17-year-old unarmed black teen shot by "neighborhood guardian"

Dr. Javelin said:
Nosferatu Man said:
Dr. Javelin said:
You know, not to downplay how tragic this is, but if it had been a white kid who got shot by a white guy there wouldn't be nearly as much fuss.

Because there have been so many false accusations of racism as a drive for crimes, I'm reluctant to blame this on racism unless someone can actually prove that the shooter had past indications of racist behavior.

Perhaps we all should be focusing on the sadness of this instead of yelling "RACIST RACISM BLARGH".
Click to expand...

The kid was shot because he "looked suspicious" when in fact he wasn't doing anything remotely wrong. Black people as criminals is a stereotype that a lot of people believe. The shooter obviously thought the kid was going to commit a crime or do something terrible. I really don't see how it couldn't be about race.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen any details either confirming or denying that it was based on that stereotype, so I'm keeping an open mind about it.
Click to expand...
I see you're point, and I guess it's kind of easy to jump to the immediate conclusion of racism... But from where I sit, I can't see any other reason for this guy to shoot this kid, and for the police to let him go. Racism might be an easy and obvious conclusion that may or may not be, but in this case, I can't see any other reason.
 
He got off scott-free?

"Oh, I'm just gonna shoot everyone who looks funny at me. Who knows if they'll kill me."

If it was a black guy who shot a white guy, he wouldn't have gotten away with it, even if the white guy was hostile (assuming the white guy didn't have a gun).

It just proves that someone can't do anything at all without putting his/herself in danger.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Dr. Javelin said:
Nosferatu Man said:
Dr. Javelin said:
You know, not to downplay how tragic this is, but if it had been a white kid who got shot by a white guy there wouldn't be nearly as much fuss.

Because there have been so many false accusations of racism as a drive for crimes, I'm reluctant to blame this on racism unless someone can actually prove that the shooter had past indications of racist behavior.

Perhaps we all should be focusing on the sadness of this instead of yelling "RACIST RACISM BLARGH".
Click to expand...

The kid was shot because he "looked suspicious" when in fact he wasn't doing anything remotely wrong. Black people as criminals is a stereotype that a lot of people believe. The shooter obviously thought the kid was going to commit a crime or do something terrible. I really don't see how it couldn't be about race.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen any details either confirming or denying that it was based on that stereotype, so I'm keeping an open mind about it.
Click to expand...
I see you're point, and I guess it's kind of easy to jump to the immediate conclusion of racism... But from where I sit, I can't see any other reason for this guy to shoot this kid, and for the police to let him go. Racism might be an easy and obvious conclusion that may or may not be, but in this case, I can't see any other reason.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of people who refuse to attribute anything to racism against blacks, as part of their rich-white-males-are-sooo-persecuted delusions.
 
People have tried to label things I've done as racist purely because I'm white, which makes just as much sense.
 
Dr. Javelin said:
People have tried to label things I've done as racist purely because I'm white, which makes just as much sense.
Click to expand...
Well, okay, not EVERYTHING a white person or black person does is immediately racist, and I can attest to the idea that certain extremists do tend to overreact to things, but here, I think it's completely justified.

After all, from the information we've got, I see nothing to justify Zimmerman's case. Trayvon, who was unarmed and just getting some candy and iced tea, did nothing, and yet he thought it was "suspicious", and to make matters worse, he was told by the police to do NOTHING until they got there, and yet he basically left looking for a confrontation after that. Who knows, maybe the fact that the kid happens to be black was incidental, but then again, that area they live in has been known to have racism issues...
 
The Sanford Police have released the 911 calls regarding the shooting:

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/sanford-911-calls-released-teens-shooting-death/nLWWS/

...Yeah, and they had the NERVE to call this "self-defense". :mad:
 
GreenDisaster said:
I hate to sound like a horrible person, but this kind of stuff has already happened, and it's going to happen again. Remember Amadou Diallo?
Click to expand...

Captain Obvious saves the day, with the help of his sidekick, No Shit.
 
GreenDisaster said:
I hate to sound like a horrible person, but this kind of stuff has already happened, and it's going to happen again. Remember Amadou Diallo?
Click to expand...
Well, then, why don't we, oh, I don't know, TRY AND STOP IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?! I hate how we've been desensitized to this crap, this sort of thing shouldn't be the norm!
 
Unfortunately, stupid people exist and stupid people will do stupid things. Maybe this is a reminder to all the dumb people out there to not do stuff like this (but of course, some idiots won't listen).
 
Baby Luigi said:
Unfortunately, stupid people exist and stupid people will do stupid things. Maybe this is a reminder to all the dumb people out there to not do stuff like this (but of course, some idiots won't listen).
Click to expand...
But here's the thing, the idiot got away scott-free! How's this a lesson not to do dumb things if the police decide to take your side instead of, you know, doing what they're supposed to do?
 
Smashgoom202 said:
GreenDisaster said:
I hate to sound like a horrible person, but this kind of stuff has already happened, and it's going to happen again. Remember Amadou Diallo?
Click to expand...
Well, then, why don't we, oh, I don't know, TRY AND STOP IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?! I hate how we've been desensitized to this crap, this sort of thing shouldn't be the norm!
Click to expand...
I hate to ruin your idealistic crusade

but things like this are always going to happen, whether we like it or not.

