Bullies will continue to bully until they get punched in the nose. My dad gave me solid advice growing up – part of which is that bullies are emboldened by inaction. Until they are forced to stop, they will continue to hurt people.
The left’s network media bullies include CNN and MSNBC. It doesn’t end with them, there are plenty more, but since the Rittenhouse verdict TV hosts and guests have continued to slander and libel Kyle Rittenhouse, non-stop. Notwithstanding Rittenhouse being found not guilty of all charges, and without a shred of evidence showing a race-based motive, media have continued to label him a “racist white supremacist”.
Celebrities without working frontal cortexes have also implied or outright called Rittenhouse a white supremacist. Bullies alone are bad enough. Bullies in a crowd become a mob. Rittenhouse can put a dent in the wallets of the worst of them and he should start with MSNBC and CNN, their talking heads and hosts. In a manner of speaking, make them pay, and pay dearly.
Kyle Rittenhouse didn’t ask for celebrity status but he has it now. Thus, he likely has to meet the higher burden set by New York Times v Sullivan. But that higher standard requires only that the party making the defaming statement publishes with the knowledge of falsity or with reckless disregard of the truth. Both of those thresholds have been met. Several MSNBC and CNN hosts and guess have called Rittenhouse a white supremacist and a “murderer” post-trial. Those statements are inarguably false and defaming. Kyle Rittenhouse should sue them “into oblivion”. He has, in a manner of speaking, a target-rich environment. He needs to pick his targets and start with the deepest pockets to empty.
In a perfect world, he could and should sue everyone who, post-verdict, called him a white-supremacist and a murderer; serve them and walk them into financial ruination or make them go on whatever platform they defamed him on and make them say: “I lied about Kyle Rittenhouse. He isn’t a murderer, and he isn’t a white supremacist.”
“I lied, and I am sorry.” It would be delicious to watch the likes of Joy Reid or the human potato Brain Stelter gurgle out apologies.
In today’s environment, the way you make a media bully stop repeating lies is sue them into financial ruin and make them say “I’m sorry”. I’d start with CNN and MSNBC. Kick them where it hurts the most. In the wallet.