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 wasn’t until I read Guy Farmer’s 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 wasn’t 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 being’s 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 Martin’s 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.”
Houston’s words reveal what makes our guts clench when we realize the sickening abdication of Zimmerman’s personal and social responsibility as a grown man in a position of power. Using Houston’s 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.
We’ll never know exactly what happened that night. According to Farmer, Martin wasn’t 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.
Excellent point!
1. Zimmerman was not infused with the black thug culture
2. Zimmerman had not been using Weed
No purple drank
Zimmerman also grew up with a biological mother and father raising him. That might have been the greatest disadvantage that Martin had.
But I thought it “takes a village” according to some famous person.
Many Americans have stone like brains.
Oops.
Trample-on Martin had distinct advantages over George Zimmerman.
17 years old, gets a pass on brutal assaults while adults risk imprisonment.
Black, gets a pass for assaulting non-blacks. As well as media support by MSM.
Tribal pack mentality. His homies swarm to defend him.
Dope addiction. Purple Lean and marijuana hype his aggression and deaden pain.
Also vigor of youth, a musculor build, height and agility.
All Zimmerman had besides his gun was intelligence and a promise that cops might come in time.
Some say the "dissing" was the thought that Zimmerman was a homo out to rape a young teen boy. Martin's girlfriend said Martin said it was a creepy ass-cracker following him, a term blacks in the South use to describe homos after boys. This may be why he was so angry, doubled back and sucker punched Zimmerman.
I don’t care how this idiot tries to justify or rationalize TM’s behavior. What it comes down to is GZ was reasonably in fear for his life and acted to protect his life. End of story. No amount of liberal second guessing about what made TM act like an aggressive jerk will change that. TM threatened GZ’s life, GZ acted to protect his life. Done.
Give me a frickin’ break.
Zimmerman had every right to be on the sidewalk in his own neighborhood, suspicious character about or not.
And until the moment Trayvon Martin broke his nose and jumped on top of him, he had no way of foreseeing that was going to happen.
True, he got caught flat-footed. Tactically speaking, he should’ve been more aware, anticipated the trouble, and stayed farther away from it.
That was a tactical MISTAKE. It wasn’t anything even remotely approaching a crime.
I'll acknowledge that's a possibility.
It doesn't seem likely, but it's a possibility.
Granting that possibility for the sake of argument, then Trayvon Martin completely misread Zimmerman. That was one mistake in a series of mistakes that cost Martin his life.
His second mistake was in not going home, but deciding to confront the situation personally.
His third mistake (a bigger one) was to decide not to call the police with the cell phone he had in his hand, but to go initiate a personal confrontation alone against the "creepy-ass cracker."
And his fourth and most fatal mistake was to physically attack someone who clearly had not attacked him first.
And that series of mistakes was fatal.
Not really much different from a 17-year-old kid getting killed in a car. You can't expect to drive 120 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone and not risk losing your life. And you can't expect to attack a stranger and try to kill him and not risk losing your life.
Idiots can graduate from college but they are still idiots.
“Didn’t Mark O’Mara hold up a chunk of concrete in court?”
I didn’t watch the trial and cannot say for sure but it seems like I did hear something about that. There is no doubt to anyone with any amount of intelligence that someone beating your head into the concrete intends to do you grave bodily harm.
A sick article indeed. And why do they describe the Arizona Watermelon Juice (one of the three parts of the “poor man’s PCP” St. Trayvon was taking) as iced tea? The lib/commie media cannot get any of the facts correct.
Its quite disturbing to keep seeing such unmitigated idiocy spew forth from college instructors. On minute they condemn Zimmerman, the next they claim we dont know all the facts. The prefrontal cortex argument is especially bizarre. I suppose the logical conclusion is that its OK to be afraid of young men in general since they are controlled by their lizard brains and can attack at any provocation. Frankly I dont know how this woman survives crossing the street.
Oh, I'm in total agreement that Martin was in the wrong, and confronted Zimmerman first. And that Martin had ample time to leave before a confrontation. No witnesses, except for the timings of cellphone conversations which indicate that Martin doubled back rather than leave. Even his girlfriend told him to get out of there before the "ass-cracker" could get him. Which bolsters the gay angle.
Lots of confrontations go badly due to mistakes and misconceptions by both parties. In this confrontation, Zimmerman did nothing wrong. Any perceived wrongs are lies made up by third parties. Just by the evidence alone, Martin was the aggressor and lost because of his own actions.
Let me guess... 1. Zimmerman DIDN'T drink watermelon tea and 2. He didn't like skittles. /s
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