Topic: License to Go Plan Recreational Murders (Read 23372 times)

Thad · « **on:** March 21, 2012, 08:54:38 AM »

So, okay. If you're following the news even a little you've probably heard the Trayvon Martin story.

I know I have my biases. So I try not to rush to judgement. Maybe there's more to this story, maybe it's not what it seems.

But here's what we know, for a fact, and what is not being disputed:

A guy shot an unarmed 17-year-old, after being told by a 911 operator not to engage him, and was not arrested for it.

I really can't think of any set of extenuating circumstances that would make that okay. And yeah, it's pretty fucking hard to escape the conclusion that Martin's race had something to do with it.

And we talked about this awhile back, when the Stand Your Ground laws became trendy -- they invite precisely this sort of shit. They're an excuse to shoot somebody on completely spurious grounds because you feel "intimidated" -- and yeah, I happen to think "intimidated" is a code word.

Personal anecdote: I've got a cousin who's biracial. He's the sweetest, most unassuming kid you'll ever meet; I've known him all his life and I've never heard him say an unkind word or raise his voice. And he LOOKS unassuming; he's medium height, doesn't swagger, and looks skinny. (He's actually not; he's on the swim team and the boy is ripped. But you wouldn't know it from seeing him in a T-shirt and jeans.)

Anyhow, about three years back -- he'd have been 15 or so -- we took him to a concert, and on the train ride there he bumped into somebody. Because, you know, it's a train and you sometimes accidentally bump into people.

He immediately apologized but the guy got aggressive, like he wanted to start something. He was bigger, and looked a few years older than my cousin (probably late high school/early college).

And I can't for the life of me see any other reason why he would have reacted that way except that my cousin is black. (And, presumably, because he didn't realize the three people standing by him were his family and it was perhaps not advisable to pull the tough-guy act under those odds. But of course the reason he didn't realize we were his family is, again, because of his race.)

So yeah, speaking of my biases, that's where my mind goes in situations like this. My cousin -- who's about as far from a Scary Black Man stereotype as you can get -- has to deal with this shit on a regular basis, has to deal with people who get twitchy just because of the color of his skin.

And maybe that's not what happened here. Maybe this guy shot an unarmed 17-year-old for some reason OTHER than his race. Maybe race played no part, conscious or otherwise, in his motivation.

But that's frankly hard to believe. And it's even harder to believe that if it had been a black man shooting an unarmed white 17-year-old that the police would have just sent him home.

Doom · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2012, 10:29:48 AM »

Considering all the accounts of police pressing witnesses to change their testimony and the infamous 911 tapes where Zimmerman follows the kid despite police correcting him not to and then Trayvon begging for help/his life before a second shot is fired, it's really hard to look at this case objectively.

Chalk in the fact that Zimmerman is a certified busy-body loony(he called the police dozens of times, if not more) and it really does seem like HE AMERICAN, HE OWN GUN, HE USE GUN retardation.

I also hear Zimmerman is Hispanic just to really make things a bit more confusing, as white people like to pretend that race vs race bias doesn't exist and only white folks need to stop giving other folks a hard time.

Only thing that bugs me is the thought that Zim wouldn't go to trial. The law he's being protected under is disgusting... or license to go plan recreational murders? Like, god damn, Florida!

Classic · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2012, 10:42:52 AM »

Doom, aren't you a white as fuck spic too?

Quote from: Doom on March 21, 2012, 10:29:48 AM

Zimmerman is Hispanic...white people like to pretend that race vs race bias doesn't exist and only white folks need to stop giving other folks a hard time.

Seriously, all I know about latin america is how to call people shit eaters and that it's got some seriously bonkers racial discrimination.
On the one hand, I mean, everyone has theoretically equal rights under the law.
On the other hand it sounds like "race mixing" or "darkening the blood" is viewed with some serious disdain throughout.

Heck, my moms told me that her father dragged her out of a dance because she was dancing with a black dude once.
Jeez.

EDIT:
Clarified what I meant and added a racial slur just so no one thought I was being uncharacteristically classy.

Mongrel · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2012, 10:53:04 AM »

It's not often you can legitimately use the phrase Going to Hell in a Handbasket, but Florida and other trigger-happy Stand-Your-Ground states are damn well working on it.

Ziiro · « **Reply #4 on:** March 21, 2012, 11:03:00 AM »

Tip, Mongrel: When you want to use a youtube in a link, use the short link. Unless you wanted that to be the surprise in which case I just hate tinyurl.

I am going to take my

hat off now

Mongrel · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2012, 11:07:12 AM »

I actually realized I'd C&P'd the wrong one and updated it - probably between when you looked at it and when you hit post. :P

Joxam · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2012, 11:08:07 AM »

When I saw this page I didn't know if I should cry or want to take someone's head off in rage. Its a page dedicated to all the Fox News Website's Community's reaction to the story.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2012, 03:20:52 PM »

Seriously, dude, you gotta stop reading internet comments. That shit is just depressing.

Unless it's Thad taking apart morons in ComicsAlliance comments, then it's entertainment.

Thad · « **Reply #8 on:** March 21, 2012, 08:45:57 PM »

But what about when those comments are from a bunch of people who came from the Fox News site?

