Not guilty. Also, not a surprise

Kyle Rittenhouse. Not guilty on all charges.

I am shocked, but not surprised. I draw a line between the two. Surprise often leads to shock, but I have often been shocked without the slightest surprise. Something needs to be unexpected to surprise me, but I can see something coming a mile away and still be shocked by its arrival. Like that moment between slamming on the breaks and impact. I am frequently shocked, but I am rarely surprised. I think this is because I look for the patterns. I’m not some genius puzzlemaster; the patterns are very easy to see.

The first thing you need to understand is that racism is the stupidest possible idea. There just isn’t a more unthinking concept than one’s character and/or worth being decided according to an amount of melanin in one’s skin. Try as hard as you can, you won’t be able to come up with anything less considered.

The second thing you need to understand is that this impossibly stupid idea is baked into every single function of our society. Laws, culture, all of it. If you need specific examples, please read literally any other post on this blog. 

So, to recap, our society is entirely dependent on and functions according to the most idiotic scheme imaginable. Knowing this, how can I ever be surprised? I just can’t. Flat earth? Boring. Anti-vaxx? Yawn. Scientology? Water is wet compared to racism.

The construct of white supremacy is so foolish, the systems around it can be nothing but transparent and feeble. We all saw what happened at the Rittenhouse trial. We all saw the prejudice of the judge with his false indignation and 45-theme-song ringtone. We all saw Kyle on the stand scrunching up his face and flailing his arms in an attempt to hide the fact that he’s unable to conjure up even a single tear. Even that dipshit Kavanaugh was more convincing.

When explaining this country’s racial progress, my father used to say: “They need to call the cops if they want you dead. In my day any white man could do it.”

We can all see the pattern. We can all see the swell of violence coming. But can we see how quickly we’re sliding backward or are we too busy still being surprised?


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2 thoughts on “Not guilty. Also, not a surprise”

  1. Yes, stupid to the Nth. I could never understand it nor even fathom the reality that the culture of the United States is built around such a false notion as “White Supremacy”. And your dad was so correct when he said, “They need to call the cops if they want you dead. In my day any white man could do it.” Now whitey is just using cops, who so willingly are doing the killing for them. Makes their hands look clean, I suppose?

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