The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin

[moralist]

New flash, it has just been announced that Toronto the Good has the lowest per-capita crime rate in Canada.

And the national crime rate is the lowest since 1972, although I may have misheard that part in my excitement and relief that Dggl can now walk the mean streets with less apprehension.

Crime in general is in decline as the population ages.

[caroljane]

New flash, it has just been announced that Toronto the Good has the lowest per-capita crime rate in Canada.

And the national crime rate is the lowest since 1972, although I may have misheard that part in my excitement and relief that Dggl can now walk the mean streets with less apprehension.

Crime in general is in decline as the population ages.

[Brant Gaede]

New flash, it has just been announced that Toronto the Good has the lowest per-capita crime rate in Canada.

And the national crime rate is the lowest since 1972, although I may have misheard that part in my excitement and relief that Dggl can now walk the mean streets with less apprehension.

Crime in general is in decline as the population ages.

That may explain you but not me.

--Brant

planning my next heist

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here are two recent, but very, very different takes on the public with respect to the Zimmerman case.

First, "Wendy," Juror B29:

Ms. Wendy makes it clear that she would have voted differently had she known the extent of the public uproar over the case.

From a persuasion perspective, this is a clear example of the principle of Social Proof. When she was within the jury confines, she was an individual against the majority and she caved even though she felt differently. It didn't take long, either.

Once she was out of the confines of jury duty, she was able to see the uproar and what she perceives to be a majority, so now she feels she let Trayvon's parents down. Her words. Granted, she says she still stands by her vote, but what else is she going to say without looking like a total nincompoop?

In hypnosis, they call a person who is easily vulnerable to being hypnotized a "good subject." It's the same thing with social proof. Ms. Wendy is a good subject for being swayed by social proof. In popular lingo, they say some people are leaders and others are followers. This woman is definitely a follower.

EDIT: I have to make this two posts because of a limitation on embedding videos in the forum software. In geek terms, the WYSIWYG system embeds videos directly from YouTube, but this doesn't work if you enable HTML, like when you need an iframe for another video. And this is what happened.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Now another perspective, one with which I agree:

 

Glenn's argument is that the Trayvon story was never about Trayvon (except to his parents and people who knew him, of course). It was about power.

 

That sounds about right.

 

I think it goes deeper, though. I think it's about people being able to feel virtuous by pointing the finger of shame at a scapegoat that is a traditional bad guy in their core storyline. They can feel virtuous and outraged without having to think about it.

 

But what about the little 13 year old girl who was gang-raped by 12 illegal immigrants and then raped 24 hours later by a black man? What about her? Well, she does not come with power attached. And she does not fit the core storyline of the Trayvon activists. After all, you can't point the finger of shame at illegal immigrants or black people. That would never do. So she was simply a victim and it's better to forget all about her, anyway.

 

Here's a article from TheBlaze covering this:

 

GLENN BECK’S EMOTIONAL MONOLOGUE ON THE HORRIFIC STORY HE SAYS IS BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG BECAUSE IT DOESN’T FURTHER AN ‘AGENDA’

by Erica Ritz

Jul. 25, 2013

TheBlaze

 

From the article:

 

“Where is the outrage? Where’s Al Sharpton?” Beck said, pausing briefly with emotion. “Where’s Barack Obama? Shouldn't the president give a speech saying something like, ‘This girl could have been my daughter, after all my daughter is just turning 14?’ …How about speeches on the dangers of letting illegals live in the shadows? How about the speeches of let’s just be good to each other? Where are the marches?”

 

. . .

 

“See, nobody really actually cares about people anymore,” Beck said. “It’s really only about politics. It’s not about Trayvon Martin. They had to make him look like a little 13-year-old-boy…Why? Because it would help them get elected, or re-elected, or get them to cause trouble or get more trouble. But see this little 13-year-old-girl, you don’t have to doctor a picture of her…she is 13.”

 

He continued: “We are witnessing a society that is completely detached, and we are detached because we have an agenda. Why didn’t we tell the story of the 13-year-old-girl? Because of an agenda. The second rapist was black, the others were illegal immigrants, so we don’t tell that story. That’s not a good story, that doesn't help us with our agenda…”

 

It's basically a choice: caring about individual rights or caring about power.

 

I don't mean a choice of saying you care about individual rights in order to cover and hide caring about power.

 

In either case, including the rationalizations, a little social proof will take you a long way. And good propaganda will get you all the social proof you need.

 

But I believe a strong moral compass will take you further.

 

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

Contrast this woman with our Carol who posts as a socialist on an Objectivist forum, not making a big deal of it, and maintains her stance and integrity on this thread with most posters disagreeing with her.

