Two recent articles caught my eye today. Both presented a balanced view and admitted to the facts in a way previously only in the blogosphere.
One, by Dylan Stableford of The Cutline (featured on Yahoo) reads, in part:
“With a single punch,” the Orlando Sentinel, citing police sources, reported Monday, “Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer … climbed on top of [him] and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered.”
“That is the account Zimmerman gave police,” the paper said, “and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.”
Zimmerman’s attorney, Craig Sonner, says that Zimmerman acted in self-defense and is not a racist as some have portrayed him.
“I think we need to let the investigation come forward and let all the facts in this case come out,” Sonner said on the “Today” show. “I think it’s going to tell a different story than the way it’s been related and portrayed in the media.”…
“The media is getting the Trayvon Martin story wrong,” Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote on BusinessInsider.com, comparing it to the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, in which three members of the lacrosse team were accused of rape, resulting in a media firestorm and public outcry. The accuser’s case unraveled, and the charges were eventually dropped.
“Oh how little we have learned,” David Shane wrote on PolicyMic.com. The media has rushed to judgment yet again. Now, it’s quite possible that Zimmerman is guilty of everything his worst foes accuse him of. There is plenty about this case that troubles me. But that’s exactly the point—I don’t know. Neither does anyone else, and both the scope and tone of the media coverage ought to reflect that fact.”
Another story (also on Yahoo) reads:
“The media has been quick to demonize George, but Trayvon Martin was no angelic boy walking,” Meza said.
Zimmerman’s attorney, Craig Sonner, has said in more than one interview that his client’s nose was broken during the fight with Martin.
The Orlando Sentinel has reported that Martin grabbed Zimmerman’s head and banged it several times against the sidewalk. Sonner said the gash on the back of Zimmerman’s head probably was serious enough for stitches, but he waited too long for treatment so the wound was already healing.
Zimmerman said he began crying for help; Martin’s family thinks it was their son who was crying out. Witness accounts differ and 911 tapes in which the voices are heard are not clear. A statement from Sanford police said the newspaper’s story was “consistent” with evidence turned over to prosecutors.
Martin was at least 6-feet, several inches taller than the 5-foot-9 Zimmerman. Meza said Martin was not the child he appears to be in photos flashed across television and newspapers.
But I have a nagging suspicion, given their track-record, that the main motivation for this backtracking is the realization that Zimmerman was not white. When organizations such as the Associated Press, Yahoo and the New York Times start reporting such incidents fairly even when whites are involved, at that point I might believe that they’re repenting from their evil ways.
I’m pretty sure that a number of media liberals cried when they saw Zimmerman’s photo. They were hoping for a Great White Defendant, and ended up with a boring Hispanic defendant. How are they supposed to make political hay out of that?
The reason they backtracked is because the case completely unraveled. Zimmerman’s race was known long before this became a media firestorm but the media overestimated their reach in thinking they could turn a mestizo into a white person.
In the Duke Lacrosse non-rape trial, the case unraveled almost immediately, and yet the media kept harping on it and harping on it for months. Even after the charges were dismissed and the prosecutor fired, the media did not backtrack on that one (with one or two minor exceptions). Instead, they chose to completely ignore it. Here they are backtracking.
It’s my recollection, and from one book I read about the matter, that the crime reportage on that case was straightforward and made it clear early that there was no case. It was the punditocracy that was so convinced of white male privilege that they couldn’t believe the facts didn’t support it.
I think the coverage is demonstrating the power of grass roots individuals on internet to affect media. At first, this story was just local crime (the same excuse media gives for not publicizing minority crime). Then liberal-leaning bloggers motivated them to pick up the “shooting of unarmed black model student” angle. Then conservative commenters raised questions about Martin’s character and actions that night, that motivated the coverage above.
The media can longer ignore truth to push a narrative.
Half Sigma makes clear that he’ll be indicted regardless of the evidence:
http://www.halfsigma.com/2012/03/no-grand-jury-for-george-zimmerman.html
Yahoo is one of the worst in that regard.The only way to stop these gutter rats is to hit them where they hurt, through complaints to their advertisers. A single letter to an advertiser will have little effect, but many will. Any suggestions?
V. happy to see someone put their two cents in on this madness.
Of course I sympathize with the Martin’s in having lost their child, but the media has been blatently lying about what happened that night, and the Martin’s have been led to actually believe their son was killed for no reason. As far as I am concerned, that is the true crime.
I found it immensely entertaining, though, how the media treated Zimmerman like he was actually caucasian when he clearly was not, and how now his ‘Hispanic’ roots are actually coming to light as they, novelly, back off the case more and more. Let’s watch how the ‘racially motivated’ blip falls of the radar abruptly.
