posted July 16, 2013 11:22 PM            

basically, a Young man smoking pot and being in trouble at school vs a good man caring for his community.
who never fought as teenager?
obviously, this one and his friends speak like thugs do, saying "nigga", "bae" ...
all that the man on the video says about the "assault" relies on zimmerman's assertion. obviously he would have admitted if he had provoked a fight...
and then he argues that by punching zimerman first, martin commited a crime. well we know here in LL that some righteous people are masters at stirring **** with people, and provoking reactions... right?

posted July 17, 2013 10:52 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by juniperb:
Wow, thanks pire

Now I see what was ment by in a civil case, info tarnishing Martin would be exposed..

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What can they say about him? It has been reported Trayvon was under school suspension when killed. He was - for tardiness. One of his highschool teachers confirmed this. According to other reports, he had earlier been suspended for spray painting on school grounds and for possessing an empty bag with marijuana residue. No charges were filled. This makes for a thug? (I'm guilty of two of these sins. I'll let you guess which. Lucky for me I'm a white woman) The four men who murdered Marley Lion could reasonably be called thugs. Trayvon was a typical, just turned 17 year old boy displaying the usual teenage qualities of hubris, poor judgment, and impulsive behavior. Zimmerman was the adult here. Or at least should have been.

Several bogus twitter and facebooks acounts were created in Trayvon's name after he was killed. Most of the so called incriminating evidence was pulled from these fake accounts. Additionally, a case of mistaken identity is further clouding the waters. http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/martin.asp

there's really nothing worse than blaming the victim

posted July 17, 2013 11:42 AM            

For me, most of the discussion worthy topics are to be found in the public's reaction to the trial (which is deplorable imo) and possible criminal reaction to it (which is disturbing to say the least). tbh I have a deep personal dislike for the "she was wearing a short skirt therefore ... " argument, so, yeah, it irritates me to see it employed in this case.

posted July 17, 2013 12:18 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
I thought we were discussing

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WE are discussing, yes, like the civilized folks that we are.

Other people are actually fighting, and that's who I was referring to.

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
tbh I have a deep personal dislike for the "she was wearing a short skirt therefore ... " argument,

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I don't know, it all gets so complicated. I think that rooting through one's entire electronic history, picking and choosing incriminating bits, could lead to some distorted impressions and unjust verdicts. But it could also be done well...the thing is, the jury won't be looking at ALL the electronic evidence, just the pre-selected bits, so it seems to me that there was already some legal "tampering" from square one.

Nothing's perfect. I know that people can be victimized by that "tampering" but also, people can be vindicated by it. Could go either way.

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
so, yeah, it irritates me to see it employed in this case.

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I agree that some of the evidence is shoddy. MOST of the kids in my college class smoked marijuana...does anyone who's gone through college really think it's even worth mentioning if Martin smoked it? The PRESIDENT smoked it.

But if did that Lean stuff, and it causes people to flip out in rage, I believe it's pertinent to the case. Just like I believe that Ritalin and other psychiatric drugs are pertinent in many of the school shootings, though the drug companies that fund and thereby dictate the contents of television programming manage to keep that out of the collective, mainstream mind.

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
fwiw There's very little we discuss here that doesn't come with a high percentage of unknowable facts.

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Good point.

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
The unknown factor is a part of life.

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And here's another moment where the Scorpio hits the bullseye!

posted July 18, 2013 04:44 PM            

quote:

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Amazing how the media has turned it to a race issue, when it's not.

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I can see why people say it is. Trayvon got followed for "looking suspicious" after burglaries by other black people. Even if Zimmerman wasn't normally a racist, there is a reasonable justification to believe Martin's race played a role in his being followed for being suspicious.

posted July 19, 2013 04:33 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by AcousticGod:
I can see why people say it is. Trayvon got followed for "looking suspicious" after burglaries by other black people. Even if Zimmerman wasn't normally a racist, there is a reasonable justification to believe Martin's race played a role in his being followed for being suspicious.

If there had been break-ins by people of Zimmerman's ethnic heritage, and he'd followed them believing that they looked suspicious, [and the same outcome occurred] then people probably wouldn't use race as an issue in this case.

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posted July 21, 2013 08:40 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by AcousticGod:
I can see why people say it is. Trayvon got followed for "looking suspicious" after burglaries by other black people. Even if Zimmerman wasn't normally a racist, there is a reasonable justification to believe Martin's race played a role in his being followed for being suspicious.

If there had been break-ins by people of Zimmerman's ethnic heritage, and he'd followed them believing that they looked suspicious, [and the same outcome occurred] then people probably wouldn't use race as an issue in this case.

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Indeed.

Did anyone catch Obama`a impromptu speech on race relations?
Reminiscent of his 08 speech on race .

Obama urges nation to grapple with race

President Obama said Friday that all Americans should respect a jury's acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, but white Americans should also understand that African Americans are pained by Trayvon's death and continue to face racial discrimination.

posted July 22, 2013 09:51 AM            

Would we ever invade England or Sweden the way we have invaded the Middle East?

Would support for the wars continue if the victims included hundreds of little blonde girls with pigtails?

posted July 22, 2013 04:24 PM            

I personally don`t see race and have a rather difficult putting myself in anothers racists shoes.

posted July 22, 2013 06:31 PM            

But...what I meant was, would modern day Americans be willing to sign up for the military to invade and attack a predominantly white country?

posted July 22, 2013 06:31 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
People say Obama is racist, because most of the victims in US wars are brown.

[quote]Would we ever invade England or Sweden the way we have invaded the Middle East?

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Would support for the wars continue if the victims included hundreds of little blonde girls with pigtails?

