[Nakura]

Here in the States there was a pretty big non-story that the media has been pushing for about a year now. Last night the courts finally ruled on the case and decided that Zimmerman (the defendant) was not guilty of murder (or any other charge). Today there are people rioting across the country, claiming the trial wasn't fair.

Here's the backstory:
A number of burglaries had occurred in George Zimmerman's neighborhood, so he decided to begin patrolling his neighborhood at night as a neighborhood watchman. One night he encountered a 17 year old black man (Trayvon Martin) in his neighborhood who Zimmerman thought was acting suspiciously. Zimmerman called the police to report the incident and the operator dispatched a squad car, while recommending that Zimmerman stay in a safe location.

Zimmerman took the operator's recommendation with a grain of salt and decided to confront the suspect and wait for the police to arrive. Upon leaving his car and approaching the teenager (Martin), asking him what he was doing, the teenager called Zimmerman a "creepy ass cracker" and attacked him. After taking a beating, Zimmerman, who claims he felt his life was in danger, managed to grab his gun and shoot Martin, who was pummeling him into the ground. Zimmerman claims that he was acting in self-defense, whereas the prosecutor tried to argue that you cannot defend yourself against someone if you followed them first (which Zimmerman did). Zimmerman then turned himself into the police and explained what happened.

Immediately following the incident, some in the mainstream accused Zimmerman of being racist and guilty of murder. Things intensified when MSNBC released a fake 911 conversation between Zimmerman and the police operator, having heavily doctored the audio to make Zimmerman appear racist. There was a massive uproar by the black community and some even attacked white people in "retaliation" for Martin's death. To top off the escalation, President Obama voiced his own opinion on the incident, in which he condemned Zimmerman and said that he wish Trayvon were his son.

Personally, I think the mainstream media media really shot themselves in the foot on this one. I think they turned this into a political issue to help Obama get elected, increase the racial divide and promote the idea that "gun owners are evil." I for one am glad that the system worked and that we didn't cave to the demands of the mainstream media. Even if Zimmerman was guilty, which is up in the air, I don't see how this trial could have ended any differently. We simply cannot allow the media to act as judge, jury and executioner. We are a nation of law and the burden of proof has to be beyond a reasonable doubt.

By blowing this non-story out of proportions and deliberately lying to promote their agenda and increase their ratings/viewership, the media made it very difficult to support the prosecution in this case. They polarized the issue so greatly, that nearly all white people (except liberals) thought that Zimmerman was innocent, whereas nearly all black people thought that Zimmerman was guilty. It quickly became a black vs white issue and a right vs left issue. Nobody cared about the truth or seeing that justice is actually carried out, people only cared about whatever best fit their agenda. Does anyone actually believe that Chris Matthews in the gang actually care about Martin's family receiving justice?


I have no opinion one way or the other about Zimmerman's guilt or innocence, it's not my place to decide. I really couldn't care less about this case and haven't been following it, but it does raise a few interesting questions:
Does the act of following someone negate that person's ability to claim self-defense if they are attacked? Was the court correct in ruling that Zimmerman was not guilty? Did the media take things too far?

[Mongoose]

I think you have some pretty hefty spin in your description of what happened.

[Nakura]

I think you have some pretty hefty spin in your description of what happened.

Kind of what happens when get your 'news' from MMO-Champion and GameFAQs.

[BloodEagle]

[...] there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card. [...] the liberal media came out swinging [...] There was a massive uproar by many liberals [...]  I think the liberal media [...] They turned this into a political issue to help Obama [...]  and promote the idea that "gun owners are evil." [...] the demands of the liberal media [...] We simply cannot allow the liberal media [...] deliberately lying to promote their agenda and win an election [...] They polarized the issue so greatly, that nearly all white people (except liberals) [...] nearly all black people thought that Zimmerman was guilty [...] Nobody cared about the truth or seeing that justice is actually carried out [...] Did the liberal media take things too far?

Your bias is showing.

[Nakura]

[...] there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card. [...] the liberal media came out swinging [...] There was a massive uproar by many liberals [...]  I think the liberal media [...] They turned this into a political issue to help Obama [...]  and promote the idea that "gun owners are evil." [...] the demands of the liberal media [...] We simply cannot allow the liberal media [...] deliberately lying to promote their agenda and win an election [...] They polarized the issue so greatly, that nearly all white people (except liberals) [...] nearly all black people thought that Zimmerman was guilty [...] Nobody cared about the truth or seeing that justice is actually carried out [...] Did the liberal media take things too far?

Your bias is showing.

It's simply what happened. One would be hard-pressed to prove that the liberal media didn't use this incident for political and sensationalist gain.

[Apollo]

I think Zimmerman made some really ****ing stupid decisions, but I won't send someone to prison for defending themselves. That's assuming that particular narrative is correct, because as I understand it the actual details are still pretty fuzzy and at the very last he isn't a model of morality himself.

Yes, the media did take this too far. The liberal culture warrior lynch mob attacked him with just as much racism (ironic, because many of them were white--well, that's white guilt for you) as any conservative racial demagogue would show to a black man.

You know, I wonder how all those race warriors felt when they realized Zimmerman was a white Hispanic with black people in his family. It must have been very embarrassing for them. Those that didn't do it just for political gain, that is.

The whole case just became a proxy war between the races. To the leftists, Zimmerman was their worst nightmare: a white (also Hispanic and black, but no one seemed to notice that) man who killed a black kid, and their racial views blinded them to reality. He was more a symbol of whiteness than an individual person. Similarly, Trayvon became a martyr and a symbol of the oppressed black race, and thus objective analysis became impossible. The trial was, in many people's minds, a battle between the races rather than law enforcement.