Unless you have a method of controlling the actions of every single person in America, that is.
 
Geez... And people get on my case just for saying what I think about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "I bring fans down on this forum", they say. Well looky what Javelin's doing here.

Anyway, yeah, I suppose it IS impossible to make sure this never happens ever again, but we can at least TRY to improve things instead of just accepting it as an inevitability.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Geez... And people get on my case just for saying what I think about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "I bring fans down on this forum", they say. Well looky what Javelin's doing here.

Anyway, yeah, I suppose it IS impossible to make sure this never happens ever again, but we can at least TRY to improve things instead of just accepting it as an inevitability.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying that our efforts won't have any effect, but it's just not possible to remove all instances of crime and such. I mean, accidents happen.

So sure, go ahead and work for the improvement. But poor cynical me doesn't thing things are going to improve much.

EDIT: Also, who exactly are those folks attacking you for bringing down fans? Is this brony civil war?

Alert the presses.
 
Not to mention that's what balance is all about.

Without criminals, innocent people wouldn't exist.

Basically, while good and evil are opposites and thrive to destroy each other, the fact is that they can't destroy each other and depend on each other not only for survival, but also for their existence.

If everyone was a good person, the world would be incredibly boring. As Homer stated in an early episode of The Simpsons, "If we were all the same, there'd be no need for heaven, because we'd already be there."

Wow, this is probably the cheesiest and/or most philosophical thing I every said.

I bet I'm going to get mocked (again) even though I'm being serious.
 
I think it had the potential to be philosophical, but you missed it somehow.

Still, I get what you're thinking, but only because I already thought about that topic.

It was somewhere along the lines of forming a response to the question of "If God exists, why does he allow evil to exist?"

Cause the world would be boring if there was no evil.

I'd explain more but 1. religious debates are horribly irrelevant here and 2. I'm running out of computer time.
 
While I admire the determination to change things for the better, Smashgoom, it's not likely to happen based on the idea that it's "the right thing to do" (that's the sentiment I've been getting from your recent posts). As the U.S. demonstrated during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, many people do not feel obligated to involve themselves in rectifying the plight of others unless there is some perceived personal benefit in doing so, and since the culture is, as you said, desensitized to this sort of thing, many people will not see this personal benefit (fewer people than most would like see this benefit as helping one's fellow man) until the issue reaches their doorstep, so to speak, and that's when it's their brother/son/neighbor who is the victim.
 
Actually, I was leaning more so in the direction of karma. I believe karma exists, it just doesn't happen all the time.

As for why God allows evil, well, I personally don't think he allows it, more like he creates it via accidents, AKA mistakes. He can't truly punish evil-doers until their life ends and end up in the after-life. Plus, if God really exists, he's only one being despite his all mighty powers. Not even he can shoulder the weight of every living being on Earth.

TLDR: You can't expect one being, human or otherwise to solve everybody's problems.
 
Dr. Javelin said:
Smashgoom202 said:
Geez... And people get on my case just for saying what I think about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "I bring fans down on this forum", they say. Well looky what Javelin's doing here.

Anyway, yeah, I suppose it IS impossible to make sure this never happens ever again, but we can at least TRY to improve things instead of just accepting it as an inevitability.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying that our efforts won't have any effect, but it's just not possible to remove all instances of crime and such. I mean, accidents happen.

So sure, go ahead and work for the improvement. But poor cynical me doesn't thing things are going to improve much.

EDIT: Also, who exactly are those folks attacking you for bringing down fans? Is this brony civil war?

Alert the presses.
Click to expand...
Crocodile Dippy told me to stop with my long-ass posts and my introspective look on the show, and used the "bringing fans on this forum" down thing as an excuse.

What confuses me is that he said nobody cared about the insightly, thoughtful stuff I had to say in my long posts I made... But clearly they DO care because he's asking me to stop doing that. Mixed messaging much?

Anyway, on topic... Maybe I can't do much to improve things for the better for everyone... But at the very least, I want to see Zimmerman punished.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
But at the very least, I want to see Zimmerman punished.
Click to expand...

They're calling it self-defense, right? How is that even being taken seriously?
 
Mario4Ever said:
Smashgoom202 said:
But at the very least, I want to see Zimmerman punished.
Click to expand...

They're calling it self-defense, right? How is that even being taken seriously?
Click to expand...
Why so serious?

But the fact that the police actually let him go saying there's no proof that it WASN'T self-defense just seems very backward and obviously biased... Hopefully, when this finally reaches court, things will be straightened out.
 
SG202, if someone is disrespectful towards you, just ignore them. Go to your profile, go to "Buddies/Ignore List" type in names of anybody you deem as trolls and ignore their posts in the future.

Anyway, I agree that guy deserves to be punished, but honestly, what's done is done. Nothing you or anyone else does will change the fact that the kid got shot. Granted, something can be done to make sure Zimmerman doesn't do this to anyone else again, but...I actually don't have much else to say ATM.
 
There was no proof that it wasn't self-defense?

That's like drinking a container of toxic waste and justifying it with "there's no proof that it won't give me badass superpowers".

And the thing is, we'll only get stupider.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back