Posted on 07/28/2013 12:47:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Zimmerman verdict sits like a stone in the guts of many Americans. We struggle to put our finger on what sickens us, but we know something feels really bad.
It wasnt until I read Guy Farmers commentary (Zimmerman trial marred by racial politics, July 21) that I started to get it. Amid hundreds of words reviewing the facts of the case, which we all know by heart, Farmer reveals in 13 words what is wrong with the Zimmerman verdict: Martin wasnt an innocent young boy; he was a head taller than Zimmerman.
In that profoundly disturbing sentence, Farmer demonstrates the deep, probably subconscious, generational and regional biases that fester in our complex American culture. In a sentence, Farmer absolves Zimmerman of the termination of a fellow human beings existence and judges Martin guilty and culpable for his own death because Martin was taller than Zimmerman.
That sentence makes me think about both Zimmerman and Martin in a new light.
Zimmerman, a 29-year-old man, possessed something in addition to a gun that the just-turned 17-year-old Martin did not possess a fully developed prefrontal cortex.
In human beings, the maturation of the prefrontal cortex is not achieved until about 25 years of age. That gave Zimmerman an advantage over Martin in the areas of cognitive analysis, abstract thinking, problem solving, determining and evaluating consequences, calculating strategies in shifting or urgent circumstances, recognizing and controlling intense impulses and emotions, modulating behavior and considering complicated incoming information in fight-or-flight situations.
In other words, Zimmerman, almost twice Martins age, had a mature prefrontal cortex and a gun, while Martin had an immature prefrontal cortex still overruled by primitive limbic structures, a can of sweet tea, and Skittles.
Farmer sums up his analysis by quoting Reno attorney David Houston: This was a case where [Zimmerman] forced a confrontation, but did what he had to do when he was attacked.
Houstons words reveal what makes our guts clench when we realize the sickening abdication of Zimmermans personal and social responsibility as a grown man in a position of power. Using Houstons logic, maybe Martin did what he had to do when he was confronted or more accurately, maybe Martin did what his immature prefrontal cortex thought he should do.
So if Farmer is suggesting that 29-year-old Zimmerman was frightened for his life, I am suggesting that 17-year-old Martin was too. But Zimmerman possessed all the ammunition to prevent this tragedy.
Well never know exactly what happened that night. According to Farmer, Martin wasnt followed and killed because he was black, but because he was tall and therefore not innocent. And therein lay the convoluted and absurd rationalizations being offered to justify the uninvited confrontation and subsequent killing of an unarmed, immature, and yes, innocent boy by an armed, mature man.
The gnawing in our gut confirms that something is wrong here: In the case of George Zimmerman, the law may be satisfied, but justice is not.
“...Zimmerman, almost twice Martins age...”
Professor, 28* is not ‘almost twice’ 17. In fact, it’s barely past the age of ‘maturation of the prefrontal cortex’ which, one supposes, the professor is still awaiting.
How did this one get thru grammar school, much less become “Professor?”
*Zimmerman’s age at the time of the shooting
Is someone broke Professor Marilee Swirczek nose, then proceeded to knock her down and bash her head against concrete, she might be ‘afraid’ too... Even if the guy beating her brains out was one foot taller or 5 inches shorter... this woman’s a fool.
According to Zimmerman, Martin saw his gun, and they wrestled over it until Zimmerman managed to shoot him.
[that the just-turned 17-year-old Martin did not possess a fully developed prefrontal cortex. ]
Neither does the author.
[That sentence makes me think about both Zimmerman and Martin in a new light. ]
Yeah, well everyone knows that stuff looks really different under a black light.
There is no logic in any of the arguments this supposed writer puts forth. This young punk started a fight, trying to kill George Zimmerman and Zimmerman ended it to save his own life. The verdict sits quite well with me. If someone is trying to seriously injure or kill you, you have the right to defend yourself. Up to and including killing the other person. How hard is that for these mentally deficient morons to understand?
Hmmm...I guess my 14 year old, 6’0” 220 lb. high school freshman defensive lineman son doesn’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex either. Wonder why he isn’t out on the streets, going full MMA on everyone he perceives to be threat?
Probably because he does have something that will get him by until he develops a prefrontal cortex...the wrath of two very involved parents who would “tear him a new one” if he so much as spoke to an elder in a disrespectful tone, much less laid a hand on anybody except in self defense.
Maybe THAT’S what Trayvon needed until he got cortexed up...
"It's not the facts of the case, it's the seriousness of the charge..."
GZ was SUPPOSED to be guilty so that gun control could be legislated from the bench.
With the acquittal, they have to rely on whipping the masses into a frenzy, to include black-on-white attacks to scare people into demanding action.
He should have used the Miracle Zip Dematerializer he, the KKK, and the local Nazi cell invented for just such emergencies.
When I was reading this pile of tripe, I said to myself only a liberal professor could write this much nonsense and sound articulate.
I then went back to the top and discovered I was right.
This is the point at which the professorette's mind jumped the tracks, like that speeding train in Spain.
The want to keep this subject in the forefront, even if they have to begin babbling and just mention the names. I guess racism is becoming difficult to stir up.
More fact aversion in the beatification of St. Skittles.
“The Zimmerman verdict sits like a stone in the guts of many Americans.”
I know what she means. I felt the same way after I ate those gas station tacos.
“We struggle to put our finger on what sickens us, but we know something feels really bad.”
Perhaps our own need to inject racial elements into a case that had none? Nahhh, couldn’t be that! (rolls eyes)
“In that profoundly disturbing sentence, Farmer demonstrates the deep, probably subconscious, generational and regional biases that fester in our complex American culture.:
Uh-oh, my bullcrap-o-meter is pinging in the red zone. I haven’t seen anything like this since I sat in on that Wymyn Studies’ major’s thesis proposal.
“In a sentence, Farmer absolves Zimmerman of the termination of a fellow human beings existence and judges Martin guilty and culpable for his own death because Martin was taller than Zimmerman.”
No, Farmer points out that Martin was physically imposing and probably stronger/faster than Zimmerman. Unlike the 12 year old child portrayed in most of the pictures.
That sentence makes me think about both Zimmerman and Martin in a new light.
“Zimmerman, a 29-year-old man, possessed something in addition to a gun that the just-turned 17-year-old Martin did not possess a fully developed prefrontal cortex.”
RED ALERT! RED ALERT! BS INBOUND! BS INBOUND!
Look, to say teenagers don’t always think things through like an adult is not rocket science. I didn’t at that age, either. I sure as HELL knew, though, that if I jumped a guy and started slamming his head into the pavement, there were going to be consequences. And if I attacked a guy and he’d shot me, I wouldn’t be happy about it, but the guy who shot me would have been in his legal rights to do so.
Racial politics cloud views of Zimmerman trial
lahontan appeal
july 20, 2013
guy farmer
Here’s what I sent:
Dear Ms. Swirczek: Are you aware that Rachel Jeantel said that Trayvon hit Zimmerman first? Jeantel says Zimmerman was receiving a much deserved “ass whoopin’” for being a homosexual stalker. All would have ended well if Zimmerman had just allowed Trayvon to bash his head into the sidewalk until TM was satisfied the “ass whoopin’” was complete.
Though who knows when that would have been. Trayvon said in his own texts that it wasn’t enough for a person he was beating to bleed from the nose only. He wanted more blood than that.
The good professor is an idiot.
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