"If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon."

[nathanm]

You are grossly mistaken if you think SYG emboldens people or leads to a wild west mentality.

I wish that were the case, but it seems that is not actually the case. No rigorous studies have been performed, so we're both just talking out our asses if we try to make a statement of fact like that.

[Red Arrow]

I wish that were the case, but it seems that is not actually the case. No rigorous studies have been performed, so we're both just talking out our asses if we try to make a statement of fact like that.

See the last part of your first sentence and compare it to the last part of your second sentence.

[nathanm]

See the last part of your first sentence and compare it to the last part of your second sentence.

That's why I was making a statement of opinion based on news reports of questionable cases.

[TeeDub]

[Teatownclown]

Well this should put everything in perspective.  Apparently Zimmerman was working with the police in a conspiracy to steal Trayvon's organs.

Listen up Gassie. I always go to the youtube page to read the comments which give me a frame of reference.

Here's a sample from YOUR Youtube link:

Listen to this dumb ****** ook his coonspiracy theory! Isn't this the stupid spook that was "Grady" on Sanford and Son? Hey bootlips! The kid attacked Zimmerman and got what he deserved! HAHAHAHAHA! Another dead ghetto gutterrat thug POS!

Why don't you post the link that led you to this Dick Gregory (a great American) Youtube?

Man up.

[Teatownclown]

Law enforcement gone crazy....

[Teatownclown]

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46843623#46843623

Please watch this.....

[erfalf]

Heard this over the weekend. Just a sad state of affairs all around. Nobody really to blame but those that create fear.

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life," Jesse Jackson once told an audience, "than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

[TeeDub]

Not to go too far off topic, but when did schools stop teaching grammar?

[AquaMan]

I heard the part of the tape this morning of the young man moaning and pleading for help, then the sound of a gunshot. It casts a lot of doubt that Zimmerman's account of shooting to save his own life is accurate. This is a murder case. I think some of you should go back and review your posts while listening to this kid cry for help.

[Gaspar]

What makes the tragedy even worse now is that it looks as if forces with interests on both sides of the argument have attempted to sensationalize the incident.

The whole 911 call has been made public now and we find that NBC (who originally released the call) edited it to inflame racial tensions, and make the story more sensational.

NBC's original aired call: Zimmerman: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."

The actual call:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.
Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.

Either way, by continuing to follow Martin and ignoring the advice of the dispatcher, what Zimmerman did was wrong and obviously led to the tragedy as we currently understand it, but for the media to take a 911 call that contained the typical dialogue that a dispatcher would implement (macro details to micro details about the description of the subject) and to turn it into what sounds like a case of racial profiling is outrageous!  In the actual call, Zimmerman never addresses race, only when asked does he make the comment that "He looks black" and the way he says it is with the inflection of a question, as if he's not sure.

NBC is saying that they don't know how this happened and are "launching an investigation."

http://www.nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/04/nbc-investigating-segment-on-zimmerman-call.html?imw=Y

There will be no justice for Trayvon as long as people want to use him as a pawn.  There will be no conviction of Zimmerman as long as idiots in the media do things like this.  If Zimmerman is guilty this makes it look like the media was out to frame him in the court of public opinion.  His attorneys are going to have a hay-day with this!

[AquaMan]

Or, like the conservative Daily Caller, who printed 152 tweets that the dead teenager had sent in an effort to make him look thuggish, then spent an inordinate amount of time and money to use the videos to insist that Zimmerman had a wound on his head.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/trayvon-martin-case-exposes-worst-media-210020839.html Of course Yahoo is culpable with their headlines that rarely match their stories. These things make you wonder...what else have we been fed the last few decades.

[Gaspar]

Or, like the conservative Daily Caller, who printed 152 tweets that the dead teenager had sent in an effort to make him look thuggish, then spent an inordinate amount of time and money to use the videos to insist that Zimmerman had a wound on his head.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/trayvon-martin-case-exposes-worst-media-210020839.html Of course Yahoo is culpable with their headlines that rarely match their stories. These things make you wonder...what else have we been fed the last few decades.

Exactly.  As I said, forces on both sides. . .

[Hoss]

Exactly.  As I said, forces on both sides. . .

But of course you only cite one side...not surprising.

[Gaspar]

This is why it is so important not to rush to judgement on things like this.  We are but a bunch of "dolts" on an inter-webs forum, and you see how easy some of us leap into the mob.  The same is happening with millions of people who glue themselves to the tube, many incapable of reasonable discussion or objective analysis.

We've seen cases where murders go free because they become sensationalized, tried or acquitted in the court of public opinion, or the media becomes so discriminatory against them to produce a block-buster story that they make it impossible to prosecute them effectively.

We have one side showing old photos of the victim as a child and the other showing current shots of him coated in tattoos and gold teeth.  One side shows old photos of Zimmerman from 7 years ago in a mug-shot and the other shows recent images of him in a suit and tie. Depending on your source of news you get a completely different visual, and accounting of events.  All of them are flawed!

Until an impartial jury is able to evaluate all of the evidence, no one is going to get the truth.

But of course you only cite one side...not surprising.

. . .and that's not true Hoss.  I have urged caution in judgement since the beginning of this thread.  I understand that you may have your mind made up, and I too may have my opinion, and we may actually share the exact same conclusions, but I don't think it is wise or constructive to publicly accuse someone of murder, especially since the evidence we have is so obviously tainted.