The New York Times does the Rittenhouse aftermath

My friend who reads the New York Times calls attention to this article about how, allegedly, the left and the right are reacting to the Rittenhouse verdicts. Here is my friend’s take:

While the piece wants to appear even-handed, it is anything but. The liberals quoted are all politicians or heads of organizations. For conservative responses, the Times goes fishing for memes and social media comments from QAnon and the Proud Boys.

Readers of the Times may think they know how conservatives are reacting after reading this. In fact, they will have little sense of what conservatives consider the real issues: for example, false claims by the media and candidate Biden that Rittenhouse was a white supremacist, false or misleading claims that he had “crossed state lines,” and the failure of Gov. Evers to keep order.

This piece, which purports to explain what both sides are thinking, only deepens the mutual incomprehension.

The Times quotes a few Republican politicians, but does, as my friend say, go fishing for comments from extremists on the right. However, I would argue that the Times balanced that out a little bit by quoting from a left-wing extremist organization — the NAACP. The head of this once-great organization says:

This verdict is a reminder of the treacherous role that white supremacy and privilege play within our justice system.

Neither he, nor anyone else the Times quotes, provides any support for this ludicrous characterization of the jury’s finding of self-defense — the only finding compatible with the evidence presented to it.

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