The ultimate irony is that Zimmerman may still have been guilty. His (and his supporters') version of events exonerates him, but it's entirely possible that something else happened.

You know, George Zimmerman may be the first white Hispanic with black blood relatives to be embraced fully and championed by the racist conservative demagogues, and to be treated like a racist white man by the liberals.

[Apollo]

[...] there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card. [...] the liberal media came out swinging [...] There was a massive uproar by many liberals [...]  I think the liberal media [...] They turned this into a political issue to help Obama [...]  and promote the idea that "gun owners are evil." [...] the demands of the liberal media [...] We simply cannot allow the liberal media [...] deliberately lying to promote their agenda and win an election [...] They polarized the issue so greatly, that nearly all white people (except liberals) [...] nearly all black people thought that Zimmerman was guilty [...] Nobody cared about the truth or seeing that justice is actually carried out [...] Did the liberal media take things too far?

Your bias is showing.

There's a hefty dose of anti-liberal sentiment in there, but even a liberal like me can see that my "side" acted really inappropriately.

EDIT: This has the unfortunate side effect of putting making me partially side with some of the conservative pundits over social liberals. Not because I in any way appreciate the rest of their racial rhetoric, but because in this case they're closer to being balanced (for once).

Also, Zimmerman has a criminal record too. And it's a lot worse than smoking weed.

[Phantom Hoover]

oh look, guess who nakura decided to write a wall of text in defence of

[Luis Dias]

No I won't be dragged into a gun conversation with Nakura. NO NO NO

[Apollo]

oh look, guess who nakura decided to write a wall of text in defence of

He said he has no opinion about Zimmerman's guilt or innocence. It would seem more like an attack on liberals than a defense of him.

[Phantom Hoover]

I think you have some pretty hefty spin in your description of what happened.

Kind of what happens when get your 'news' from MMO-Champion and GameFAQs.

sorry are you actually trying to imply that anyone who disagrees with you is getting their information from game forums?

have fun growing up, hopefully you simply have to live with the lingering embarassment of... this instead of turning into andrew schlafly

[BloodEagle]

[...] there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card. [...] the liberal media came out swinging [...] There was a massive uproar by many liberals [...]  I think the liberal media [...] They turned this into a political issue to help Obama [...]  and promote the idea that "gun owners are evil." [...] the demands of the liberal media [...] We simply cannot allow the liberal media [...] deliberately lying to promote their agenda and win an election [...] They polarized the issue so greatly, that nearly all white people (except liberals) [...] nearly all black people thought that Zimmerman was guilty [...] Nobody cared about the truth or seeing that justice is actually carried out [...] Did the liberal media take things too far?

Your bias is showing.

It's simply what happened. One would be hard-pressed to prove that the liberal media didn't use this incident for political and sensationalist gain.

I think you're missing my point, a bit.

[Lorric]

I just hope the correct decision was made in the courtroom.

This thread looks dangerous to me, so...

 

[NGTM-1R]

Today there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card.

You're on a pretty liberal forum. None of us give a ****. (Here's a hint, there's no topic on it.) Hell, nobody in the world appears to give a **** outside of the media. Nobody talks about it.

Hell, just talking about riots in this context proves you have no memory or decency. Do you remember Rodney King? That was rioting.

[Turambar]

Lol, I didn't think people still believed that we had a "Liberal Media"  We have a Corporate Media and that's it.

[Apollo]

Lol, I didn't think people still believed that we had a "Liberal Media"  We have a Corporate Media and that's it.

It's also a Government Media that is biased towards one of the two governing political parties.

Today there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card.

You're on a pretty liberal forum. None of us give a ****. (Here's a hint, there's no topic on it.) Hell, nobody in the world appears to give a **** outside of the media. Nobody talks about it.

Plenty of people talk about it.

Hell, just talking about riots in this context proves you have no memory or decency. Do you remember Rodney King? That was rioting.

I think it was like one city that had actual riots and a few others just had some minor civil unrest. He's blowing stuff out of proportion.

On the other hand, it's still correct to call the events in that particular city (Oakland, California) riots. Nonfatal ones, but still riots. It is not bad or insensitive to do that.

I feel like my position sits in between that of everybody here. I mean, I keep partially agreeing with people from both sides of arguments.

[NGTM-1R]

Plenty of people talk about it.

Because it's on the media, therefore people must care, right? You're bad at this.

[Luis Dias]

Well if people didn't care the media wouldn't show it so often? IDK, just thinking about ratings...

[bobbtmann]

The Zimmerman incident make me wonder about fairness in the United States, especially with Marissa Alexander being sentenced to 20 years around the same time.

[Apollo]

Plenty of people talk about it.

Because it's on the media, therefore people must care, right? You're bad at this.

Because opposing viewpoints are EVEIL!!!

You seem to have missed the tremendous amount of anger this case has generated in so many people. If hardly anybody cares, then why were there a whole bunch of protests across the country and actual riots in Oakland? Why did Zimmerman's supporters donate over $400,000 to his defense fund? The media runs stories that will generate a lot of attention, and, unfortunately, inciting racial tensions is a very easy way to do that.

Let me reply to this again:

Today there are liberals rioting across the country, trying to play the race card.

You're on a pretty liberal forum. None of us give a ****. (Here's a hint, there's no topic on it.) Hell, nobody in the world appears to give a **** outside of the media. Nobody talks about it.

It seems like a lot of us give a ****, including you, who bothered to post in this thread. Did you just latch onto that one sentence and ignore the part of his post that was valid?