this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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Kyle Rittenhouse abruptly departed the stage during an appearance at the University of Memphis on Wednesday, after he was confronted about comments made by Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.

Rittenhouse was invited by the college's Turning Point USA chapter to speak at the campus. However, the event was met with backlash from a number of students who objected to Rittenhouse's presence.

The 21-year-old gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, he shot and killed two men—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as well as injuring 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz—at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He said the three shootings, carried out with a semi-automatic AR-15-style firearm, were in self-defense. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest where the shootings took place was held after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer.

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[–] DozensOfDonner@mander.xyz 158 points 7 months ago (127 children)

Maybe I'm missing something as I'm not from the states. Why the hell is a guy who is famous for murder invites to talk at a university?

[–] captainjaneway@lemmy.world 92 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Rittenhouse was invited to speak at Wednesday's event by the university's Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. Founded in 2012, the non-profit promotes conservative politics at schools and college campuses.

[–] jettrscga@lemmy.world 71 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It's insane that the only reason he was noticed and brought into their political organization was through ~~murder~~ shooting and killing people.

That's how gangs initiate people.

Edit: removed "murder" so nobody whines about whether he lawfully drove to another state with a gun and shot people.

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 44 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

for the express purpose of intimidating people and hopefully getting the opportunity to shoot them in 'self defense'

[–] jettrscga@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

while he was too young to lawfully be able to purchase the gun that he used

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

and, let's not forget, illegally transported an illegal firearm across state lines. illegally.

[–] remotedev@lemmy.ca 15 points 7 months ago

illegally

illegal

illegally

Eh, I've heard enough. Acquitted! bangs squeaky gavel

[–] deweydecibel@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And they have another one set up for him next month at Kent State.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 13 points 7 months ago

Toilet Paper USA

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[–] Stern@lemmy.world 60 points 7 months ago (2 children)

He got away with it so he's automatically a power fantasy for Cons.

[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget that he murdered people at a BLM protest, so Cons also think he's a hero.

[–] Wiz@midwest.social 7 points 7 months ago

Yes, but remember they're not racist tho. /s

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[–] Gork@lemm.ee 60 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Our gun culture is so nuts that it normalizes shit like this.

When you look at it this way, it is utterly unsurprising that we have so many mass shootings.

[–] PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

This isn't normalisation, it's celebration.

I'm not going to be coy about why they're celebrating him either: The pro-gun community spends hour after hour theorycrafting about how they can shoot people with their cool guns and get away with it. Kyle is being celebrated for finding a new "get out of jail free" technique that specifically targeted undesirables for murder.

That's all there is to it. They shower him with fame and money because he killed BLM protesters with America's favourite gun. It's his reward.

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[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 58 points 7 months ago

Because he's useful to the Republicans, our extreme-right Party.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 50 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's because the US right will celebrate literally any action that they perceive as working against what they think everyone left of them supports or enjoys. Kyle was a clean cut looking young white man who heroically skirted the edge of laws regarding firearm purchases and visited a town that was not his own where he made sure to keep looking until he find a situation that required him to use his gun. The context was protests fueled by the death of George Floyd and shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.

There were probably folks who literally touched themselves after hearing a red blooded, AR wielding young white man was able to be acquitted of murder after shooting protesters at a BLM protest. On top of that, one of the men had some form of pedophilia in his past, boosting their drumbeat of messaging claiming that folks who support LGBTQ+, and by extension all democrats and leftists, are groomers out to molest kids.

It was a perfect storm of trump supporter daydreams all centered around Kyle Rittenhouse. Folks who buy into all or most of that view are big fans.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Because having someone else buy a gun for you that you can’t legally buy, traveling to a confrontational hotspot with your guns, failing to leave a situation that was escalating, and that choice leading to one shooting a mentally ill bipolar person is perfectly legal. And the right wing absolutely wants to make sure everyone knows that. So he gets to be trotted out for any occasion where they need a “famous” person who chose to exercise their right to self-defense, despite making every effort to place themselves in a situation where it might be necessary.

But that’s not his fault.

[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 23 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

He also managed to escape open carry laws because the judge deemed any rifle above 15 inches was not a "Deadly Weapon" despite Rittenhouse using the weapon to cause multiple deaths, due to loose interpretation of the grammar of the written laws. And the state congress in IL did nothing to correct him.

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[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.world 25 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Because of TP USA.

I feel now is a good time to pimp our community, !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world

[–] CommunityLinkFixer@lemmings.world 10 points 7 months ago

Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Because he’s famous for racist murder.

Yeah our country isn’t doing great. Send ethics

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[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Turning Point USA invited him, not the University.

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