One Dumbass Nation of Sheep
If for the past couple months you've been living under a rock and haven't heard anything about the Trayvon Martin shooting, then for the sake of your sanity, please stop reading this now and go back to an undoubtedly blessed life.
However, if you're like most Americans, you've been following this story whether you want to or not. And, regardless of how you feel about the actual incident that started all this, if you're not to the point of wanting to burn down every news media outlet in America by now, then I pray for you soul.
I've been trying so hard to ignore the media circus around this; to believe that the country wouldn't fall victim to obvious manipulation by the media in its attempt to garner more power and profit. But alas, as a nation, we've proved to be more willing to follow where they lead us.
Personally, I think at best, Zimmerman is an asshole that had no reason to approach Martin or even spend time worrying about him. And at worst, there may be a case for manslaughter (though I believe in the case of the latter, it should be a matter more left to the legal system than the media).
However, after more than a month of local police saying there was no sufficient evidence of any wrong doing Zimmerman's part, and consequently a month of many people across the nation crying foul, local police have caved and arrested Zimmerman for 2nd degree murder.
Where, in any news report, has there been enough evidence to support a charge of 2nd degree murder!? There's been multiple witnesses to corroborate Zimmerman's story (of self-defense) to at least some degree. And while I think there is enough evidence to press some charges against Zimmerman (i.e. the manslaughter mentioned above), 2nd degree murder is a charge that implies Zimmerman sneaked up on Martin and shot him before he even knew he was there. And that's beyond bullshit!
Even if the charges against Zimmerman are lessened or even dropped, that guy's life is screwed forever. As far as much of America is concerned, the guy is a cold-blooded murderer regardless of how much of the story they don't know. Chances are, if found not guilty, he'll spend the rest of his life keeping as low a profile as possible. Then again, I'm not sure he's got much of a fair shake of being found not guilty.
But forgetting for a moment that one guy likely panicked and used more force than needed and the fact that the death of a 17 year old is tragic. (Whom, even if wasn't the greatest kid, was still just a kid and doesn't seem to be any worse than a lot of kids I knew in high school, many who went on to be just fine as adults). The thing that really kills me about this is the media shows once again it's ability to control so many people with just one story. Even better this time around is that many media outlets called themselves out for sensationalizing the story as though it absolved them of any wrong doing, and then they went right back to the sensationalizing.
We all have the ability to rationalize and think for ourselves; to dig deeper for facts when it comes to incidents such as this, and to come to our won conclusions. But instead of taking the time needed to learn for ourselves or even so much as think for ourselves, we let ourselves be spoon fed whatever the TV (or radio or internet) wants to give us. We have celebrities to tell us what to wear, eat, drink, and who to vote for. We have politicians to tell us what's best for ourselves. And we have a media that's got manipulation of the masses down to a science. It's almost as though millions of years of evolution to develop independent thought was maybe nature's mistake...
Finally, I'll admit that I'm not the most patriotic person I know. I'm not even in the top ten. But whenever stories like this come up, and the nation divides upon lines of race, religion, etc., I go from being a guy willing to die for at least the ideals presented by our fore fathers (though not so much the inadequate execution of them), to a guy damn near ashamed to call himself an American.
However, if you're like most Americans, you've been following this story whether you want to or not. And, regardless of how you feel about the actual incident that started all this, if you're not to the point of wanting to burn down every news media outlet in America by now, then I pray for you soul.
I've been trying so hard to ignore the media circus around this; to believe that the country wouldn't fall victim to obvious manipulation by the media in its attempt to garner more power and profit. But alas, as a nation, we've proved to be more willing to follow where they lead us.
Personally, I think at best, Zimmerman is an asshole that had no reason to approach Martin or even spend time worrying about him. And at worst, there may be a case for manslaughter (though I believe in the case of the latter, it should be a matter more left to the legal system than the media).
However, after more than a month of local police saying there was no sufficient evidence of any wrong doing Zimmerman's part, and consequently a month of many people across the nation crying foul, local police have caved and arrested Zimmerman for 2nd degree murder.
Where, in any news report, has there been enough evidence to support a charge of 2nd degree murder!? There's been multiple witnesses to corroborate Zimmerman's story (of self-defense) to at least some degree. And while I think there is enough evidence to press some charges against Zimmerman (i.e. the manslaughter mentioned above), 2nd degree murder is a charge that implies Zimmerman sneaked up on Martin and shot him before he even knew he was there. And that's beyond bullshit!
Even if the charges against Zimmerman are lessened or even dropped, that guy's life is screwed forever. As far as much of America is concerned, the guy is a cold-blooded murderer regardless of how much of the story they don't know. Chances are, if found not guilty, he'll spend the rest of his life keeping as low a profile as possible. Then again, I'm not sure he's got much of a fair shake of being found not guilty.
But forgetting for a moment that one guy likely panicked and used more force than needed and the fact that the death of a 17 year old is tragic. (Whom, even if wasn't the greatest kid, was still just a kid and doesn't seem to be any worse than a lot of kids I knew in high school, many who went on to be just fine as adults). The thing that really kills me about this is the media shows once again it's ability to control so many people with just one story. Even better this time around is that many media outlets called themselves out for sensationalizing the story as though it absolved them of any wrong doing, and then they went right back to the sensationalizing.
We all have the ability to rationalize and think for ourselves; to dig deeper for facts when it comes to incidents such as this, and to come to our won conclusions. But instead of taking the time needed to learn for ourselves or even so much as think for ourselves, we let ourselves be spoon fed whatever the TV (or radio or internet) wants to give us. We have celebrities to tell us what to wear, eat, drink, and who to vote for. We have politicians to tell us what's best for ourselves. And we have a media that's got manipulation of the masses down to a science. It's almost as though millions of years of evolution to develop independent thought was maybe nature's mistake...
Finally, I'll admit that I'm not the most patriotic person I know. I'm not even in the top ten. But whenever stories like this come up, and the nation divides upon lines of race, religion, etc., I go from being a guy willing to die for at least the ideals presented by our fore fathers (though not so much the inadequate execution of them), to a guy damn near ashamed to call himself an American.
posted by Paul | 12:59 AM
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