I'm sure you all know this man...
Seemingly the only thing on the news recently is people talking about this man, Zimmerman, and the boy he shot, Trayvon Martin.
(To get this entirely out of the way before I continue - it's my belief that Zimmerman's guilt isn't something that you or I can really know a whole lot about. Experts agree that Zimmerman shot Trayvon while Trayvon was on top of or standing over him, but there's no way he could have drawn his gun at that point by his own admission.
You can draw a lot of conclusions from all of that, but ultimately, none of them are solid enough for me to believe either 'side' of the case. Fact of the matter is that Martin is dead, Zimmerman killed him, and that is both a tragedy and something Zimmerman will have to live with for the rest of his life. Not a whole lot else can be known for certain, and I believe the jury was correct in acquitting Zimmerman of all charges.)
Let's roll back a while, though, before everyone and every person they know had some at least cursory knowledge of the case and, in most cases, some sort of opinion one way or the other.
Immediately after the shooting, no charges were pressed against Zimmerman.
Why was that? Well, a lot of people might say that it was because everyone in Florida is a racist pig, or because they don't want to bring attention to firearms regulation, or even that the frickin' Illuminati had Martin murdered so he couldn't spill the goods on how they were supplying brainwashing material to the Communist regime in Cuba.
Fact of the matter is, though, that prosecutors are ultimately both lawyers and politicians, and no prosecutor saw a positive impact on his career - that thing that a lot of prosecutors care about over all else - coming out of an attempt at prosecuting Zimmerman.
Why? Because any competent lawyer could have told you that no conviction would come out of that trial. Too much wiggle room on both sides, certainly not enough evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for charges of first degree murder. Or second degree. Or, really, a whole lot of other charges.
Now, they could have gotten him on a lesser charge. Maybe. But something threw all of that out of the window.
It was us.
That's right folks. We prevented them from charging Zimmerman with something reasonable. We forced the prosecution into a case they couldn't possibly win for charges they couldn't possibly prove, because otherwise their precious careers would be destroyed. They - and everyone else, really - had to go with the flow.
The flow we caused.
And while, ultimately, the fault lies with us, the blame lies with the media. It was the media who sensationalized the case. It was the media who brought in enraged, inflammatory talking heads, who used them to get you and me to think about this case that, ultimately, isn't even all that interesting, all that unique, all that important.
To illustrate, imagine this.
Imagine a world where Zimmerman is entirely blameless for the whole situation. Trayvon Martin grabbed his gun and was going to shoot him, Zimmerman miraculously got the gun back and shot him at point blank range, aiming at nothing because he was frightened, frightened for his life that was only moments from being taken from him.
Now, I don't think that happened. But what if it did? What if something even fairly close to that is the truth? What if, as is probably the case, both parties are at least a little at fault, and not all of the blame lies with Zimmerman?
Fact is, it just doesn't matter. Zimmerman could be completely blameless and the rest of his life is still a mess. It's ruined. He will forever be in the eyes of many a racist who hunted and shot a young black man for sport, only to get off on a technicality as a result of some quick thinking and Florida's loose legislation on the matter.
Zimmerman was acquitted, but he will spend the rest of his life surrounded by many with an unreasonable, blind hatred directed at him and those around him. I would not be surprised if he does not live more than a few more years unless extreme measures are taken to hide his identity, location, and activities.
The law itself is being circumvented, and while that is not always a bad thing, right now a potentially innocent man is being punished, possibly in a more severe and damaging way than if he had been convicted in the first place.
And again, the problem is us.
And, yet again, while the fault lies with us, the media is to blame.
Let's take another recent example. How many of you remember this man...
It's old W, but I'm sure you knew that. Hated by many, loved - or at least tolerated - by others. Demonized by the media as a stupid, larcenous, greedy man led by the nose into bad decision after bad decision by his friends and advisers.
Now, I want you to watch this video. I want you to watch all of it. [EDIT: Forgot to mention, the video's on the bottom of the page. Related article is also very good if you feel like reading it, but it's mostly the video that matters for what I'm talking about.]
For those unfortunate of you who do not watch, it's an interview with W. One of the very, very few interviews he's been in since leaving office. And it tells a very interesting story.
Since leaving office, W has been in Africa. He's been building shelters for people with AIDS or people whose lives have been ruined as a result of AIDS, particularly orphaned, starving, and homeless children. He has been doing so with his own hands, and does not plan on stopping anytime soon. He believes what he is doing now is the most important thing he has ever done, and is among the most important things anyone could ever do.
Kind of a different picture, isn't it?
More importantly, I think, is the reason the interview was held. It wasn't because anyone was really searching out W to try and get an interview with him. It was because President Obama happened to be in the area, met with W, and they interviewed him as a corollary to covering the story of the Presidential visit to Africa.
And the entire interview was a trap.
Listen to it again. Large portions of the interview were obviously designed in an effort to get W to either contradict the President or to speak out on a controversial topic in such a way as to draw attention to himself. Go about six minutes in and you'll see exactly what I mean.
W, being someone who really isn't as stupid as the media made him out to be, doesn't fall for that trap. He practically - but not quite - speaks out in favor of gay marriage and refuses to comment in a strong fashion on the actions of the President or on any controversial issues.
And I can guarantee you if he had, that's all you would have seen.
You see, the media can't go back on how it portrayed W. It's not worth the effort. No one would be interested. But being able to portray him in a negative - preferably bigoted or incredibly conservative - light would have been gold for them, because people would have watched, been outraged, and watched again. They would have told their friends. Those friends would have told even more friends, and suddenly everyone is on the "W was the worse President ever" train again.
(For the record, I think W was a pretty average President, but that's because I refuse to judge Presidents on foreign policy issues. Those issues are all decided behind closed doors using information you and I will never have access to, and I can respect that the decisions they make are most likely the ones they thought were correct with the information they were given.
I hope you can, too.)
I would be incredibly surprised if you ever see another interview with W on any major news outlet in America. W doesn't want to be interviewed, because he doesn't want to have the media continue to ruin his image. The media doesn't want to interview W, because he isn't going to let them bait him into giving them more grist for the mill.
And the sad part is, this means W will forever go down in the minds of many Americans as the demon the media made him out to be, rather than the genuinely good person I believe him to be. For all of his faults, for all of his wrong decisions, he's still in Africa, he's still helping those children, and he isn't even trying to draw attention to it.
And it our fault. Our fault that this man, this good man, this caring man, is going to continue to instill hatred in many extremely liberal individuals when his name is mentioned, is going to be considered stupid, greedy, and short-sighted, is going to be remembered only for the fact that he started two wars that killed many people and cost America untold sums of money based on information that only a few hundred people had - or are ever going to have - access to.
Those children in Africa? That's not news. That's not how news works. That's not how news is made. And that's not the sort of news we get to watch.
And that's our fault.
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