In August, a 17-year-old decided to pick up a rifle and go patrol the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, in a misguided attempt to help restore law and order. This should never happen. Unfortunately, the tragedy that ensued took the lives of two people and inflicted additional heartache and pain on many others.
What Kyle Rittenhouse did was wrong. No one should ever take the law into his or her own hands. It’s a recipe for disaster. As a society, it is incumbent upon us to look into how and why this happened.
When law enforcement leaves a void, tragedies happen. I’ve heard far too many stories from my fellow officers. This is an obvious point that wouldn’t seem controversial in a less charged environment, and it was the point being made by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson:
It is important to ask questions about the fundamental issues this new lawless trend has caused. Carlson wasn’t praising vigilante justice, as some have incorrectly charged. He never glorified the actions of Rittenhouse. He asked why anyone was surprised this happened. That is a very important issue that we must address.
Instead, the Twitter mob took over, and half of that deeply polarized universe called for Carlson’s show to be canceled based on a bad-faith representation of his words. What good does this do? No one wants to see the streets, homes, parks, businesses, and towns he or she loves burn to the ground. We want what’s best for society.
What’s best, in my experience, is more conversation.
People need to understand both sides. Don’t shut someone down for not agreeing with you, especially if you haven’t taken the time to get the full context of what the other person is saying. Let’s fix the problems by understanding them. Canceling a program, or defunding the police, will not solve anything.
We are fortunate enough to live in one of the freest societies in the world. We are afforded luxuries that other countries dream of. Every person has a right to voice his or her opinion, to be heard, and to protest peacefully. But cancel culture threatens the freedoms we celebrate.
No matter your politics or your background, we should try to unite behind America’s founding principles. What Kyle Rittenhouse did was wrong, but it was also preventable. That’s what Carlson was saying, and that message is important to hear. Let’s stop shutting everyone down and start listening.
Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and the star of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He is also a reserve police officer in Pocatello, Idaho, and a sheriff’s deputy in Frederick County, Virginia.
