Trayvon Doesn’t Matter to the Left

FrontPage Magazine ^ | March 28, 2012 | Ben Shapiro

[SJackson]

Posted By On @ 12:32 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments

The death of Trayvon Martin was surely a tragedy, no matter what the facts are. Nonetheless, the media coverage of and political response to the killing have been absolutely disgraceful – exploitative, cynical, and counterproductive in the extreme.

Let’s begin with the media. The initial narrative they seized upon was one of George Zimmerman, a “white Hispanic,” targeting Martin for wearing a hoodie, tracking him down, beginning a fight with him, and murdering him. Afterward, the narrative goes, Martin was not arrested by the police because either the police were racist, or they completely misconstrued Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

To make this narrative work, the media had to paint Martin as a saint, and George Zimmerman as a devil. If they had cared about accuracy, they would have realized that the character of both the supposed victim and perpetrator was irrelevant – only the events of the night in question matter. Instead, they decided to tell the American public that Zimmerman was a racist pig, while Martin was a clean-cut young man with no history of suspicious behavior.

So they released a picture of Martin that was several years old and emphasizing his youthful innocence rather than a more recent picture showing his gold chains and tatts. They suggested that Martin was a model student, rather than a troubled young man suspended from school for carrying an empty marijuana baggy.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman was portrayed as a latent member of the Ku Klux Klan, even though he was a mentor to two teenage kids of a black woman in Florida, and helped in a fundraiser for a black church.

So what’s the real story? According to police, Martin attacked Zimmerman by punching him and knocking him down; he then began slamming his head into the sidewalk. Witnesses corroborated this account. Zimmerman then shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman was found with bloody lacerations to the back of his head and a swollen lip, consistent with his story.

Did the media do anything good by pumping it as a racial narrative without clear evidence? Of course not. But they made hay, turning a local killing into a national issue.

And that, of course, opened the way for the politicians to make hay of their own. President Obama quickly chimed in, stating, “”When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together — federal, state and local — to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened … You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen.”

This is sheer and exploitative nonsense. Obama’s color has nothing to do with the story. Americans don’t have to do soul searching about this killing, because Americans weren’t involved in this killing – Martin and Zimmerman were. In fact, Obama’s comments helped taint the potential jury pool for Zimmerman, if he is indeed indicted and tried.

But Obama is hardly alone in inserting himself into this situation. As we’ve seen since the Martin shooting, liberals have moved into full court press, blaming everyone from Rush Limbaugh to the law itself for the killing. Nobody has isolated the case to the actual shooter, Zimmerman, or the alleged victim, Martin. Nobody has worried about what happens if and when the case is actually prosecuted. Nobody cares about any of that.

All they care about is making hay. That’s why serial race-baiters Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are down in Florida raising a hullaballoo, with Jackson going so far as to state, without basis, that Martin was shot in the back of the head. Media members are condemning Mitt Romney for not speaking up about the case – even when that’s precisely the proper response to a pending legal matter in which the facts are unclear. That’s why Occupy Wall Street thugs are using the Martin killing as an excuse to run around New York tearing up fences and climbing statues.

The Trayvon Martin case is murky. The facts are unclear. The motivations are uncertain. But one thing is crystal clear: nobody ought to be jumping to conclusions, speaking up without evidence, or manipulating for the sake of politics.

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URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/28/trayvon-doesnt-matter-to-the-left/

[green iguana]

Hmmm... Zimmerman's small, closed neighborhood had recently suffered from burglaries committed at night by black teens who weren't from the neighborhood.

Nope, don't see any reason to potentially be suspicious of the black teen who's not from our neighborhood walking around alone at night. Nope, none.

[bert]

-—The whole thing is quietly forgotten——

The incident is prelude to the unleashing of destructive mobs of looting and burning malcontents this summer.

The incident will be over whelmed by the memory of chaos and destruction. Insurance does not cover civil unrest.

[ForAmerica]

Trayvon is a pawn for the Social Commies!

[bert]

Supporting the criminal element is counterproductive to a safe America

[MrB]

Leftists are never really supportive of the issues that they claim to support -

it’s all about whether it advances their agenda or not.

They would switch over to supporting Zimmerman in an instant if taking that side would be more conducive to supporting the underlying agenda.

[agere_contra]

Stage 7. Zimmerman begins the first of many, many libel cases which will be settled out of court.

[soycd]

>No mater what, it’s a huge cluster-F of Zimmerman’s own making. It’s unclear if he deserves to be convicted of murder but, it’s very clear that he deserves the mental suffering he’s currently experiencing.

Go sell that to the DUmmys. Feces that that will not float here.

