It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

We should change the name of this board to journalistswhothinkfactsdontmatter.com. Or, for ease of use, jwtfdm.com.

 

We're gatekeepers. We decide which facts are relevant and which ones aren't.

The attempts to denigrate Trayvon Martin so that it was okay to kill him are certainly not.

 

We don't have room for facts. Got to get Garfield pushing Odie off the table in somehow. ;-)

 

Rick, I'm talking about actual journalists.

 

I'd say there was a bit of a "goal" to paint Zimmerman as the kind of guy who would gun down an unarmed, young, African-American for sport.

He's a cop want-to-be. He's a loser. He has a "violent past".

I think some of this is even probably true, but it was clumsy -- especially compared to the initial description of Martin, accompanied by a five year old picture of him as a 12-year-old.

Then, in an over reaction, to be "fair", we get more info about Martin. No, he wasn't perfect, but he sounds pretty typical for a teenager -- tardiness, marijuana, etc.

Maybe he did steal some jewelry. It's circumstantial, but it looks like he might have. But, no known history of violence.

But, if we're going to look into Zimmerman's past for clues to what might have happened that night, isn't it also fair, reasonable, and expected to look into Martin's past? And then, what do you do when you discover some minor issues? Do you ignore them, as not relevant?

If he did have a violent history -- and I'm not saying he did -- that would be relevant, right?

 

Narrative, narrative, narrative.

 

I'd be interested in seeing an inventory of the relevant facts to this point.

Does that NY Times ticktock from last Sunday get us there? Or is it just a detailed transcription of the stories as told by the families?

I hope the special prosecutor is having better luck mining 'facts' relevant to the actual shooting.

 

I thought there were a couple of interesting "facts" in the Times and the Detroit News articles.

The Times (and Detroit News) article and pictures describe the path where Martin was walking as being a sidewalk that runs between the back of the houses in this community.

Now, it would be natural for a resident, or someone staying in a home there like Martin, to use this path. It would be suspicious to see a non-resident walking back there. (Though, what makes Zimmerman think he knows every resident and/or guest of the community, I don't know.)

It would also explain why Zimmerman got out of his car to continue to "tail" him. Not that it was necessary to "tail" him, but if he was going to, he couldn't do it from his car, if Martin was on a path behind the houses.

The Detroit News article has Martin seeking some shelter from the rain, which is understandable. But, I couldn't tell if it was under some sort of public structure -- some kind of gazebo maybe -- or under the awning of a private home.

The closer you get to the back windows of a private home, the more "suspicious" you might look.

Either way, I do think Zimmerman got carried away in his determination to "catch" someone, since "these assholes always get away". I think he was looking for a criminal, when there was none. I don't think he was out looking to blow someone away.

 

Yes. Because no matter how hard you try, you can't make the victim and the killer equivalent.

 

Zimmerman has lost 80 LBS and 2 inches in height since the the initial news stories. He also got married,got a job working for a mortgage investigation firm and received his associates degree. In his spare time he organized a protest event against the Sanford PD to object to the handling of a case involving the son of Sanford LT who beat up a homeless black man.

 

Sounds like George was a great guy right up until he shot and killed an unarmed teenager he was stalking.

 

And how do you feel about attempts by a media outlet to paint the shooter as a racist by doctoring 911 tapes?