How this caused an international scandle boggles the educated mind.
However, disregarding the racial aspect of the case, this is actually fun for me because I am in college going for my Criminology — So if I was to look at it, and treat it as I would any other case I was given, I would still say that Zimmerman still acted with unreasonable force. Yes, he was attacked, yes, the wounds he was dealt would have scared any victim into believing his life was in danger. But also taking into consideration that he did provoke the confrontation by following the boy, and that he was an adult male, supposidly, far larger then Martin, I would say the gun was not necessary. I’d call Manslaughter, parole 1 year + community service.
~Anna
I don’t know why following someone constitutes provoking them. If I were hanging out in a gated community where I didn’t live, I wouldn’t expect being skinny or eating junk food to shield me from the glowering eyes of the residents, or even from them following me. I’ve been glared out for coming too close to people’s houses (i.e. I was on the sidewalk), and I didn’t have any desire to knock the guy on his back and bloody his nose.
Martin obviously felt like he could get away with something.
Following someone does actually, at least here in Canada, constitute provoking them. Say you were walking down a dark, empty street, and you realized someone was following you — You’re now scared, tense, and nervous. Provoking someone can also mean installing feelings in them that were not there before — Especially feelings that trigger an epinephrine response [Adrenal] that could result in a conflict.
Anna
I think that when all the facts come out in court you’ll find Zman quit following and that Tray came back to attack him. You’ll also find that Tray is bigger and Zman smaller than a lot of people have been claiming.
It may be harsh to kill someone for aggravated assault. But I wouldn’t convict him for it.
@destructure —
Absolutely you can’t really judge until all the information is out — But say there was no new, surprising evidence that makes its way into the courtroom.
Martin is walking through a gated area — That’s legal. It’s not apartheid anymore [unfortunately], haha.
Zimmerman sees the youth, knows he does not live in his area, feels he is suspicious, calls 911 and reports what he sees — That’s legal too.
Zimmerman ignores the 911 responder and does indeed follow the boy — Now we get wishy washy, as it becomes a matter of how long he was following the boy, and if he, at any time, made his presence known to him. I highly doubt Martin just turned around, charged at the guy and socked him in the face just for following him. He was a younger man, and he was scared, there’s a guy first following you in a car, and now on foot. His heart’s racing, he feels threatened, and NOW we run into a roadblock because we don’t know what happened at this crucial moment. Witnesses for Martin say Zimmerman called out to Martin and threatened him – Witnesses for Zimmerman say Martin was swearing and yelling at Zimmerman and started the conflict. We have two COMPLETELY opposing perspectives debating over what happened at the same time.
Here’s how I picture it:
Zimmerman is stalking behind Martin, who is on his cellphone with a friend [lest we forget the cellphone calls]. After a minute or two, Martin realizes Zimmerman is following him, and starts to get nervous – His breathing picks up, his heart starts beating harder, and he starts to jog a bit – At which point Zimmerman now believes [and this is something I hear about all the damn time] he has due purpose to go after Martin, because Martin’s running now singles to Zimmerman that the boy is hiding something/stole something and is fleeing the scene/whatever. He pursues faster, calling out to Martin. Martin’s adrenal response kicks in, and we all know that Negroids are more inclined to fight rather than flee. Martin starts cursing at Zimmerman, telling him to back off. Zimmerman responds with accusations – ‘what are you doing here?!’ – Trying to confirm his belief that Martin was up to illegal activity. Martin gets scared, he’d already been suspended from school because of drugs, and was known by Youth Services already for being a bad apple, and Zimmerman is threatening to call the police.
They are exchanging threats and curses, and then Martin makes the first move – Thinking he can knock Zimmerman down and flee. But it was too hard – Zimmerman’s head smashes on the pavement and there’s blood. Now Zimmerman is on the defensive, grabbing at Martin’s pant legs, causing the boy to fall. He knows he’s bleeding, and he’s scared now. Martin tries to kick away from Zimmerman, booting him in the face accidentally, breaking his nose. Now Zimmerman feels like Martin really was attacking him full on – And the Gun is drawn, stunning Martin at the very sight of it. Martin screams, Zimmerman fires.
But then again, it’s all speculation. I love putting the textbook to to work, though 😉 And if any of my speculations were correct — Zimmerman would be on for manslaughter at worst, self-defence with aggregated force at best. It would also mean no one was really to blame for the conflict.
I’d love to see how close I was — But unfortunately I feel like whatever comes out of the media at this point should be taken with a grain of salt at best. Ahh, remember back in the day when we had unbiased media?
