PSA: do not talk to your coworkers about Zimmerman case.

[Ichinisan]

He called police, they were sending someone out, there was no reason to continue.

What if the person George noticed had been involved in the numerous recent break-ins? If the guy is gone when the police arrive, he might get to burglarize another home. I don't know if you understand this, but Trayvon's behavior was pretty damn suspicious that night and Zimmerman would not be a good neighbor if he did anything differently.

Did you know that Trayvon owned and carried burglary tools? Did you know that he had been caught more than once with stolen women's jewelry in his backpack? Did you know his phone had a picture with a pile of (mostly women's) jewelry on his bed?

In addition, we've been given no evidence that Trayvon was doing anything wrong prior to the altercation

Neither did Zimmerman.

(so there was no legitimate reason to follow him).

That's absolutely wrong. He had a legitimate reason to follow. Only an ignorant person would disagree.

Again, I don't think there should be legal penalty for this, but had Zimmerman left policing to the people we appoint to do so, two people would be alive instead of one. Had he not been armed, I doubt he would have decided to track someone he thought was a criminal.

Turns out the young man was a criminal; but one at the special age where he can't really have a criminal record. I want people like Zimmerman looking out for me and my neighborhood. I would do the same for him and for my neighbors of all races.

...and he didn't do any "policing" he only tried to maintain awareness of Trayvon's location until the police arrived. That's a good neighborhood watch coordinator. He was already out of the vehicle and walking when the dispatcher said "we don't need you to do that [follow Trayvon]." GZ says he tried to get a house number so he could say where he was when he stopped following. While walking, Trayvon ambushed him.

Absolute innocence and absolutely in-the-right. Everything else is a mischaracterization; perpetuated by a public that is delusional when it comes to the facts of this case.

 

[Ichinisan]

That's a nice false equivalency, and only applies if you believe as long as you follow the law you should bear no responsibility for what your actions lead to.

If guy A walks up to a guy B, tells him his wife's snatch tastes like honey nut cheerios and guy B punches him out, guy A deserves some responsibility for getting punched out. Guy A did not do anything illegal.

He felt responsible to be a good neighbor. The whole point of neighborhood watch is to try to prevent more burglaries (or even worse crimes). If there had already been 8 or more break-ins, police weren't able to prevent anything and they weren't catching the young men responsible. They need people like GZ to help them find and identify perpetrators before they are long gone.

 

[sourceninja]

Don't talk politics/religion/social issues with co-workers, period.

This

 

[Double Trouble]

Saying Zimmerman deserves some of the blame is like saying a woman who got raped deserved some of the blame because of her provocative dress. Zimmerman did nothing illegal, Martin did, and in doing so caused his own death. Seems relatively simple, if not for the media with their drive to push ratings by making it somehow involve race when there's no evidence race played any part.

 

[Lithium381]

I work with probably 90% liberals and I'm centrist and kinda libertarian so I just keep my mouth shut. There's no way I'm gonna argue with a co-worker over politics/religion, ugh.

I know that feel bro....libertarian surounded by liberals! They think its zimmermans fault but the way theyre talking about it they onky ever got the nbc version and didnt listen to the trial!

 

[szechuanpork]

Don't talk politics/religion/social issues with co-workers, period.

don't tell other people what they can or cannot talk about at work, period.

 

[alkemyst]

If you already haven't been talking about this travesty then now is a bad time to start.

The media wanted a race war.

 

[brianmanahan]

hey guys, guess what? :$

<-------------- P&N IS FREAKIN OVER THERE

 

[Attic]

New for me.

But i'm beginning to see that their are some black people who think that the word "black" when used to describe a person, that they think it's a descriptor on the entire black community when the intent is used to describe a person an individual.

Truth is most folks who use the term black to describe a person are simply using it to describe an individual. While implicit to the user of the term black on whether it means an indvidiual or a group, some black people think it always refers/reflects to the entire black community. Consider GZ's description of TM as "he looks black" when asked to describe TM's ethnicity by a 911 operator. Look at what those words did and look at how GZ likely intended them.

I think this is why some black people feel so threatened by anyone who describes an individual as black if that black individual is not being portrayed in a positive light.

I think this is also why a number of black folks identify themselves and their families so closely with Treyvon, to them they ARE Treyvon. Whether right or wrong, to a number of people Treyvon was simply Treyvon the individual (all the important stuff in his identity, his behavior) first and not the black community. Treyvon is only black in the color of his skin. In other words to some people Treyvon was an individual, to others Treyvon was the community of black people. And because GZ described Treyvon as black before killing him this was a critical point to some and not to others. If you closely identify with Treyvon think how that would feel when approaching his death under the circumstances.

It's such a fundamental difference of perspective, it's not right or wrong, it's just different. The lack of understanding between the viewpoints leads to huge frustrations.

At least that's where i'm at now. If so it means blacks value their community with incredibly high regard and that this gift has some how been stolen or warped to a point where community (as a whole but including specific black communities and the entire country as a community) suffer.

