There’s no better way to prove your Serious Journalist bona fides, really:
If Zimmerman is telling the truth — as police evidently believe and as some witnesses reportedly confirm — this isn’t even a “stand your ground” case. It’s a straight-up case of self-defense, no matter how unwise or bigoted Zimmerman may have been in reporting Martin to police and leaving his vehicle to begin pursuing him.
If Zimmerman is lying — if he ignored the 911 dispatcher, chased Martin down and shot him in cold blood, as the Al Sharpton crowd seems to believe — it’s murder one.
Hahaha, the “Al Sharpton” crowd. The level of hate among my fellow pale folks for Sharpton (and I don’t mean sensible criticism of his past actions, I mean the disregard of any statement he might ever make just because of reasons) has never been clearly explained to me. He, like Jesse Jackson, just seems to get hauled out when it’s time to prove that one is A Real Grown-Up, like a dog whistle to the tote-bag set.
In any case, Zorn never really cites any member of whatever “the Al Sharpton crowd” seems to be saying that is so outrageous. And after denouncing a “rush to judgement” he goes on to ask readers to offer their “best guesses” of what really happened, because that’s so much more productive than the “cable TV hucksters” who have been making guesses of their own.
A.
how come the left doesn’t make rush/o’really/beckkk like the acorn/jesse jackson/jane fonda a bigger rallying dog whistle?
I really don’t understand why the Trayvon Martin case has become a left/right issue–is there nothing the right won’t defend these days? The amount of racists slithering out from under rocks about this case is truly disturbing.
I wonder sometimes if people understand the subtext of the “Al Sharpton” allusion.
If you take the word of a child victim and it turns out to be a lie you will be forever blamed. So never never never risk yourself by taking the part of a child victim. Always assume the victim is the real perp.
This is one of the many ways victim blaming is enforced in our society.
@ALM, FWIW department – from the comments I’ve seen here in the rural midwest, a lot of otherwise reasonable people are so hyped up on Obama trying to take away our guns / we need our guns to protect us – anything that is even remotely peripheral is an instant hot button.) It also didn’t hurt that the victime is a teenager (and we know that they are always the ones who get into trouble) and, even worse, is african american (inherrently a scary group that causes all the crime)