Er…. Did we ever have unbiased media? lol
~Anna
Anna
If you listen to the 911 call it’s likely Zman quit following Tray when the dispatcher suggested. You can tell from the sounds that his breathing slows down and there’s less wind crackling in the mouthpiece. Zman remained on the phone with the dispatcher for about a minute after he first says Tray ran. Yet the shooting only took place 30 yards from his truck. I’m pretty sure a high school athlete can run a lot further than 30 yards in a minute. There’s only one way the shooting took place so close to his truck — Tray came back.
Hi again,
My argument would still stand, unfortunately. The distance the shooting took place is near irrelevant — As it has been firmly established, even through Zimmerman himself, that he followed in his car before he followed by foot. And, as you said yourself, his breathing slowed significantly after he spoke to the 911 operator – – Which could indicate that he stopped walking and following Martin, or it would indicate that Zimmerman returned to his vehicle and continued to follow. Currently, the evidence supports this.
Zimmerman’s 911 call was made around 7pm and lasted two minutes. Martin notified his Girlfriend that he was beginning to run around 710-715. 911 calls made to report gunshots were made at 720-725. The theory you proposed, in which Martin returned to fight with an uninterested Zimmerman wouldn’t explain how Zimmerman got 30 yards away from his own car. It also wouldn’t explain why Zimmerman hadn’t been making his way bak to his home if he was attempting to cease an interaction with Martin. But my theory, in which Zimmerman continues to follow even after the 911 call, exiting his car after Martin begins to sprint — assuming Martin’s guilt of some kind of activity, Martin not getting very far before a verbal exchange between the two would begin a physical altercation, does.
I also don’t think you are taking it as that I am suggesting that Martin, too, is guilty of some responsibility in the matter. I wouldn’t take my time to go over the case if I didn’t. Martin, very likely, did indeed begin the physical altercation, but Zimmerman had a huge case of USI [Unwarranted self importance], and fancied himself a vigilante of some kind, perusing Martin and probably scaring the crud out of the kid to turn him to violence — Violence of which Zimmerman responded with self defense in the form of mortal force. It was still inappropriate, and had Zimmerman used his mind and not his gun, Martin would be in prison for assault instead of dead. Zimmerman and Martin, both, had a part to play in terms of being guilty.
However, that being said — the true crime committed here was on the part of the media, who has glorified the case to international proportions, under the guise of a racially-charged altercation on the fault of the ‘Caucasian’ Zimmerman, who wasn’t actually white at all [something I think WNs are even forgetting at this point]. A racist tactic from a racist establishment that seeks to demonize whites.
Just as it would be unreasonable and stupid for the media to assume the guilt of a white man simply because of the color of his skin [which they often do] — It’s just as unreasonable and stupid to assume the guilt of a black man, just because of the color of his skin. We are here, as White Nationalists, to remove minority priviledge in America — Priviledge that has been destroying the pioneering European culture of this country, as well as systematically erroding the beauty of having ethnically diverse people across God’s green earth.
To say that racial priviledge is only ok when Whites do it is basically the reason no one will bloody listen to us in the first place. 😉 That being said — Let’s stop paying so much attention to this bloody case and just wait for shit to hit the fan when people realize that Martin wasn’t *as* innocent as the media has made him out to be, nor is Zimmerman *as* guilty.
Restoring some faith in the universe:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/30/zimmerman-innocent-until-proved-guilty/
~Anna
PS: People have already realized the hypocrisy of the media in their underminding of the Black Panthers’ call for violence against Zimmerman and his family — Personally, I just laughed when they [CNN] had a ‘mini-interview’ with one of them, by a black anchor, of course, basically implying how noble they have been throughout this ordeal. *rolleyes*
Anna
I’ve noticed that your version of events relies heavily on your psychic ability to create a scenario for which there is no evidence. You’ve similarly relied on those psychic abilities in presuming to know what I think. But I never mentioned race. So don’t presume to know my motives.
@destructure,
And I’ve noticed your rudeness factor increase dramatically with my unwillingness to accept *your* psychic analysis of the night’s events. Believe it as you will, you’ve still provided no evidence for your side of the case — And not even Zimmerman’s/Family own media testimonies back up your theory. I’ve not had a grudge against you, here I was thinking we were actually having an intellectual conversation. I was sorely mistaken.
As for the race issue — I could only assume you had a grudge against the media’s overrepresentation of Whites as being perpetraitors of racial ‘hate’ crimes, even when the perpetrator wasn’t even white, and the crime wasn’t even racially motivated. Was I far off? Naughty me. 😉
Cheers!
~Anna
Anna
You’re deluded.
The way this whole story was covered really shows how fucked up america has become.
Blacks rush to support blacks aginst a guy who looked kind of white regardless of what actually happened, including our glorious turd colored president. White people also then rushed to support blacks, again regardless of what actually happened.
When will this stupidity and masochism be brought to an end?