Thread: The Trayvon Martin Case...

I've seen a bit about the killing in the media, but I don't understand why nobody seems to be talking about how horridly corrupt the American justice system looks. It sounds like an endemic culture...

Originally Posted by Xei

I've seen a bit about the killing in the media, but I don't understand why nobody seems to be talking about how horridly corrupt the American justice system looks. It sounds like an endemic culture...

It's because, in our culture, there exists just enough divisiveness to keep dissent from being a popular enough opinion as to prove significant. Black/white, conservative/liberal, gay/straight, realist/idealist, Coke/Pepsi... The real evils of our society fall into obscurity, because there is a perpetual counter-balance to every extreme, polarizing or sensationalist claim that can be made. Blacks who think the justice system is fucked are labelled '(reverse)racist'; people who think the rich should pay more in taxes are labelled 'socialist' or 'communist' (whichever is the more popular buzzword at the time); people who try to highlight the corruptibility of government are deemed 'anti-American'. Etc.

Whether you believe this sort of divisiveness is engineered, or if it's just by coincidence, the fact remains that the proponents of each side of every viewpoint can make their stances so attractive (and the people who adopt them are so very malleable) that even though there are plenty of people out there who know how screwed our legal system is (as if the legal system was the only thing that needed fixing), it will never be enough to bring about widespread change... Our modern culture simply isn't drafted to allow that level of popular dissent. There are plenty of people who are talking about how corrupt the American justice system looks. Many of those same people have been saying the same thing for decades. The problem is that nobody is listening to them, because they're too busy tending to their own biases to notice.

Looks like he has O'Mara as his counselor. This will be very interesting when the trail moves forward. I've seen O'Mara's argument strategies before and he's quite capable extremely thorough in his work and highly strategic. Zimmerman looks very frightened but with good reason. Facing a 2nd degree murder charge and the possibility of life in prison is nothing to be happy about. I guess he will get a bond hearing next Thursday. I wonder if the judge will grant it. If he does and Zimmerman bonds out, I'm willing to bet he flees.

And after the beginnings of a serious conversation (the one that this thread should have been from the start), Ne-yo is back in with the gossip.

Ne-yo, do you work for the Illuminati?

if his head swelled, you must post bail!

if he was beat to shit, you must acquit!

© green.inc 2012

You know what pisses me off (and this goes right back to the divisiveness issue that I was talking about)?

Stuff like this:

Big gap between races in U.S. on Trayvon Martin killing | Reuters

Contrast the opening:
"(Reuters) - Americans are deeply divided by race over the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, with 91 percent of African-Americans saying he was unjustly killed, while just 35 percent of whites thought so, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Thursday."

With the details:
"...according to the online poll of 1,922 Americans..."

And this is from one of the most 'credible' mainstream media sources out there. They are touting this 'huge racial divide' across America, based solely off of enough people to fill an auditorium. This is why said divisiveness exists. Public opinion is actively swayed by the people who are supposed to be 'informing' us, instead of 'persuading' us. Small problems are made bigger in the public eye, and real issues are swept under the rug. That's just how our media works, and that's why so many Americans either have no clue or a skewed perspective on what's going on today.

Originally Posted by PhilosopherStoned

And after the beginnings of a serious conversation (the one that this thread should have been from the start), Ne-yo is back in with the gossip.

Ne-yo, do you work for the Illuminati?

I'll entertain you PS. Here's my prediction, this is going to play out one of two different ways. Number (1) Zimmerman gets bond granted sometime in the next month which will probably be somewhere in the area of a half million to three quarters of a million bond. Zimmerman is broke but somehow he's going to bond out. Zimmerman flees the country a month before his trial. The FBI catches up to him a few months later and he faces additional charges. Number (2) Zimmerman is denied bond and undergoes a jury trial late winter 2012 The Jury finds him not guilty of murder in the 2nd degree but finds him guilty upon a much lesser charge. The people are angry and frustrated as mass hysteria overwhelms the nation when people take to the streets. The government conducts population control as many people will lose their lives through this ordeal that will last for an extended period of time until order is restored.

Just remember where you heard it first.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

.This is why said divisiveness exists. Public opinion is actively swayed by the people who are supposed to be 'informing' us, instead of 'persuading' us. Small problems are made bigger in the public eye, and real issues are swept under the rug. That's just how our media works, and that's why so many Americans either have no clue or a skewed perspective on what's going on today.

There's more normal people out there than what's being shown. I don't see a divide, at all. I just see stupid people. This is why I poke fun at it every chance I get.

Originally Posted by greenhavoc

There's more normal people out there than what's being shown. I don't see a divide, at all. I just see stupid people. This is why I poke fun at it every chance I get.

I'm not particularly talking about a divide in this issue, as much as I'm talking about a divide in almost every major issue across the States. I just hate how the media perpetuates such things, so purposefully.

Since you bring it up, though, you will have to excuse me if I'm not too much of a fan of the 'stupid people' paradigm - especially when it comes to political issues. I tend to see it as a sort of a cop-out for lacking understanding about why some people follow the ideologies that they do (which often has much less to do with being 'stupid' than it does with having been sufficiently persuaded). I understand that this stance doesn't carry with it the comedic value of just being able to call everyone who disagrees with me 'stupid' and making a witty quip about how unintelligent they are, but it's a reasonable sacrifice, I think.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

I understand that this stance doesn't carry with it the comedic value of just being able to call everyone who disagrees with me 'stupid' and making a witty quip about how unintelligent they are, but it's a reasonable sacrifice, I think.

I think that's an amazing perspective.

Originally Posted by Phion

I think that's an amazing perspective.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

...I'm not too much of a fan of the 'stupid people' paradigm - especially when it comes to political issues. I tend to see it as a sort of a cop-out for lacking understanding about why some people follow the ideologies that they do (which often has much less to do with being 'stupid' than it does with having been sufficiently persuaded).

Often, it's stupidity that allows them to be so easily persuaded. For example, it's been well documented numerous times that Rush Limbaugh makes things up. Yet people still believe him. He contradicts himself and applies double standards almost constantly and yet his fans don't catch it. This is an excellent example. There are a lot of intelligent conservatives but anybody that cites Rush as a source is a moron. Intelligent conservatives don't even cite him as a source.

They may be brilliant in many ways but if we're having a political discussion then they are, within that context, essentially morons and should be discussed as such for the simple reason that their stupidity is a source of power for those that take advantage of it.

For a liberal example, take the people that hated US foreign policy under Bush but are chill with it since Obama moved in.

I understand that this stance doesn't carry with it the comedic value of just being able to call everyone who disagrees with me 'stupid' and making a witty quip about how unintelligent they are, but it's a reasonable sacrifice, I think.

I understand that citing stupidity where stupidity is due doesn't carry with it the aura of being an accepting, level headed person that pretending that stupid people are anything else does but I think that it's a reasonable sacrifice to attempt to legitimately understand how power operates in this world.

How can you change something if you don't even understand it?