 

[GregGreen]

You'll be even more disappointed in some of them than you are now; also, you'll find a few more idiots than you knew.

Apparently this is true on ATOT too.

 

[Slew Foot]

I find it humourous that stupid liberals blame GZ for following TM and defending himself, but they dont blame TM for 1. Never calling the police himself for feeling threatened and 2. Coming out of his house to confront GZ. Idiot got what he deserved.

 

[blankslate]

Yeah that's right, Trayvon Martin needs to apologize for walking around in the wrong neighborhood... oh wa...

Well at least he wasn't one of those that "always get away."

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Can someone clarify something for me please? I don't know much about the case, but I was under the impression that he was told to not get out of his car after he reported it. Given that, how was he acting in self-defense if he got out and approached someone he knew was dangerous? Given the fact he already "knew" he was dangerous, couldn't you argue that Zimmerman was therefore provoking Martin, not the other way around?

 

[SSSnail]

Yeah that's right, Trayvon Martin needs to apologize for walking around in the wrong neighborhood... oh wa...

Well at least he wasn't one of those that "always get away."

 

[SSSnail]

Can someone clarify something for me please? I don't know much about the case, but I was under the impression that he was told to not get out of his car after he reported it. Given that, how was he acting in self-defense if he got out and approached someone he knew was dangerous? Given the fact he already "knew" he was dangerous, couldn't you argue that Zimmerman was therefore provoking Martin, not the other way around?

 

[sandorski]

The laws work just fine as it is. Ask yourself this, if both followed the law, would either of them have a scratch on them? Zimmerman followed the law, TM did not. And THAT was the problem.

If both followed the Law, Zimmerman may have been the one shot/killed.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I don't see the problem...

 

[blankslate]

You know I wasn't sure if you're just an asshole, dip-shit or a fucking retard...

I'm going with option D now... All of the Above.

 

[GregGreen]

Can someone clarify something for me please? I don't know much about the case, but I was under the impression that he was told to not get out of his car after he reported it. Given that, how was he acting in self-defense if he got out and approached someone he knew was dangerous? Given the fact he already "knew" he was dangerous, couldn't you argue that Zimmerman was therefore provoking Martin, not the other way around?

To put it simply, Florida has a messed up version of self-defense.

 

[SSSnail]

You know I wasn't sure if you're just an asshole, dip-shit or a retard...

I'm going with option D now... you're all three.

One of these days, you'll read what you posted, and then it hits you "Holy shit, how could I be so stupid?"

It's OK, it hasn't hit you yet, because you're just too dumb to realize it at the moment.

 

[CZroe]

Can someone clarify something for me please? I don't know much about the case, but I was under the impression that he was told to not get out of his car after he reported it. Given that, how was he acting in self-defense if he got out and approached someone he knew was dangerous? Given the fact he already "knew" he was dangerous, couldn't you argue that Zimmerman was therefore provoking Martin, not the other way around?

He was already out of his car when the 911 dispatch (not police) said "we don't need you to do that" (not "don't do that"). He didn't "know" the person was dangerous and he didn't approach him. He followed, the same as he did in his car except that his car was not able to follow between houses. He needed to get a house number from the other street BEHIND the one he was traveling on since Trayvon was cutting through. Following alone is not justifiable provocation for Trayvon to defend his life with deadly force. Beating Zimmerman absolutely is justifiable provocation for Zimmerman to defend himself with deadly force.

You see how many assumptions and inaccuracies you included there? It's really not that hard to understand when you address each one. It never was.

 

[CZroe]

To put it simply, Florida has a messed up version of self-defense.

In what way? Florida's version worked exactly how it was intended.

If you think someone is trying to kill you and you can defend yourself with deadly force. Simple. To say otherwise is to say that guns can never be legally used to kill in defense of one's life.

 

[blankslate]

One of these days, you'll read what you posted, and then it hits you "Holy shit, how could I be so stupid?"

It's OK, it hasn't hit you yet, because you're just too dumb to realize it at the moment.

Yes, you really are too dumb to realize that you should be saying that to yourself when you wake up in the morning.

But hey it's your life... so have at it.

 

[blankslate]

Can someone clarify something for me please? I don't know much about the case, but I was under the impression that he was told to not get out of his car after he reported it. Given that, how was he acting in self-defense if he got out and approached someone he knew was dangerous? Given the fact he already "knew" he was dangerous, couldn't you argue that Zimmerman was therefore provoking Martin, not the other way around?

The dispatchers don't tell anyone to do anything
When Zimmerman confirmed that he was going on foot after Trayvon Martin the dispatcher said "We don't need you to do that" or something very close to that phrase.

The question is... would Zimmerman have gotten out of the car without the gun?

In any case it doesn't really matter except to the families of those involved as the trial is over.

 

[Craig234]

No one can really discuss the issue - many of the facts of what happened are not known.