I personally don't think so.[/QUOTE]

duh....of course not! and why in the world would any gov. invade the northern european countries in this day? that wouldnt make sense, economically nor politically speaking....

global wars are made by dominant forces against the weakest...it has nothing to do with race or racism. i mean, seriously? you're implying that obama is racist because he is invading weaker countries which is basically...how it always goes when it comes to the art of war?
it is about class, power and who has the biggest guns! and of course, in some cases, classicism is linked to marginalized groups.

ye gods...the japanese invaded the chinese! japan was an empire, an imperialist force, japan invaded anything that it could control and dominate, the ethnicity nor the skin color mattered, that was...an afterthought.

sigh...americans...you guys sure can be illogical when it comes to race and racism. you get stuck in race and racism and cant see beyond. i mean, not all of you but...it is just what i and my foreign friends notice...

posted July 22, 2013 06:39 PM            

YES I think the wars are racist and especially Obama's incessant drone bombing of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He's targeting a race.

I think the IMF is racist. It keeps poor, colored people in debt to richer nations, because it can.

I think corporate America is racist. Think of how often colored people are working in slave conditions for the sake of the white market: sweat shops, grueling factory labor, poverty conditions for farmers, child slave labor in cocoa plantations...and how often do white people have to work for people of color in those conditions?

posted July 22, 2013 07:03 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by hikoro:
sigh...americans...you guys sure can be illogical when it comes to race and racism. you get stuck in race and racism and cant see beyond. i mean, not all of you but...it is just what i and my foreign friends notice...

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Do you live in a country with as much racial diversity as America has? Do you all deal with people of many different ethnic backgrounds on a day-to-day basis?

posted July 22, 2013 07:36 PM            

What is this? White guilt?

The Asians can't stand each other and just about slaughter each other at every chance. Put a Japanese, a Korean, a Chinese and a Vietnamese in a room (no not Americans) and you'll see no love lost. They just as well claw out each others' eyes.

The Chinese people are just about the most racist people in Earth. We call the motherland the Middle Kingdom for crying out loud. The whole world revolves around China. Everyone else is uncultured swine. If China can, it'll rule Earth and enslave everyone else.

posted July 22, 2013 08:33 PM            

I would be curious to know how racism plays out in an Asian city where people from various Asian countries live side by side. Are Koreans targeted for bullying in Peking? Are Chinese people looked down upon in Tokyo?

posted July 22, 2013 08:45 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
I would be curious to know how racism plays out in an Asian city where people from various Asian countries live side by side. Are Koreans targeted for bullying in Peking? Are Chinese people looked down upon in Tokyo?

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Pretty much, yeah. And China has several ethnic groups within it that express racism toward each other (well, sometimes at least, not that the Chinese government would ever admit to it). There's also an ethnic group in Japan on one of their islands, I think they have a lot of facial & body hair, they still get discriminated against by the other Japanese. Japan threw a fit over a Chinese woman playing a Japanese Geisha, IIRC. And during WW2, Chinese Americans LOVED to report Japanese neighbors to the US Government. A Korean family I knew of seems to get along with Chinese & Mongolians (distantly) but HATES Japanese, and would literally prefer their American born kids marry someone white before another Asian American group (though Korean American would be preferred).

posted July 22, 2013 09:08 PM            

Maybe American racism is "illogical" because it's all kind of underground and hidden, not as overt as Asian animosities? So we are talking more about psychological suspicions (trying to "read" people in spite of their politically correct speech) than tangible hostility.

I know plenty of people whom I regard as racist, but I know they don't consider themselves racist. I just don't like how they word things; if I took issue with it openly, they would think I'm too sensitive to it.

posted July 22, 2013 11:08 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
I don't think war is an "art."

YES I think the wars are racist and especially Obama's incessant drone bombing of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He's targeting a race.

I think the IMF is racist. It keeps poor, colored people in debt to richer nations, because it can.

I think corporate America is racist. Think of how often colored people are working in slave conditions for the sake of the white market: sweat shops, grueling factory labor, poverty conditions for farmers, child slave labor in cocoa plantations...and how often do white people have to work for people of color in those conditions?

Yeah, it all goes back to racism as far as I'm concerned. The deep, old roots of the modern establishments are still alive.

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What America are you talking about? Have u ever been here? I live here and where I am we have all different types of people and religions.

Lots of different ethnicities with great paying jobs. Well at least where I am.

Most of the Pakistanis and afghanis I know own successful businesses. If Pakistanis and afghanis in there own countries are poor then that is the government/tail bans fault.

The Taliban are the real ones destroying the country.

They aren't even from Afghanistan.

They need to go back to the Pakistan.

Where I live there is a mosque, Korean Methodist church, Catholic Church, Jewish synagogue, baptiste church, Jehovah's Witness temple, and a Buddhist temple. Literally within 5 blocks of each other. People get along.

posted July 22, 2013 11:29 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Venusian Moon:
Where I live there is a mosque, Korean Methodist church, Catholic Church, Jewish synagogue, baptiste church, Jehovah's Witness temple, and a Buddhist temple. Literally within 5 blocks of each other. People get along

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Here's more about how great all those people get along, Venusian Moon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3E6WizwRDo

quote:

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This week the AP has again released information they obtained as part of their ongoing investigation of the NYPD's surveillance of the Muslim American community. They released documents that prove that the secretive NYPD Demographics Unit has been targeting Muslim owned stores and places of worship. It also shows that the Unit was working undercover in these places because they were Muslims owned or frequented and that they deliberately chose not to monitor the Jewish and Coptic Christian populations in the same areas

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