# Duke Lacrosse, DSK, Trayvon Martin ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 27, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952 "2012-03-27T15:05:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/121 "2012-04-05T18:03:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Here we are again: anyone who disagrees with your biased view is always blind and clueless and incapable of understanding that you are completely correct in all particulars. NBC blew it here, and the press blew it when they misidentified Zimmerman as a white guy last month. I make no bones about that. I think people who say this is all about media bias should at least acknowledge they’re interpreting things. Of course your view is completely unbiased :rolleyes:. How many blown facts before you will admit that something else is going on here? I see that you simply refuse to see the other side unless the new orgs come out and **admit** that **their** bias is what led to all the errors in this story. > [@Marley23](#): > > I hate to be blind and clueless again, but that’s not what I said. You said the press should not have mentioned the races of Zimmerman or Martin until it was proved that the shooting was racially motivated and that any other course of action indicates bias, and I said your proposal was ridiculous because the Martin family was speaking to the press and the police ahd Zimmerman’s mug shot on file. It was both implausible and impossible to keep the race thing under wraps. It doesn’t speak to bias, and reporters don’t need to prove that a fact is relevant before reporting it. They’re not prosecutors. Sigh…not reporting on the race is not hiding something. People can look at the victim and perp without the media coloring the story and producing the narritive. Not reporting the race hides nothing. Reporting the races involved, along with selective editing, etc. helps to create the narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/122 "2012-04-05T18:17:54Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > In your opinion, is it likely that the NBC edit was intended as a way of having it fit better with the racism angle? Depends on how you mean “fit better.” I think they felt the reference to Martin’s race was relevant but didn’t appreciate the fact that having Zimmerman bring it up rather than the 911 dispatcher changes the context. They were wrong. > [@yorick73](#): > > How many blown facts before you will admit that something else is going on here? None, because I don’t believe the news media is run by a shadowy conspiracy of people pushing the agenda of whatever- **yorick73** -thinks-the-agenda-is. I realize that when you come into the discussion with the preconceived notion that the media is liberal and always pushes particular stories, it’s easy to turn any mistake into evidence of the conspiracy. In the real world, you can’t make a convicing argument by working backward that way. > [@](#): > > People can look at the victim and perp without the media coloring the story You’re going to have to explain your rules here. Are you saying it’s OK for the press to publish pictures, but not mention the races of the people involved? Is it somehow supposed to matter that people see what Martin and Zimmerman look like, but if the words “black” and “Hispanic” are published, it introduces bias? > [@](#): > > Not reporting the race hides nothing. So you keep saying over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/123 "2012-04-05T18:20:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Depends on how you mean “fit better.” I think they felt the reference to Martin’s race was relevant but didn’t appreciate the fact that having Zimmerman bring it up rather than the 911 dispatcher changes the context. They were wrong. IMO it’s blindingly obvious that it changes the context, to the point that it’s very hard to imagine that the NBC people didn’t appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/124 "2012-04-05T18:31:01Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > IMO it’s blindingly obvious that it changes the context, to the point that it’s very hard to imagine that the NBC people didn’t appreciate it. And yet here we are. It was stupid and should have been obvious, but it’s also more plausible than the **yorick73** theory, which holds that nobody would care about the fact that a guy shot an unarmed teenager and wasn’t arrested, but that nobody would care about that story unless they also believed the shooter was a white guy who hunts black people for sport. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/125 "2012-04-05T18:43:50Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And yet here we are. It was stupid and should have been obvious, but it’s also more plausible than the **yorick73** theory, which holds that nobody would care about the fact that a guy shot an unarmed teenager and wasn’t arrested, but that nobody would care about that story unless they also believed the shooter was a white guy who hunts black people for sport. They would care no matter what, but they would care more if it was another Emmit Till story. (Hard to imagine that you disagree with this, but I’ve not been following your exchange with Yorick with the attention it deserves, so I’m not certain what precise point is being debated). More to my point though, is Brazil84’s post above (#110). I don’t think the NBC people deliberately tried to present what they knew to be a false picture by changing the context of the quote. Rather, they thought anyway that the truth was that GZ was guided by racist impulses, and this edit was just a way of bringing that “truth” into sharper focus. So while they would understand in general that changing who raised the racial issue was a significant change to the extent that one was looking for evidence that race was a motivating factor, it was not all that significant from the persective of someone who already “knew” that race was a motivating factor. And that’s where the bias comes into play. Because the NBC people were predisposed to see the racial angle, and this impacted how they presented it. In this case they crossed a line and tripped up, and this is a dramatic illustration of the issue. But this same mindset could drive their presentation in other less egregious ways, but ways which nonetheless reflect the same mindset and predisposition. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/126 "2012-04-05T18:47:20Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > The media gave its game away when some outlets started referring to Zimmerman as a “white hispanic.” > > If a\*\* mestizo \*\*wins the Nobel Prize, will the media refer to him as a “white hispanic”? Of course not, he will be referred to as “hispanic” or “latino”. > > He is referred to as “white hispanic” because that better fits the Leftist narrative. (bolding mine) Your comment is moronic. What makes you think that George Zimmerman is “a mestizo” or for that matter that his Peruvian mother was? Do you know what that word means? You do realize that only about 37% of all Peruvians identify themselves as “mestizo” while 15% call themselves “blancos”(AKA “whites”) and that this especially true of upper-crust Peruvians who are almost all of %100 European descent. Do you think this Peruvian woman should be classified as “non-white” [http://img.ezinemark.com/imagemanager2/files/30002496/2010/10/2010-10-19-10-56-36-3-mara-julia-mantilla-peru-2004.jpeg](http://img.ezinemark.com/imagemanager2/files/30002496/2010/10/2010-10-19-10-56-36-3-mara-julia-mantilla-peru-2004.jpeg) Or, for that matter this Peruvian man? [http://top-people.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheBWFYAW8GDMFYZ2FZIGXSB3NH/imgMario%20Vargas%20Llosa1.jpg](http://top-people.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheBWFYAW8GDMFYZ2FZIGXSB3NH/imgMario%20Vargas%20Llosa1.jpg) I haven’t seen any data, but I suspect that most Peruvian immigrants to the US, like most Colombian immigrants are from the upper classes rather than being the children of Campesinos. As to your claim that Zimmerman is only called “a white Hispanic” because it fits “the leftist narrative” it’s worth noting that 37% of all Latinos classify themselves as white and in Florida with it’s high Cuban and Colombian population, the figure is almost certainly higher. Do you consider Charlie Sheen, Cameron Diaz, Jorge Garcia(Hurley from _Lost_) and Andy Garcia “non-whites”? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/127 "2012-04-05T18:49:05Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > There is news today that the 17 year old daughter was caught having sex with a man in a car back in November (and it was _not_ the male cousin she is betrothed to in a pending arranged marriage) and then later was fighting with her (now deceased) Mom while riding in a car and was so distraught she threw herself out of the moving car, breaking her arm. > > It’s also reported that the murdered Mom had filed paperwork initiating a divorce from her husband. > > Finally, the note the family turned over to the authorities (the note that told the family to go back to Iraq) was a photocopy, not the original copy, which the family now says was mistakenly thrown away. > > Nothing suspicious here… Cite. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/128 "2012-04-05T18:53:31Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > They would care no matter what, but they would care more if it was another Emmit Till story. (Hard to imagine that you disagree with this, but I’ve not been following your exchange with Yorick with the attention it deserves, so I’m not certain what precise point is being debated). No, I wouldn’t argue against that. > [@](#): > > More to my point though, is Brazil84’s post above (#110). I don’t think the NBC people deliberately tried to present what they knew to be a false picture by changing the context of the quote. Rather, they thought anyway that the truth was that GZ was guided by racist impulses, and this edit was just a way of bringing that “truth” into sharper focus. I understand that. I’m just not convinced it was the case. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/129 "2012-04-05T19:01:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > None, because I don’t believe the news media is run by a shadowy conspiracy of people pushing the agenda of whatever- **yorick73** -thinks-the-agenda-is. Nice strawman you built there. > [@Marley23](#): > > I realize that when you come into the discussion with the preconceived notion that the media is liberal and always pushes particular stories, it’s easy to turn any mistake into evidence of the conspiracy. In the real world, you can’t make a convicing argument by working backward that way. Funny that my notion is preconceived while the media just made a few “mistakes”. ABC was quick to report that Zimmerman did not have any visible injuries on that grainy police video and then had to walk that back once the video was enhanced. How long did the media report that Zimmerman weighed a hulking 250 lbs.? