Has media bias convicted a man before all the facts could come out?

AW-

I think the version of events you are posting is as subject to bias as the initial account of the events broadcast by the media.

When it is all said and done, I fear everyone is going to have a different view of what happened, including anyone who may have seen the events "firsthand".

AW wrote: If they don't convict Zimmerman could this turn into another LA riot?

Yes, if the jury doesn't convict Zimmerman, I fear there will be some civil unrest.

I would like to think that Zimmerman was not arrested because the police did not believe they could get a conviction under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.

However, like many in this country, I tend to believe that Zimmerman would have been arrested on the spot if we changed only two variables: Make Zimmerman black, and the boy white.

While I'd love the magic powers to erase such racial biases, I'd also like to live in a culture in which deadly force is used less often, regardless of the race of the people involved in such incidences.

I fear laws such as Stand Your Ground encourage us to rely on deadly force more than intellect.

While we wait to see if the court system can give us a sense of justice, Chuck Schumer seems to be headed in an intelligent, level-headed direction.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stand-ground-laws-reviewed-sen-chuck-schumer-article-1.1050601

If Zimmerman doesn't end up in jail for this there is no justice in America. Hell, the cops that shot Sean Bell were all fired or made to resign. There wasn't a whole lot of difference there when you think about it and it was four on one. It wasn't Zimmerman's job to confront anyone. Just WATCH and report to the police. Who, by the way, he called 59 times over the last few years to report "suspicious" activity. It wasn't reported whether those calls led to any arrests.

In my view, riots rarely move a cause forward.

Then you have a limited worldview.

Yeah, it seems yours is tautological.

If it works, it's a civil disturbance. If it doesn't it's an ineffective riot.

With the O.J. verdict it was the cops who screwed up. I read Dershowitz's book that he wrote about the trial and based on what went down there was no way an acquittal wasn't warranted. Especially when Furman perjured himself. This is a whole other scenario. And what's really bad is that Florida's law gives the killer the benefit of the doubt because he's the only one left alive to testify as there were no real witnesses. I wonder what the end result would b be if Trayvon killed Zimmerman either with or without the gun. Do you think he'd be let off as well? No one seems to be discussing that.

Like I said, Zimmerman called the cops numerous times over the years. Was it a case of the "boy who cried wolf" or was he really providing a service. Without knowing what his results were it's hard to say how cops would have treated him in this instance. He may have been portrayed as a hero or maybe just a pain in the ass who finally "got his."

Oh rightwing nut jobs, do you ever do due diligence?

That photo of "Trayvon" from AW's original post is not only NOT Trayvon, it comes from Stormfront, the white supremacist message boards we all know and love.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/03/trayvon_martin_no_thats_not_hi.php

If you haven't come across the photo to the right, you probably will in the next day or two. Gross racists and assorted other morons are claiming that it's from the Facebook page of Trayvon Martin, the teenager shot and killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Sanford, and that somehow that has bearing on the case.

There is no evidence that the photo is of Trayvon Martin, although there is plenty of evidence against it.

PragmaticGuy said:

Like I said, Zimmerman called the cops numerous times over the years. Was it a case of the "boy who cried wolf" or was he really providing a service. Without knowing what his results were it's hard to say how cops would have treated him in this instance. He may have been portrayed as a hero or maybe just a pain in the ass who finally "got his."

Correct, given the situation and the media spin, we will never know whether we should think of Zimmerman as the "neighborhood do gooder", or a "neighborhood wack job".

We all know both exist, but I find it fun to wonder how would I would have perceived Zimmerman had I known him before this incident.

Trayvon was kicked out of school in October for graffiti after he was allegedly caught with a 'burglary tool' and a bag full of women's jewelry

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120504/Trayvon-Martin-case-He-suspended-times-caught-burglary-tool.html#ixzz1qLsCAgGXYes, the articles just keep coming.

This is the beginning of a field day for media, and those who have agendas of just about every variety.

Unless some other big news event happens to take the spotlight, the police with gets lots of overtime, and the local diners and motels in FL will fill up with reporters.

AW wrote: This could be another duke lacrosse case.

It could. Like this case, that case was a complete mess of politics and culture that captured the world's fascination and rage.

