In an article on Patheon about the Kyle Rittenouse incident called No Longer Human, George Yancey writes:
My friend Andy Steiger recently wrote a book called Reclaimed. I had the honor to talk to him about dehumanization before his book came out. He points out that we cannot mistreat humans. What he means is that before we mistreat someone, then we must dehumanize them. If we think of them as something other than human, then we can do unspeakable things to them.
This kind of simplifies things. The articles has a flavor of when I was a young boy and my sister did something to me, and I retaliated, and my parents would say: “Both of you, STOP IT!” and my first response was “She did it first!”
In this case I submit the one who did something first is responsible for the consequences of his action. If a young thug knocks an old man to the ground for no reason and that old man pulls a gun and shoots the young thug, what happened to him is consequences of his un-provoked violence. if someone resists arrest, and the police need to taze them, and the tazer stops their heart, the person who resisted arrest bears the consequences of his actions.
If someone decided to riot, assaulting innocent people, breaking into stores, looting and damaging property, they started it, and if they get beat up, or shot, this is the consequence of being a rioter.
The rioters are still beloved children of almighty God, they are human, with their own stories and issues, but at that moment, they are criminals showing no regard for the lives and property of others and when the police are unable or unwilling to enforce the law, then it’s up to the person being assaulted, looted of having their property destroyed to take matters into their own hands.
Did Kyle Rittenhouse do something wise by coming to another city to help people protect their lives and property? I’d say no. As anyone who is involved in a shooting can tell you, it will be a long, painful and expensive road for him. But he thought it was something that was worth doing.
Was he morally wrong in doing it? That will be up to the courts and ultimately God to decide.
I believe the reason we are in the situation we are in, is there is a profound disrespect for property rights exacerbated by all the socialist talk about people ‘s right to something someone else produces. And there is a profound disrespect for authority and the rule of law.
Yancey continues with this:
If Trump wins, the Republicans will learn that having a bully and divisive president can lead to political power. They will have little incentive to seek out compromise and work with progressives.
I am well acquainted with bullies. I had to deal with them on the playground constantly when I was growing up. Then there is that rare bird, a kid who is big and strong and cares about helping the weak. He hates bullies as much as the victims, and when he sees an injustice, he will jump in. He is peaceful until he is provoked, but when he is, all hell breaks loose. There’s always that one kid that has to try him. He invariably learns his lesson.
Trump is like that kid. If his opponents would stop attacking him, he would not need to hit back. He doesn’t start a fight, but he’s always willing to finish it.