The thing is, the media lies, and it does its best to inflame interest. This isn’t something new, but given the nature of communications in today’s world, the reality becomes more and more transparent, and I think that it is important for us all to remember that info-tainment feeds on stories that seek to inflame people’s passions. The media is not acting as unbiased reporters. They are seeking to get attention which translates to ratings, which translates to advertising revenue. But I don’t believe that they are solely driven by ratings, but they are also seeking to drive a certain narrative of “the way things are.”
Now, for my bias. I personally have great sympathy for Trayvon, because when everything is said and done, he is dead, and the man that shot him is walking free. Zimmerman has been painted as a sort of vigilante who carried a gun, and was a self appointed neighborhood watch leader (then again, he may have been a concerned citizen who really was doing his best to help his community, and had a strong relationship with the police).
In Florida, as so many of us now know, a young man by the name of Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a middle aged man named George Zimmerman. A number of facts surrounding the case have been released, and there is now public outrage that Mr. Zimmerman was not charged in the shooting death. An important part of this story is that Florida has a so-called “Stand your ground” law, which allows citizens the option of using deadly force in a situation where they feel threatened in order to defend themselves. The immediate investigation of the shooting allowed Mr. Zimmerman to leave without being arrested. That was the decision of the officers at the time of the incident. http://cnninsession.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/martinpolicreport.pdf
The case takes on greater national importance because of skin color. The dead young man is black, and the shooter has been identified as white (although I would have called him hispanic, as lame as that designation may be). It is further complicated since Mr. Zimmerman seems to have been acting as a self appointed neighborhood watch captain, and had called the police to report spotting the young man, calling him “suspicious” looking. When he called the police though, he was told not to confront the young man.
Things didn’t work out that way. There was a confrontation of some sort, and Zimmerman shot Trayvon, and Zimmerman was taken in by police, but not charged with any crime.
There remains in America a belief that there is pervasive racism against blacks. A President who is black has failed to dispel that belief. And to be honest, I do believe that there is plenty of prejudice in this world. It is sadly part of human nature, and I do believe that racism played a part in this tragedy. But there seems to be a deeper problem at work here. Now Zimmerman has yet to be charged with anything, but there is a lot of public pressure for an arrest to be made. That pressure may or may not last, but the fact is that there seems to be a flawed law at the root of this case. Given the evidence and the laws in play, I am not really sure whether an arrest should be made in the case. But more importantly, it is not my place to make that call. That is the place of the police, and the District Attorney. There appears to be a sort of mob mentality at work now, and there is a question of what is going to happen next. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, and enough of the facts will come out so most of us can be comfortable with knowing that while things aren’t perfect, and tragedies can happen, they won’t be exacerbated by our justice system, and a rush to justice, or by mob mentality. We already know that the media will exacerbate things. Hopefully people can try to avoid being pulled in by such stories, and invest in them before you get a chance to look at it in total context.
No comments:
Post a Comment