I know it isn't possible because everyone is human, but I hope the prosecutor will focus exclusively on the evidence available, and not be swayed by things like public opinion and the possibility of a huge career boost.

Likewise, I would hate for the police and prosecution to be influenced (in either direction) by the perceived threat of a riot.

Riots unfortunately happen on occasion, and the threat of them should not threaten the (already limited) integrity of our justice system. Hopefully any riots that happen will not cause too much death or damage to property; it would be great if they matured into social movements that make real change.

It is times like these when people make decisions about whether our justice system is largely based on something that resembles "objective" (?) evidence, or largely based on public opinion (fear of consequences).

Such decisions that then taint our view of the system for the rest of our lives.

Predictably, Black conservatives (C.L. Bryant, Herman Cain, Deneen Borelli) are using the event as an occasion to voice animosity toward their longtime enemies, Black liberals (Al Sharpon, Jesse Jackson).

Here's a sample of the the spin:

dailycaller wrote: Former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant is accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” the Trayvon Martin tragedy to “racially divide this country.”

“His family should be outraged at the fact that they’re using this child as the bait to inflame racial passions,” Rev. C.L. Bryant said in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller.

The conservative black pastor who was once the chapter president of the Garland, Texas NAACP called Jackson and Sharpton “race hustlers” and said they are “acting as though they are buzzards circling the carcass of this young boy.”

Jackson, for example, recently said Martin’s death shows how “blacks are under attack” and “targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business.” (SEE ALSO: Jesse Jackson says Trayvon Martin ‘murdered and martyred’)

George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, killed Martin, a 17-year-old black man who was unarmed at the time of his death, last month. Zimmerman has claimed to have shot Martin in self-defense and has not been charged with a crime.

But Bryant, who explores the topic of black-on-black crime in his new film “Runaway Slave,” said people like Jackson and Sharpton are being misleading to suggest there is an epidemic of “white men killing black young men.”

“The epidemic is truly black on black crime,” Bryant said. “The greatest danger to the lives of young black men are young black men.”

Bryant said he wishes civil rights leaders were protesting those problems.

“Why not be angry about the wholesale murder that goes on in the streets of Newark and Chicago?” he asked. “Why isn’t somebody angry about that six-year-old girl who was killed on her steps last weekend in a cross fire when two gang members in Chicago start shooting at each other? Why is there no outrage about that?”

Bryant said he worries that “people like Sharpton and those on the left” will make Martin’s death a campaign issue in the presidential race.

He speculated that they will “turn this evolving tragedy of this young man into fodder to say… if you don’t re-elect Obama then you will have unbridled events or circumstances like this happening in the streets to young men wearing hoodies.” (RELATED: Herman Cain criticizes ‘swirling rhetoric’ after Martin shooting)

He also criticized President Obama for his “nebulous statement” responding to Martin’s death that “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

“What does that mean?” Bryant asked. “What was the purpose in that?”

source: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/26/former-naacp-leader-accuses-sharpton-and-jackson-of-exploiting-trayvon-martin/#ixzz1qNetSq7M

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/26/former-naacp-leader-accuses-sharpton-and-jackson-of-exploiting-trayvon-martin/

...this is turning into quite a circus.

Obama and many of the presidential candidates have already weighted in. Lots of famous people are weighing in, and I wish I could predict who will weigh in on the issue next.

Has anyone heard from the NRA or the gun manufacturer?

Based on what they had heard from the media about Trevon's death, these teenage students held a rally and then decided to use his death as an excuse to rob a local Walgreens.

While I certainly understand wanting to live in a world where teenagers are not killed, many people do not seem to believe that such actions may make such a world further away, not closer.

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This story is evolving pretty fast, but I imagine it will calm down soon, and the various sides will settle into predictable narratives. Once this happens, those who express a view on the case will be assumed to share the larger political views of the media sources that they happen to agree with.

i.e. Those who believe that Zimmerman should be arrested might be assumed to be "liberal" and "against racism".

i.e. Those who believe that Zimmerman has not violated the law as it is presently written and therefore should not be arrested, might be assumed to be "conservative" and "racist".

....such assumptions are often silly.

AW - remember when you posted a false photo of Trayvon but it was really from a racist white supremacist web site?

That was hilarious.

Maybe you should be more careful in the future.