--Brant

[Darrell Hougen]

Unfortunately, I think legal proceedings are particularly susceptible to "social proof" as there is often a high degree of uncertainty about the situation.

Darrell

[Selene]

From a persuasion perspective, this is a clear example of the principle of Social Proof. When she was within the jury confines, she was an individual against the majority and she caved even though she felt differently. It didn't take long, either.

My, this sure does sound like a reverse Twelve (12) Angry Men.

Great movie.

[Dglgmut]

I read Adam's comment before the excerpt he quoted... I thought at first he was referring to the gang rape Michael brought up in post #630.

[Dglgmut]

New flash, it has just been announced that Toronto the Good has the lowest per-capita crime rate in Canada.

And the national crime rate is the lowest since 1972, although I may have misheard that part in my excitement and relief that Dggl can now walk the mean streets with less apprehension.

Of course Toronto is safe... I leave my door unlocked most nights... but the idea that someone doesn't have the right to be suspicious of someone who they are not familiar with in an area that has had several break-ins is "real retarded", as Rachel Jeantel would say.

I scared the shit out of my neighboor when I ran up the stairs to my front door late at night... I didn't think, "She shouldn't profile me!" How about don't intentionally try to look intimidating because you need street cred when you're walking through a gated community.

[moralist]

From a persuasion perspective, this is a clear example of the principle of Social Proof. When she was within the jury confines, she was an individual against the majority and she caved even though she felt differently. It didn't take long, either.

The verdict serves as a good example of moral rationality prevailing over transient unreliable amoral emotional feelings.

[caroljane]

Dggl,

Not only leave the doors unlocked, I leave my bedroom door wide open in this weather, and I probably scare the neighbours regularly at the sight of me lying here typing in my Lucky Leafs Sarong.

(The bedroom opens onto a fire escape and faces the neighbours' wall and kitchen window. I can only see their hands and torsos at what I presume is the sink)

I

[Dglgmut]

Dggl,

Not only leave the doors unlocked, I leave my bedroom door wide open in this weather, and I probably scare the neighbours regularly at the sight of me lying here typing in my Lucky Leafs Sarong.

(The bedroom opens onto a fire escape and faces the neighbours' wall and kitchen window. I can only see their hands and torsos at what I presume is the sink)

I

So is it safe to say you don't have to worry about break-ins and your situation is probably not comparable to people living in the community GZ was trying to protect?

[caroljane]

Yes, you are right, it is safe to say that I could never argue that my mindset is the same as that of a resident of Sanford Florida, and I never have argued such a thing. I have never lived there or anywhere like it. I never never lived anywhere where to be doubted or feared, even for a moment, is to die.

[caroljane]

Nothing good could ever, ever have come from a killing so bad, so meaningless. But a least the riots predicted, have not erupted, to tear apart anyone's theories.

[moralist]

Nothing good could ever, ever have come from a killing so bad, so meaningless.

There is always profound meaning in getting the consequences we deserve as the result of our own actions.

[caroljane]

When the consequence is death, that occurs due to the actions of others, "our" killers, and "we" do not get to ponder the "profound meaning."

[moralist]

When the consequence is death, that occurs due to the actions of others, "our" killers, and "we" do not get to ponder the "profound meaning."

It's not just all about you. Profound meaning is also for others to ponder.

[caroljane]

[....]

You have not yet provided me with one MSM salivating riot-feeding example.

[/quoAdam, I have actually been following this up and still I have found no riot-predictors except right-wing ones. [....]

Likewise after some pretty extensive searching.

Ellen

I am still waiting for reports of the riots. We have not had any news about them up here. Probably the liberal Canadian MSM is suppressing it.

[Dglgmut]

Nothing good could ever, ever have come from a killing so bad, so meaningless.

How do you know that?

What if George Zimmerman had died simply for approaching someone he thought looked suspicious? (And the term definitely fits if you look into his history.)

Is that more "just" in your mind?

[caroljane]

Of course not. I do not believe that justice is achieved by death.

[Dglgmut]

Of course not. I do not believe that justice is achieved by death.

But people kill... If killing is killing then everyone who kills in self-defense is equal to those that would initiate deadly violence.

What is to stop people who are willing to kill from killing? Make the initiation of violence as costly as possible.

[Brant Gaede]

Nothing good could ever, ever have come from a killing so bad, so meaningless. But a least the riots predicted, have not erupted, to tear apart anyone's theories.

Could it be true that the world is a better human place with one less thug that viciously attacked a good man in a fit of homophobic rage?

--Brant

[moralist]

Of course not. I do not believe that justice is achieved by death.

That all depends upon who dies.

[BaalChatzaf]

Of course not. I do not believe that justice is achieved by death.

What is your opinion of the elimination of John Dillinger? Or Adolph Hitler or Benito Mussolini?