Politics - News Analysis
Americans Calling Buffalo Tragedy the ‘Rittenhouse Effect’ as White Man Travels 3 Hours to Shoot Black Victims
Out of respect for the victims and their families, there will be limited comment here about the shooting itself. Additionally, there will be many more details known four to five days from the immediate reaction. We do know the shooter was 18, he traveled hours to a black neighborhood in Buffalo, and just last night – LAST NIGHT – Tucker Carlson said this:
“It doesn’t exist” pic.twitter.com/hAhr8tlrYT
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 14, 2022
Far right terrorism doesn’t exist. It isn’t terrorism when white people do it.
It is always a little dangerous placing too much symbolism into any one occurrence, no matter the pattern, it all gets down to one sick mind. But depending upon the scenario, this could easily fit the pattern of “stochastic terrorism,” something we’ve discussed at this site for a long time. For anyone unfamiliar with the concept (I was until taught), the term refers to situations where a constant message, whether it is from Trump about the summer of 2020 and “burning cities down” or Tucker Carlson and his “great replacement” theory, a lone wolf will eventually take that message and act on it.
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Here we have yet another white 18 year old, a teen, like Rittenhouse, who traveled to a big city with a black neighborhood and went hunting with his assault rifle. Rittenhouse illegally took a weapon of war (Assault rifles OFTEN “kill” people that handguns would only injure), across two states to “protect property,” in reality he was surely dying to shoot someone black. Upon the police confronting him and his victims he lifted his rifle and yelled “Friendly,” just as in war. Rittenhouse was then lauded as a hero.
Obviously Buffalo is different in that this young person had to know there was nothing heroic about a mass shooting. And yet many Americans are convinced that Rittenhouse’s celebrity status among the right isn’t meaningless. And remember, we’re only talking about an 18-year-old, a kid who was sixteen when Rittenhouse shot, and 17-18 when he was lauded as a hero. A troubled enough teen could have used some of that reasoning, somehow. At least, many Americans think so because “Rittenhouse” is trending on Twitter:
I want to wake up in a country where a white guy with a gun live-streaming murdering Black people, who regurgitates white replacement theory he heard from Tucker Carlson, isn’t a new right wing cultural hero like Kyle Rittenhouse.
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) May 14, 2022
The shooter is an 18-year-old white male who traveled from outside Buffalo! Eleven of the 13 people who were shot were Black.
Just another peaceful Tucker viewer.
He will probably get a white pro-Trump judge that will set him free just like Kyle Rittenhouse!— Alicia (@Alicia0Givens) May 14, 2022
We are witnessing the Kyle Rittenhouse effect.
— Naveed Jamali (@NaveedAJamali) May 14, 2022
The shooting in Buffalo is the result of Fox News and the GOP praising Kyle Rittenhouse as a “hero” for shooting 2 innocent people — to death — and facing no legal consequences. It’s the result of Rittenhouse getting to meet the President at Mar-A-Lago to celebrate his acquittal.
— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) May 14, 2022
The Buffalo shooter is a terrorist.
Kyle Rittenhouse is a terrorist.
White mass shooters who target minorities are domestic terrorists.
It's not mental illness, it's terrorism.— Sarah Katherine (@logicalloui1505) May 14, 2022
When Kyle Rittenhouse becomes a hero instead of an inmate, don’t be surprised when more of this happens. https://t.co/S2dLWXKkxk
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) May 14, 2022
The Buffalo shooter literally went to a Black neighborhood supermarket to hunt and kill Black people, killing 10, all in the name of White Replacement Theory, racist nonsense espoused on Fox News by Tucker Carlson and promoted by Trump.
The Kyle Rittenhouse Effect on display.
— (((THEE R.A. Roth Supports Ukraine, Fuck Putin!))) (@fantagor) May 14, 2022
The mayor of Buffalo says the race-killer wasn't from Buffalo and traveled hours to get there.
Sounds just like Kyle Rittenhouse, doesn't it?
And just like Rittenhouse we'll find out this shooter has DEEP ties to the police too.#KyleRittenhousEffecthttps://t.co/FSt98K3QZH— ProfessorBlackTruth (@ProfBlacktruth) May 14, 2022
Killer Kyle Rittenhouse has become a hero to MAGA Republicans. This is the inevitable consequence of that twisted mentality. https://t.co/vY9fxVVC3s
— #Save America🆘#resister🌊HonorHeatherHeyer#JoeBiden (@NoraBrup) May 14, 2022
You can have Kyle Rittenhouse. I’ll take Colin Kaepernick.
— Ashawn Dabney (@_ashawndabney) May 11, 2022
BLM protesters were “rioters”
January 6th insurrectionists were “peaceful tourists”
Ashley Babbitt was a “martyr”
George Floyd was a “thug”
Kyle Rittenhouse was a “hero”
The common theme is always the same: vilify the oppressed, glorify the powerful
— Andrew Wortman 🏳️🌈🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@AmoneyResists) May 9, 2022
That’s exactly what @laurenboebert and @GOP are doing
Grooming the next Kyle Rittenhouse
Grooming the next Derek Chauvin
Grooming the next Mass Murderer https://t.co/qTzuiIjC79
— You Don’t Wanna See My Kraken (@CoupThomas) May 14, 2022
Starting today, Republicans will act like it's possible to celebrate Kyle Rittenhouse and denounce this.
— Art and Thought. (@JamesPleasant15) May 14, 2022
This is exactly right.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman
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