One of the few sensible comments on the Zimmerman trial

Although Derek Hunter's column at Townhall.com is dated July 14, 2013, it was apparently written before the verdict came out on George Zimmerman. But it still strikes me as the most sensible comment I've read on the whole series of events:

Can I just say something controversial that must be said? I don’t care about the George Zimmerman trial. I don’t, not even a little. That’s not to say I don’t feel sorry for those involved who’ve lost a loved one, I do. One family lost a child to a gun, the other lost a child to a mob. One is in eternal rest far too soon, the other will never know rest in all his remaining days. But that doesn’t mean I should care about it, nor should you.

Sympathize away, but being invested emotionally while not being a friend or family member of anyone involved is irrational and dangerous.

But an emotional investment is exactly what every news outlet in the country wants you to have. There’s money in it and it fits their progressive agenda.

From the first moment the MSNBC prime-time clown car metaphorically emptied into Sanford, Florida, an agenda was set in motion to manipulate as many people as possible into believing things that were not true. But they weren’t alone.

While progressives tried to paint a picture of racism to fit their needed narrative of an America where the Klan roam the streets and hold public office (as Democrats, a part of their past they always conveniently omit), many conservatives attempted to prove that there is no circumstance under which George Zimmerman shares at least a slice of the blame pie.

The progressive case goes something like this: Trayvon Martin, a black 17 year old, went to the store to buy candy and a drink. On his way home, this black teenager, was racially profiled by a “white” Hispanic guy, who followed him with the intention of killing him for being black. He provoked Trayvon into punching him in the nose and banging his head on the sidewalk so he could shoot him. Diabolical. Oh, and did I mention Trayvon Martin is black?

The conservatives who care present a case probably closer to the truth, but no less speculative. A generally good guy was looking out for his neighborhood and saw someone he didn’t recognize walking in an odd place. With the neighborhood having suffered its fair share of crime, he called the police and, trying to be extra helpful, set out on foot to follow a guy walking home. Trayvon decided to confront the “creepy-ass cracker” stalking him by jumping out of the bushes and punching him in the face. Zimmerman, completely overpowered and fearing for his life, shot Martin in self-defense.

Actually, the meat of the column is the next short paragraph:

The truth is somewhere in the middle and nowhere as clear-cut. There were dozens of opportunities for this not to happen, Zimmerman could’ve not gotten out of his car, Martin could have not decked him, etc. But they did. Someone’s dislike of these facts doesn’t make them any less so.

As I read somewhere else on the Net, there were two idiots acting idiotically. Either one could have ended the confrontation, and Trayvon Martin would be alive today, and George Zimmerman would have gone back to his ordinary life. But, continuing with the column:

So we’re left with a dead kid and a man on trial. This happens all the time in the world, but it doesn’t get this much attention.

Over the 4^th of July weekend, the city of Chicago had 74 people shot, 12 died. One of the shooting victims was a 5-year-old boy. There’s no ambiguity about that. What was that child’s name? What are any of their names? You don’t know because not only were the suspected shooters black, so were the victims. In the progressive media equation of what constitutes news, black on black crime – a tragic epidemic by any normal unit of measure – doesn’t rate.

To the progressive media, who set the narrative tone, a busty blonde being involved in a crime, either as victim or perp, trumps everything else. After that, it’s black victim with a white perpetrator. The list beyond that fades into insignificance until you reach “I don’t know what you’re talking about” level. Under that, tied with “putting your fingers in your ears and shouting ‘lalalala, I’m not listening’ is black on black crime.

You’d think a “civil rights leader” like MSNBC’s Al Sharpton would care since it’s what he claims to care about, but you’d be wrong. There’s not nearly as much camera time and money in scores of bleeding bodies on Chicago’s south side as there is when the perpetrator is white.

Aside from the rank hypocrisy of silence on an ongoing issue of life and death, the Zimmerman trial offered another opportunity for progressives to express distracting outrage to avoid an important issue.

Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend, Rachel Jeantel, a 19-year-old high school senior, testified in the case and was mocked for not being able to read cursive handwriting. Progressives were outraged anyone would mock this woman who has obviously gone through Hell. But imagine the good that could come out of her testimony had the progressive media been half as angry at a union dominated public education system that churns out 19-year-olds who can’t read cursive as they were at people who found it odd. Opportunity lost because it didn’t fit the narrative.

The George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case is a tragedy, but it’s not unique or special, it’s simply one that can be exploited. Progressives need people to believe America is a horribly and hopelessly racist nation to justify bigger government and more thought crimes.

If Zimmerman walks or is found guilty, life will continue. That you know about this case in the first place is a testament to just how powerfully manipulative the progressive media is. That you can’t name one person shot in Chicago over a 3-day weekend from a list of 74, or that people aren’t protesting outside of Rachel Jeantel’s school chanting “malpractice,” shows just how effective the corrupt progressive media is.

There are lessons to be learned from everything in life, that’s especially true in the Zimmerman trial. Unfortunately, the progressive media will learn only how to manipulate even better the next time because actually talking about and solving problems for which they’ve appointed themselves champions would put them out of business.

There are so many sensible observations in this column, I just had to quote it here.