Wednesday, March 28, 2012

To Hell In A Handbasket

I should probably stay away from this subject - it's still evolving.  And I know better than to trust the media for information, but since it is being kicked around as a convenient way of attacking the right to carry I have to reflect on it.  In between cussing the media.

One Treyvon Martin is dead, shot by one George Zimmerman.  Information coming out is evolving - Martin was not an angel and Zimmerman is not a frothing-mouthed bigot.  It looks increasingly to me as if this may all be the horrible end result of a couple bad decisions.  Zimmerman should not have gotten out of his vehicle after the 911 dispatcher told him to stay put.  But Martin should not have confronted him, either.  Martin should have kept his eye on him and gone on home.  Or, if he thought the danger was immediate, called 911.  It appears that instead he confronted Zimmerman.  And because of the bad decisions on both their parts, it all went to hell in a handbasket.  Martin is dead.  Zimmerman may be physically alive, but he's dead.  If the Black Panthers have their way, Zimmerman will be physically dead - the Panthers might as well wear hoods the same as the Klan does.

I have to think:  given the circumstances, what would I have done?  It appears that the screams we hear on the tape are Zimmerman's.  Martin has snapped one to his nose and laid him out and is now sitting on his chest, beating Zimmerman's head against the ground.  There is no time to reflect on what has brought them to this place.  There's no time to think "I really should have stayed in the truck", no time to think "He'll stop soon".  There's just a +6 ft guy who has broken my nose and is pounding my head against the ground.

I would have fired.  What has brought us to this place is no longer relavent.  I have no way of knowing who my attacker is.  I have no time to reflect on what led to this moment.  All I know is that somebody is trying to kill me. I don't have time to review his Facebook page or analyze why he's in the neighborhood.  The concept of tragedy and "Woulda, shoulda, coulda" is for the future. It's all gone to hell in a handbasket.

And with one life destroyed, the media is making its bread and butter over destroying another.

6 comments:

  1. To me this story would have been a local story-if some journalist had not seen the Anglo sounding last name and the black young man. Thinking that they could inflame an already divide racial events in our history-thanks to the media/president etc, we have this story.

    The story to me begins and ends with the reporter that took this story national...

    Imagine the shock when they discovered George was a minority-and how fast they began the spin control.

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  2. @Humble wife - "The story to me begins and ends with the reporter that took this story national..." - and didn't bother to get all the facts first.

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  3. @Old NFO - Thanks. I think the whole thing was a serious of poor decisions that boiled down to somebody was going to die. In this case, it was Martin.

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  4. I blame the media for the deteriorating state of race relations in this country.

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  5. @Andy - It's all yellow journalism/jingo press these days.

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