I was astonished, yet not really surprised, to read there’s a video game called “Kyle Rittenhouse’s Turkey Shoot.”
It’s exactly what the title implies: Gamers pretend to be the teenaged killer and try to gun down virtual turkeys (read story here).
In a video promoting the game, “Rittenhouse claims the media has ruined his life.” He’s got that all wrong; he ruined his life by taking an AR-15 to a riot and doing something none of the other vigilantes there did: Shooting people. He was lucky to get off on murder charges.
The fact a jury bought his self-defense claims doesn’t make him right, but he seems to think it does. (It makes no sense for a person who goes looking for a fight to claim self-defense.)
The video game isn’t tinged with rightwing politics; it’s slathered in it. The developer says, “Gamers will get to play as Kyle Rittenhouse using a highly specialized laser gun to strike down any turkey that spreads lies, propaganda, or liberal bias.” He knows what his market is, which speaks for itself.
“We’re not clucking around,” the programmer concludes. “Cluck yeah,” says Rittenhouse. Chickens cluck. Turkeys don’t cluck, they gobble. These dumb clucks don’t even know their farmyard birds. They probably think turtle eggs come from chickens.
This isn’t the first time since the terrible Kenosha events that Rittenhouse has put his immaturity on display. In March 2022, Huffington Post reported that “Rittenhouse thought it was hilarious to use a meme of him crying at his homicide trial last year … to illustrate his slam Friday against President Joe Biden over rising gas prices. Critics were appalled.” (Read that story here.)
Rittenhouse also was caught lying about college attendance (read that story here). Now 19 years old, he’s struggling to grow up. Instead of going to school, learning a trade, and getting a job, he’s striving to become a rightwing media star — which, of course, requires being an awful person.
It won’t work. He’s already had his 15 minutes of fame. He needs to buckle down for the hard stuff that lies ahead — just living.
