Nothing better illustrates the “woke reality” world toward which our society is dangerously tipping in its “social justice” dance macabre than the recent Kyle Rittenhouse trial and acquittal. Despite the sober, common sense result reached by a jury of 12 ordinary citizens after being presented with overwhelming evidence that this was a clear case of self defense, the woke mob is howling in outrage because, for their ilk, meting out political justice holds a higher priority than attaining actual justice. Their’s is the “don’t bother me with the facts, I’ve already made up my mind” attitude, an attitude which has become increasingly prevalent in large segments of both the institutional media and academic sectors.

In the first place, this case should never have been prosecuted or brought to trial based on the outstanding facts. Assistant district attorney Binger had access to loads of exculpatory video evidence showing that Rittenhouse was clearly acting in self defense, and yet he chose to either ignore or attempt to hide that evidence while proceeding to charge Mr. Rittenhouse with numerous crimes. By abusing his authority to indict an obviously innocent teenager, no doubt to curry favor from his political base, Mr. Binger grossly violated numerous legal ethics as well as Kyle’s right to due process, even as he brazenly lied about crucial facts of the case and falsely claimed that Rittenhouse had no legal right to be armed that night. For Binger it would seem that evidence is something to be selectively used or ignored in order to achieve one’s preferred outcome which, in this case, was to satisfy a howling leftist mob by convicting an innocent man.

Related to this case, a different kind of “mob justice” was meted out last April to Norfolk, Virginia police lieutenant William Kelly who, as a private citizen, had the temerity to make a $25 donation to the Kyle Rittenhouse legal defense fund. For that act of political correctness heresy Lt. Kelly was fired from his position at the Norfolk police department. So, wanting to help a wrongfully accused person defend himself has now become an acceptable reason to terminate a good cop. The whole woke scenario smacks of the French Revolution or Stalinist Russia where a simple denouncement, unsupported by any kind of evidence, is all that is needed to punish supposed transgressors. Such incidents ought to terrify any people who are theoretically protected against such arbitrary retaliation by a Constitution and Bill of Rights meant to curb abuses of official power.

Presumed guilt or innocence today has little to do with actual evidence, at least in the increasingly oppressive and hyper-politicized court of public opinion, i.e., the mass media and academic elites who control the flow of information and craft the official narratives. In their rarefied worldview, judgments about others are not based upon facts and evidence but instead become a function of one’s political persuasion, religious ideology, or more often color of skin. In their enlightened reckoning, “the lighter the skin, the greater your sin.” This whole tangled mentality reminds me of the once widely touted, but today utterly discredited, “science” of phrenology by which 19th century criminologists claimed they could predict a person’s criminal tendencies by mapping the bumps on their head! The same sort of mumbo jumbo is being applied today in order to determine a person’s character. The only difference is that head bumps have been replaced by wearing a MAGA hat on one’s head. And who needs evidence when we have available such refined scientific indicators to help us root out “domestic terrorists?”