commentaryfromthecouch

Social media and murder in the Trayvon Martin case March 28, 2012

Conversations From the Couch – 03/27/2012

I’m sure that all of you have seen the news reports about the shooting in Florida involving the neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, and a black teen, Trayvon Martin. I have heard so many different versions of the story and so much different information about it that I am not even sure what I believe anymore. What is known for sure, and it’s possibly the ONLY thing we know for sure, is that Martin was on his way home from 7-11 with a packet of Skittles and a can of tea when he was seen by Zimmerman who was working as a neighborhood patrol captain. At some point Zimmerman saw Martin walking back to his house and began to follow him while calling 911; the operator told him that he did not need to follow Martin as police were being dispatched to check him out. For some reason he not only followed Martin, but he also got out of the car and confronted him. At this point the story gets pretty fuzzy; Zimmerman says that Martin attacked him and was wrestling him for his gun so when he got the chance to do so he pulled the gun and fired, which killed Martin.
I was keeping up with this story when it came out and I still do to some extent, but to be very honest with you, I am very tired of it already. This case seems to have gotten bigger than the Casey Anthony case and it’s gotten there in a hurry. Trayvon’s parents seem to be everywhere these days trying to get Zimmerman arrested and tried, never mind whether or not a crime has actually been committed, they have testified in front of a Congressional committee that is looking into racial profiling, hate crimes, and “Stand Your Ground” laws, although I am not sure why unless it’s being used for publicity by the members of the committee and the parents. They claim they are looking for justice for their son, but I’m not sure I can buy into that as it is coming across as a search for vengeance. They are trying to sell their son as an angel, but I have raised teenagers and have yet to meet one who could honestly be called an angel, to be said to be without fault. I can actually because I think if something happened to one of my kids I would be out there selling them the same way. I also think that I would not be on social media, out at a bunch of rallies, and appearing before Congress calling for justice when no one has determined that a crime has even been committed. Of course I would not be applying to trademark my son’s name and the slogans that are being used at the rallies as Trayvon’s mother has done. She says it is so his name and death are not forgotten or used for profit by someone else, but it just looks bad.
I am not trying to defend George Zimmerman in any way, but right now he is being tried in the press, social media, in the rallies, and in public opinion which is just wrong. This is NOT the way that justice in this country is supposed to work, but we’ve seen it time and again, most recently in the Casey Anthony case. People were outraged that she “got away” with murder when what had really happened was that the prosecutor did not prove the case. Now we have another instance where people will scream that someone “got away” with murder, but with the FL “Stand Your Ground” law it really looks like Zimmerman broke no laws if he was actually defending himself. Since there was no one else there besides Zimmerman and Martin, and Martin is dead, we may never know what really happened, especially since the police didn’t do any crime scene work so they have no way of showing anything of any consequence.
I sincerely hope some good comes from this case. Maybe we can learn to leave things like this alone and let the law do it’s work. Social media and the press can do good work, but they can’t do it at the expense of the truth whatever the truth may actually be.