Left vs right narratives

[Josh]

Let's look at the development of two different narratives when it comes to the Kyle Rittenhouse incident in Kenosha; this was prepared by a graduate student, Shaun Cammack, who specialises in narrative analyses.



We can see the development of this here on MennoNet. The left-side narrative is reliably repeated by people who get their information from left-leaning sources. Elsewhere, I have heard the right-side narrative repeated from people who get their information from right-leaning sources. Of note is that neither narrative is remotely correct.

For example, on the left leaning narrative, it is not correct that he came from "out of state" armed with a rifle, nor that he shot a "peaceful protestor". It is not correct that he "fled the state".

On the right leaning narrative, it is not correct that a rioter "threw a Molotov cocktail".

Of even more interest to me is detail changes that aren't particularly important but that are consistent in what you hear from a particular side of this issue. For example, on the right wing, the fact he is 17 years old is not brought up.

These narratives are misleading. Saying that he came from "out of state" is misleading when the two towns involved are 20 miles apart, for example.

There is little to be accomplished by people (for example, people here on MennoNet) repeating these two false narratives at each other. And the only agenda of repeating these false narratives appears to be to demonise the other side, and gain sympathy for their "own side".

For the left wing, they have an agenda, including our resident left wingers on MennoNet, to demonise Kyle Rittenhouse as some kind of evil serial murderer. I would like to ask both left and right wing participants here on MennoNet to take a step back and ask why they are participating in this. I have highlighted the falsehoods in these narratives, and I think it behooves all of us here to step away from perpetrating them.

[Soloist]

I honestly hadn't heard anything about this until one of my coworkers was ranting about Biden raising taxes to 90% everyone
I feel like I'm too involved in politics as is but is it redeeming for us to be reading so much Fox/CNN and the dribble down news? Has it added to our spiritual health?

This article just shows more of how they are manipulating us and personally even the author has a bias.

[Fidelio]

On the right leaning narrative, it is not correct that a rioter "threw a Molotov cocktail".

Of even more interest to me is detail changes that aren't particularly important but that are consistent in what you hear from a particular side of this issue. For example, on the right wing, the fact he is 17 years old is not brought up.

I got my news on this from a right-leaning source and never heard anything about a Molotov cocktail being thrown at him. I did hear that he is 17. So my source seems to have gotten it right.

[joshuabgood]

I can tell you this. It is a really bad idea to have a 17 yearold kid with a weapon designed to kill lots of people in a demonstration like that. After curfew. And away from home. He isn't a demon and he isn't a hero. It is a tragedy that could have been avoided by commonsense.

[Bootstrap]

I can tell you this. It is a really bad idea to have a 17 yearold kid with a weapon designed to kill lots of people in a demonstration like that. After curfew. And away from home. He isn't a demon and he isn't a hero. It is a tragedy that could have been avoided by commonsense.

I agree. And it's a bad idea to have Facebook groups telling 17-year-old children that they can be heroes if they show up somewhere with an AK-47.

As for commonsense ... I'm not sure we get there by framing everything as left versus right. For instance, I think it would be equally bad to have some 17-year-old kid with an AK-47 representing the other side of the ideological spectrum, "protecting" a different set of people.

[Josh]

I see everyone missed the point of this post.

Hint: it’s not about looking at your opponent and proving “Gotcha! You’re wrong.”

[Bootstrap]

I see everyone missed the point of this post.

Hint: it’s not about looking at your opponent and proving “Gotcha! You’re wrong.”

I got lost in some of your claims about people on MennoNet. I think some of us actually do look at a variety of sources, compare them, and think for ourselves, even if we come to different conclusions than you do. I agree that there is a strong polarization in American media, but I also think there are some sources that are more attentive to facts and fairer than others, and that facts can be chased down eventually.

I suspect the basic point you were making may have been the same as in this article (worth reading entirely, not just this excerpt):

Vigilante, volunteer, terrorist: how the US media covers Kyle Rittenhouse

There is perhaps no greater example of the polarization of American media than the coverage of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who allegedly shot and killed two protesters and injured another at Kenosha this week.

On one side of the divide, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson defended Rittenhouse on Wednesday, due to the violence and property damage in Kenosha. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” asked Carlson.

Ridiculing Carlson’s statement on Thursday, the Daily Show host Trevor Noah replied: “No one drives to a city with guns because they love someone else’s business so much.” He continued: “They do it because they are hoping to shoot someone. That’s the only reason people like him join these gangs in the first place – yes, I said it, a gang – because this is not the battle of Yorktown, it’s a bunch of dudes threatening people with guns.”

Rittenhouse has now been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, but it hasn’t stopped some pundits from calling for him to become president. How Rittenhouse is portrayed now will be telling – not least because Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man who was shot by police in Kenosha days before Rittenhouse’s arrest, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, has also not yet stood trial – but has already been labeled a criminal in the media.

In the words of one Chicago journalist: “[This is] a rare moment in news media where we get to watch this dichotomy in real time … To see to whom news media gives the most compassion and consideration in telling their stories.”