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/130 "2012-04-05T19:02:55Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > Funny that my notion is preconceived while the media just made a few “mistakes”. It’s ridiculous, but I don’t think it’s particularly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/131 "2014-01-08T20:41:03Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The point of this is there is a widespread notion that due to racism of American society, people are apt to prejudge MM as guilty and evil and PWM as innocent and pure. But in these cases at least, the opposite is true. ISTM that this is itself due to the acceptance of an exaggerated notion of the extent and depth of racism in American society, which makes the narrative of the innocent MM being persecuted by the PWM all the more compelling. But in reality, while racism undoubtedly exists, and is widespread in its milder forms, it’s not nearly as severe as people like to assume. > > The upshot is a sort of “reverse racism”, where people can suffer for the color of their skin or their ethnic background, not because people inherently hate them, but because they find the narrative of them as Evil people compelling, regardless of the facts. From the perspective of the victim, I don’t know if there’s that much difference. [White judge says he sent a white man to prison because of racial bias](http://us.cnn.com/2013/12/13/justice/white-racial-bias/?iref=obnetwork) > [@](#): > > A former Brooklyn judge testified on Wednesday to ask that a man he convicted of murder 15 years ago be freed, saying he was racially biased during the 1998 trial. > > Frank Barbaro, who is white, said he now believes his decision to convict Donald Kagan, also white, for the murder of an African-American man named Wavell Wint was a result of his “subliminal fight against racism,” he told CNN. > > Barbaro was convinced that Kagan was racist and wanted to kill a black person, Barbaro said. > [@](#): > > Barbaro said he gave little consideration to the self-defense argument presented by Jeff Adler, Kagan’s attorney, because he was blinded by his experience as a civil rights activist earlier in life. > > The former judge was 18 years old when he became deeply involved in issues of racial inequality. His experience caused him to be “repulsed by racial discrimination against black people,” Barbaro said. > > The former judge said he saw Kagan as a white man who “assassinated” an African-American. > > In a nonjury trial, Barbaro convicted Kagan of second degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, sentencing the man to 15 years to life. > [@](#): > > When Barbaro read the court transcripts, he said, it became apparent to him that he ignored undisputed facts that support Adler’s self-defense argument. Kagan tried to walk away from Wint twice during the verbal and physical altercation, Barbaro said. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/132 "2014-01-08T21:45:20Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The point of this is there is a widespread notion that due to racism of American society, people are apt to prejudge MM as guilty and evil and PWM as innocent and pure. But in these cases at least, the opposite is true. ISTM that this is itself due to the acceptance of an exaggerated notion of the extent and depth of racism in American society, which makes the narrative of the innocent MM being persecuted by the PWM all the more compelling. But in reality, while racism undoubtedly exists, and is widespread in its milder forms, it’s not nearly as severe as people like to assume. _meh_ I note that you did not make reference to the widely reported rapine and savagery that occurred in the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome during Kartrina that turned out to be nothing but invented nonsense or the seriously underreported attacks by suburban New Orleans police forces on people fleeing New Orleans. I see no references to the initial reports that “Middle Eastern looking” men were suspected of having blown up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. One can make any case one wishes by cherry-picking the news reports that one chooses to quote. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/133 "2014-01-08T21:55:07Z")
I’m not trying to prove anything. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but racism of the type you describe (and any other type) is very widely reported (and frequently greatly exagerated, as you’ve done here) and an enormous focus in this country. By contrast, the issue I raised is not nearly as much of a focus. But it’s something to consider. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/134 "2014-01-08T22:23:49Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I note that you did not make reference to the widely reported rapine and savagery that occurred in the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome during Kartrina that turned out to be nothing but invented nonsense … Could you please cite some of the news stories claiming that these rapes and savagery were committed by black people? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/135 "2014-01-08T22:24:35Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I’m not trying to prove anything. > > I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but racism of the type you describe (and any other type) is very widely reported (and frequently greatly exagerated, as you’ve done here) and an enormous focus in this country. > > By contrast, the issue I raised is not nearly as much of a focus. > > But it’s something to consider. Just curious on your view. How often do you think these kinds of things happen to each of whatever racial groups you want to identify? Do you think it is more likely that a white person be charged and convicted for being white, or that a person of color be charged and convicted for being of color? Care to estimate the frequency of these biases? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/136 "2014-01-08T22:27:02Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I note that you did not make reference to the widely reported rapine and savagery that occurred in the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome during Kartrina that turned out to be nothing but invented nonsense or the seriously underreported attacks by suburban New Orleans police forces on people fleeing New Orleans. Am I a bad person for knowing (and chucking at after the fact) that rapine is the violent seizure of someone’s property and thinking that is what you meant? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/137 "2014-01-08T23:15:22Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Just curious on your view. How often do you think these kinds of things happen to each of whatever racial groups you want to identify? Do you think it is more likely that a white person be charged and convicted for being white, or that a person of color be charged and convicted for being of color? Care to estimate the frequency of these biases? I couldn’t tell frequencies, but I think it’s very likely that an innocent “person of color” would be more likely to be charged and convicted of a violent crime based on stereotypes about them than a white person would be. But it’s not as if one thing cancels out the other. Each is independent, and each case deserves to be treated on its own. And when considering a specific case concerning a specific person, whether “of color” or not, it’s worth considering what stereotypes might be in play. In the cases discussed in the thread title and OP, I think the Evil White Man preying on the Downtrodden Minority were the sterotypes in play. As in the case that just came up in which a judge confessed to having sentenced an innocent man to 15 years in jail based on his predisposition to see that particular stereotype. Worth considering. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/138 "2014-01-08T23:44:54Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I’m not trying to prove anything. > > I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but racism of the type you describe (and any other type) is very widely reported (and frequently greatly exagerated, as you’ve done here) and an enormous focus in this country. Again _meh_. If you think that I have exaggerated anything, point it out. Despite Shodan’s transparent attempt to pretend that there was nothing “racist” about the reports on the Superdome, those false reports were widely disseminated. Police in the New Orleans suburbs did attack people fleeing from New Orleans (even entering New Orleans to do so). The Murrah bombing was originally attributed to Middle eastern terrorists. Beyond that, we went over twenty years inflicting disparate punishment on cocaine users depending on whether their drug of choice was more popular among whites or blacks. Reports of actual racism are frequently published once and done with no follow-up. If you wish to make a claim that racism is not nearly as bad in the U.S. in 2014 as it was in 1964 or 1974 and even in more recently, I would actually agree with you. Beyond that your selective attention to some events while ignoring others is little more than recreational outrage. Certainly, some racism is exaggerated while other examples are ignored. I would guess that this has rather more to do with the news being processed on a daily basis, reacting with the old “if it bleeds, it leads” motivation than anything else, and this variety will stop when racism is truly something that society, as a whole, has left behind. > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > By contrast, the issue I raised is not nearly as much of a focus. Rather than not being a “focus,” it is simply rare. > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > But it’s something to consider. Write to Fox News. I am sure that they can address the issue with their usual high standards–or, at least, more to your liking. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/139 "2014-01-08T23:46:32Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Am I a bad person for knowing (and chucking at after the fact) that rapine is the violent seizure of someone’s property and thinking that is what you meant? Actually, that was what I meant. There were reports of rape, but there were more reports of people simply taking their fellow victims’ property along with beatings and other violence. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952/140 "2014-01-09T00:07:12Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > If you think that I have exaggerated anything, point it out. You’ve exaggerated things, but my point was that it’s irrelevant because even if what you’re claiming would be true, it would not affect my point. So I’m not interested in hijacking this point in favor of a discussion of your distortions. > [@](#): > > Beyond that your selective attention to some events while ignoring others is little more than recreational outrage. The shoe is on the other foot here. I’m a guy who is simply pointing to one specific issue. That’s not “selective attention to some events while ignoring others” - that just means that there’s already a lot of discussion of those issues and I’m interested in discussing this one as well. By contrast, you are a guy who is trying to shut down discussion of an issue, by insisting on canceling it out by raising other issues when it’s being discussed. That would be an example of a guy who not only pays “selective attention to some events while ignoring others”, but is trying to force everyone else to do the same. > [@](#): > > Rather than not being a “focus,” it is simply rare. Hard to know how rare it is. But it happens, and has happened in some pretty high profile cases that have been deemed worthy of discussion. I’m adding my piece. > [@](#): > > Write to Fox News. Thank you for your wise advice. However, I’ve decided to reject it, and to post here instead. Now what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duke-lacrosse-dsk-trayvon-martin/616952.md?page=8)