I haven't felt qualified to comment, let alone to judge, so haven't mentioned the matter before now. From what I read at the time of the incident, it appeared there would be great difficulty at the trial in deciding exactly what had happened, what were the the attitudes and motives of both individuals involved, one of them being dead, so unable to present his own evidence. How could any jury come to a certain conclusion "beyond reasonable doubt" in a case such as this?
The best piece I've read this week is written by Arthur Silber at the blog Once Upon a Time: Stop Doing the Vicious Work of the Ruling Class. Mr Silber minces no words, ever, on any topic. If, until now a passing reader has come to their own conclusion on the Zimmerman verdict, Silber's piece might supplement and modify their views somewhat....one way or t'other. His final paragraphs :
The Zimmerman case is yet another in an endless series of distractions. It is another bauble to be tossed around by the ever-busy writers and "activists" of this country's political factions. It is a means of fragmenting and splitting the people's political power, which would be far more meaningful -- and far more powerful -- if the warring factions could only be motivated to form strategic alliances. All those energies are safely directed into a non-threatening pathway -- while the ruling class continues to consolidate and expand its power over every one of us. To the extent the right and left play their parts with such enthusiasm, they do the ruling class's bidding. Most of those on the right and the left have enthusiastically placed themselves in service to the State, and the majority of them have no understanding whatsoever of their grievous failing.
At this point, I almost feel it's beside the point to blame the ruling class for this kind of thing. (Note: I continue to blame and condemn the ruling class without mercy.) What appalls me is how easy it is to distract the American public with incidents like this. Most Americans have been trained very thoroughly. The bell is rung, and they eagerly run to their designated positions. While they are entirely consumed with playing their meaningless roles in the affair of the moment, they pay no heed to the hell that is rising around them.
They'll finally recognize that hell soon enough, but only when it is far too late to do anything to stop it. From that perspective, I can certainly agree that the Trayvon Martin case is a terrible tragedy. But it not only the tragedy of one life ended far too soon. It is the ongoing tragedy of this nation, as it plummets into the nightmare from which there is no awakening.
HBO quite often is on the ball, ready at the drop of a hat to present old movies relevant to current events. On Monday evening they showed American History X. This 1998 film had an award winning performance by Edward Norton. It is the story of a young neo-Nazi, and his...erm... re-education. The film's storyline reminded me a little of another movie I've mentioned here in the past, Steel Toes , the post's title was Hatred: "the madness of the heart." Steel Toes (2006) was, for me, a much classier movie than American History X; it co-starred David Strathairn one of my favourite actors. Dialogue in both films, at times, made my skin crawl with the horror of such intense hatred carried by what appeared to have been otherwise intelligent individuals. I guess it's necessary to have one's nose rubbed into such horror to fully appreciate just how evil such hatred can be. I wish everyone could see these two movies - once a year perhaps - as dire reminders.
Whether some lesser, dilute, or modified version of the kind of intense hatred described in those two films was present in George Zimmerman must not have been clear to the jury members during his trial. In truth, only Zimmerman himself knows the answer.
I don't know how much of the neo-Nazi mindset is still around in the USA, whether it has, perhaps, morphed to a slightly different guise with different targets. I suspect a version of it remains in pockets of certain areas. Discussing this with my husband, he made the point that it's a different type of racism from that known only too well in The Deep South. It does seem that way to me too.....(sigh)...as though we need two varieties of this rotten disease of mankind.
