse has become one of the defining symbols for self-defense and American gun culture. In other words, progressives, who intentionally politicized American culture, inadvertently offended American gun culture by slandering Rittenhouse. It’s not surprising that many Americans didn’t take offense so well. Progressives should know better. The progressives’ definition of American values means nothing to Americans. In the end, American culture fought off politics and stayed true to its ideals and values.

Even so, political pressure forced upon the judge and jurors resulted in an unimaginable time for the Rittenhouse trial to reach a final verdict. The most consistent of the political attacks Rittenhouse received, to sway jurors and the judge to rule Rittenhouse guilty of at least one charge, was being referred as or compared to a “white supremacist.” Not surprisingly, media outlets like CNN and MSNBC were on board with the political attacks, often backing figures like Biden, Harris, and leaders of the ACLU who have attacked Rittenhouse using race cards.

Sadly for them, the judge, Bruce Schroeder, presiding over the case is known for being no-nonsense. Whatever political threats the progressives aimed at Schroeder, the threats were useless. So what did MSNBC do in a desperate attempt to change the verdict in the progressives’ favor? MSNBC’s reporter foolishly tailed the jury bus in an attempt to threaten the jurors - to hopefully first expose jurors’ identities and, second, instigate people to attack jurors verbally or, potentially, physically. Thankfully, MSNBC was barred from appearing in the courtroom when the Rittenhouse case was being deliberated.

Despite all the efforts of political threats and pressure progressives tried to hurl at the judge and jurors, the judge and jurors stayed on the side of the American criminal-justice system, not budging their stance on the rule of law. The right to fair trial and self-defense triumphed. American ideals and values triumphed. But, most of all, the American criminal-justice system and culture triumphed. Silent but awake, American culture, protected by our criminal-justice system, still towers over the callous, raucous politicians and their supporters who flood social media with serpents. Let us hope that American justice, ideals, and values will continue to prevail over politics.