"What an uninformative article. It doesn't even tell me who Jack Kirby IS!"

Bal · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2012, 01:44:36 AM »

A² · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2012, 03:01:09 AM »

He's the pink guy from Nintendo games, right? He writes comics now?

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2012, 10:32:05 AM »

I can't remember where, or who, but someone was talking about people trying to make excuses for murder, and they said something to the effect of "this is only going to get worse". Sadly, they were right:

Geraldo Rivera Blames Trayvon Martin (Or His Parents) For Wearing Hoodie

Esperath · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2012, 10:44:19 AM »

Ah, the good ol' "don't dress slutty unless you want to get raped" defense.

NexAdruin · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2012, 10:48:23 AM »

Did that guy just say that it's normal and natural to feel an immediate reaction of needing to defend oneself because someone else is wearing a jacket

Doom · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2012, 02:00:15 PM »

Yeah uh there's a whole lot of really terrible stuff out there along the lines of "Trayvon Martin caused his own death" FOR THE CRIME OF BEING BLACK.

My favorite is The Blaze(founded by Glenn Beck) implying that Trayvon was a problem child because he was absent from school once. Unable to find facts to aid their article, they list the full spectrum of criminal activities that can get you suspended from the school, completely unrelated to anything Trayvon actually did, just so they can put the words arson, kidnapping and murder in the same article as him.

Hol-eeeeeeee

Fuck.

Mongrel · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2012, 03:53:12 PM »

Quote from: Esperath on March 23, 2012, 10:44:19 AM

Ah, the good ol' "don't dress slutty unless you want to get raped" defense.

I guess now we forever have the male version to throw back at people.

That's not exactly worth a boy's life though ( ._.)

Thad · « **Reply #16 on:** March 23, 2012, 04:54:37 PM »

Quote from: Teddy Bearmont on March 23, 2012, 10:32:05 AM

I can't remember where, or who, but someone was talking about people trying to make excuses for murder, and they said something to the effect of "this is only going to get worse". Sadly, they were right:

Geraldo Rivera Blames Trayvon Martin (Or His Parents) For Wearing Hoodie

...It is surprisingly difficult to find an embeddable clip of Earl shouting, from the back of the BRAT, "Hey Gerardo! Fuck you!"

I am sorely tempted to sign up for a YouTube account, download the episode, and rip and upload those two seconds just for this occasion.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #17 on:** March 23, 2012, 04:56:17 PM »

Brentai · « **Reply #18 on:** March 23, 2012, 05:47:29 PM »

He's got a point though. What kind of normal person would want to wear a hooded sweatshirt in a notoriously wet and rainy climate in February?

This was my original snarky reaction, but then I listened to the whole clip where Geraldo actually addresses that:

Quote

Unless it's raining out, or you're at a track meet, leave the hoodie home.

It's fucking Miami, you douchebag. It rains 135 days out of the year and averages 61.9 inches. If you wait for it to rain before dressing appropriately, you're going to end up fucking miserable; if you do it in February, you're going to end up seriously sick.

You're too stupid to keep talking, get off my TV.

Look, I get where the guy is coming from. He's not racist, at least not the way you think; he's got his own clutch of conspicuously not-white kids and is exasperated by the fact that they refuse to believe that there are white people out there who will shoot them for acting conspicuously non-white. But equating a piece of functional attire to a shit-eating hick on the scale of murders is completely the wrong tack to take.

What I'm saying is if you really think it's appropriate to demand that non-white people be banned from wearing comfortable clothes just so white people will stop shooting them, then slap yourself in the back of the head for every armed neo-Nazi you just encouraged.

Shinra · « **Reply #19 on:** March 24, 2012, 07:29:19 AM »

I think Geraldo is suffering from the same problem his parents suffered from when his generation was running around with long hair and listening to the Beatles. He is too old and out of touch to understand youth culture and like most people he does not posess the necessary cynicism to believe that this could happen for no reason in America - so he blames what he does not understand, Hoodies, for the death of a child rather than a cold-blooded racist murderer who shot dead a child for committing the high crime of being black after dark.

(edit: I wonder how long it would take to find a pundit from the Lennon era attribute Lennon's death to having long hair?)

For the record: as someone who is vehemently against gun control, this case is everything that is wrong with stand your ground and then some. Someone gave a clearly unstable racist shitheel a gun and a neighborhood watch post. If we're not going to monitor who we are handing these fucking guns out to, we shouldn't have them at all.

Quote from: Doom

Considering all the accounts of police pressing witnesses to change their testimony and the infamous 911 tapes where Zimmerman follows the kid despite police correcting him not to and then Trayvon begging for help/his life before a second shot is fired, it's really hard to look at this case objectively

Also, someone cleaned up the audio of the 911 tapes and zimmerman is heard saying 'fucking coons' under his breath. This is pretty much the most cut and dry hate crime in years and the fact that this guy isn't rotting in prison right now is a serious miscarriage of justice.

If I was George Zimmerman, I would be begging the police to let me stay in a cell. He's probably waking up every morning to slashed tires and busted windows. When Samuel L Jackson is referencing you by name in a PSA you've officially become overexposed.

News:

Author Topic: License to Go Plan Recreational Murders (Read 23372 times)