[Spok]

Trayvon’s life means no more to the left than the 100 who’ve been murdered in Chicago this year or the 900,000 who were hacked to death in Rwanda. The difference is that Trayvon’s death provides an excuse to churn the caldron of racial discontent that will be exploited by opportunists like Sharpton, Jackson, and the exploiter-in-chief, Obama.

[MasterGunner01]

“And really, what the hell was Zimmerman doing with a gun?”

If Mustangman had done due diligence, he'd have known that:
1. George Zimmerman had volunteered as part of his neighborhood watch and there's been a string of burglaries before this incident.
2. GZ had a CCW license issued by the state of FL,
3. GZ called in to the SPD on the non-911 phone line to report Trayvon in his neighborhood (that is, he did not live there) and dispatch told him not to follow.
4. GZ backed off and TM confronted and assaulted GZ on the way back to his car.
5. TM had GZ pinned on the ground yelling for help, and GZ — in fear of his life — shot TM once to end the fight.

To paraphrase John Wayne: “Life is hard, Trayvon, but it's harder when you're stupid.”

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“The death of Trayvon Martin was surely a tragedy...”

I don’t accept that as an axiom, yet.

If Martin attacked Zimmerman, punching him, bashing his head on the ground while screaming that Zimmerman was going to die (allegedly), Zimmerman was entirely justified, and Martin had what was coming to him.

Being shot to death while savagely assaulting an innocent person is not a tragedy in any way. In fact, it is just.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Here's the bottom line. Obama's re-election depends on women and mobilizing his base of Black voters. Sandra Fluke is being made a martyr is the "Republican War on Women". Fail.

Now, Obama's re-election is getting desperate, he has to fire up his Black base with a play right out of the Democrat Demoguoge Playbook: "Republicans are racist and want blacks dead."

The lamprey's following in the wake of the Shark are out there in full force scavenging the leavings: Sharpton, Jackson, New Black Panther Party, Congressional Black Causus and the rest of them.

[thulldud]

Zimmerman thought Martin was acting suspicious and called 911.

No, he called the non-emergency number of the SPD. It was the neighbors who called 911 after Z called for help.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I hear what you’re saying, but, I still don’t think we know all of the facts.

What we do know is that the police did an investigation, filed a report, etc. as per their normal procedures. And we know that they decided it was self-defense, and that’s why no charges were filed in this case.

I understand that a grand jury will review this case, and that a special prosecutor is also looking into it. I just want clear heads to prevail, let these people do their jobs, and see where the evidence leads.

It certainly is beyond the pale for Black Panther types to put a bounty on Zimmerman’s head. Among other things, there is no arrest warrant out there for a bounty hunter to work with.

I certainly prefer to see justice happen, if any legal actions happen, to happen in a courtroom, not in the streets with the Black Panthers.

[txhurl]

My sushi guy pointed out to me this about an hour ago:

TWO U.S. SOLDIERS ARRESTED FOR OFFERING ASSASSINATION SERVICES TO MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL

Federal authorities have broken up an alleged murder-for-hire plot involving U.S. soldiers based in Colorado, who allegedly thought they were offering an array of hit squad services to Mexican Zeta drug cartel members, and who were also involved in a broader national drug ring.

The Colorado Springs Gazette has the details on the chilling story:

“A former Fort Carson officer allegedly offered to steal weapons from the post and organize a murder-for-hire plot with another soldier as part of a nationwide drug-trafficking ring they tried to run, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday. 1st Lt. Kevin Corley, 29, who was discharged from the Army earlier this month, was arrested Saturday in Laredo, Texas, while finalizing details with undercover agents for the contract killing, according to a criminal complaint filed in a U.S. District Court in Texas. Corley later admitted to federal agents that he organized a four-person kill team to raid a ranch in Texas and steal 20 kilograms of cocaine, the complaint said.

Two of those alleged team members — including a sergeant at Fort Carson — were arrested Saturday in the sting, the complaint said. The final alleged member — Corley’s cousin, Jerome Corley — was shot to death while federal agents moved in to arrest the men.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/two-us-soldiers-arrested-for-offering-assassination-services-to-mexican-drug-cartel/

[txhurl]

If you don’t post this and ping the conspiracy list to it I’m not only reporting you to the mods but will NOT call in a pizza & wings delivery to you on my CC.

[null and void]

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you need only threaten to report me to the Admin if I don’t add you to the list...

[txhurl]

Pie is pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, black olive and the wings are teriyaki this time. Enjoy

[null and void]

I’m drooling.

[txhurl]

Pretty big story. I could see why a month-old tragedy would need to be conflated to keep this one from surfacing.

Of course, zero will claim this was part of gunrunner, just out to catch the bad guys.

[txhurl]

ping