idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
gbaji wrote:
idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
No evidence? You really don't get your news from anywhere.
Yes. No evidence. As in aside from people speculating that it might have been racially motivated and repeating that speculation, there's no actual evidence that racism played any role at all. Wild speculation that he said "f-ing coons" during the 911 call turned out to be just that: wild speculation. So other than the fact that the victim was black, what evidence is there that racism was a factor?
First of all, I'd like a cite that it was just wild speculation.
Um... In the linked article in the OP?
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Heated debate has erupted over whether Zimmerman used a racial slur during the 911 call, a recording of which was released this week.
"We didn't hear it. However, I am not sure what was said," Sgt. David Morgenstern of the Sanford Police Department said.
A top CNN audio engineer enhanced the sound of the 911 call and several members of CNN's editorial staff repeatedly reviewed the tape, but could reach no consensus on whether Zimmerman used a racial slur.
So audio engineers enhancing the tape can't determine if a racial slur was used, yet random people hearing the tape concluded that he did and repeated that so much that it created a "heated debate". That's kinda the definition of "wild speculation". Someone hears a word that they can't make out and "speculate" that it might be racist. They repeat that speculation. Others pick it up, assume it's true (as Thumb did in her earlier post in fact), and others hearing/reading that form their opinions based on a reported "fact" that is not factual at all.
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Second of all, Thumbelyna pointed out that he seems to have been profiling blacks for quite a while.
Strange that you didn't demand a cite from her. No wait. It's not strange. It's completely consistent with your incredibly biased demand for such citations. Here's some actual
data Quote:
This afternoon six of the calls made by George Zimmerman were released by theSeminole County Sheriff's Office.
In four of the recordings Zimmerman called police to report "suspicious" persons — all of whom were black — in or near the Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood.
and...
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Records show Zimmerman, 28, called the cops 46 times between January 2011 and Feb. 26.
Many of the calls appear related to his crime-watch volunteer role. The most frequent reason for his calls — nine times — was to report a suspicious person, according to Sanford Police Department records released last week.
So the "all of whom were black" refers only to 4 of the calls. Which were specifically those in which the suspicious people were black. Cart leading horse. Of the 46 calls, 9 of them were for suspicious people. 4 of whom we know were black. Hardly the implication made by Thumb (and repeated by you).
This isn't evidence of racism. It's cherry picking of the facts in order to make people think that there was racism involved.
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Finally, we have yet to see ANY reason to believe that the teen was "suspicious" for any reason other than the fact that he was black.
So because you personally haven't had an alternative reason put in front of your face, it's ok to just assume it was because he was black? Seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
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Also, that there was a physical altercation and struggle prior to the gunshot going off. The victims girlfriend's account confirms this. Now, perhaps a 28 year old 240lb man ran down a 140lb 17 year old, or perhaps there's more to the story than the simplistic version you're hearing from one side?
Last I checked, the testimony from several unconnected witnesses is not "one side".
You're not reacting to the testimony from those witnesses though. You're reacting to selected parts of their testimony being repeated by what can accurately be called a "side" of the issue and which seems to primarily be acting emotionally rather than rationally.
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Furthermore, we have no reason to believe that the kid initiated any attack. And, if he did, he was justified in doing so because (in virtue of STALKING him), Zimmerman had definitely presented himself as a threat.
And if he did, Zimmerman was justified to defend himself. Obviously, neither you nor I know every detail of what lead to that altercation. The difference is that I'm not making broad assumptions about it, while you (and a whole hell of a lot of other people) are. You're reacting to and repeating statements made by people who are themselves repeating emotionally laden half-truths. Try stopping, taking a breath, and seeing if you can get more information and make a more informed decision.