The verdict in the Rittenhouse matter is imminent and I say, "So, what?"
It doesn’t matter what the jury finds (except, perhaps, to the defendant himself.) Regardless of how they find, half of the country will believe that the verdict is a travesty — a miscarriage of justice that proves their point - whatever point it may be.
Too many of us are unwilling to take a sober, reasoned look at issues. Instead we choose to decide on emotion. What we feel is what is true, regardless what the facts may demonstrate; and the law, well the law be damned. After all, how it makes us feel is what matters.
After the verdict is read, the collective us and them will continue to argue, scream, and shout to the rooftops about the outrage we and they feel over the finding - whatever it is. We and they need each other and we and they need our outrage the way that an addict needs his substance of choice. Without outrage, we and they don’t know who we are, so the outrage must be manufactured out of pure emotion. Reason and logic be damned. Those things have no place in the outrage era.
And the findings of twelve good men and women who were tasked with determining the facts and applying the law to those facts, well, how dare they not be as outraged as we!