# Pitting the Zimmerman trial circus **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 13, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419 "2013-07-13T19:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/821 "2013-07-19T20:57:43Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > No. Have you ever looked at the trial? The prosecution didn’t even manage to prove that Till was dead. > > The prosecution were racist scum that utterly failed to do their job, and their duty to Emmett Till. I have no doubt that the jury were similarly racist, based on interviews with them after the trial, but I do not believe that the evidence _actually produced at the trial_ supported a conviction. > > (I assume that’s the bit you asked about, not my view that he was, in fact, murdered by at least some of the defendants). The jury _claimed_ they hadn’t proven he was dead. Mose Wright and Till’s mother identified the body fished out of the river as Till’s, and the silver ring found on his finger. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/822 "2013-07-19T21:04:44Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I have a suspicion he confused me with you. That could easily be true. He does, after all, live in his own **Cartooniverse** , which, while bearing major parallels to ours, differs in _remarkably_ strange ways. I think his universe is the one Bizzaro is from. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/823 "2013-07-19T22:31:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The jury _claimed_ they hadn’t proven he was dead. Mose Wright and Till’s mother identified the body fished out of the river as Till’s, and the silver ring found on his finger. And the medical examiner said the body had been in there too long to be Till, or to be identified positively. If I’d been an honest juror there, and had no reason to think that he was as much a racist scumbag as the rest (I actually don’t know whether he is), that would provide reasonable doubt to me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/824 "2013-07-19T23:39:33Z")
My, how times have changed! Bad old days, young black man dies for recklessly eyeballing a white woman. Nowadays, he gets killed for looking at her condo. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/825 "2013-07-19T23:54:02Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Are you kidding? This is **Bricker**. From years of observing his particular dysfunction, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he asserted that [Hermann Göring](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring) was unjustly convicted because he was not convicted in Germany by a jury of his peers. > > :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Why not just say Hitler? Sure he was dead already but the sentence would have made just as much sense. > [@elucidator](#): > > My, how times have changed! Bad old days, young black man dies for recklessly eyeballing a white woman. Nowadays, he gets killed for looking at her condo. I don’t think Treyvon is a victim of racism. Or at least I don’t think that was what killed him. I think he has been vilified by racists after his death. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/826 "2013-07-19T23:57:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Wow. “Save your blood pressure. The only person you can control is you.” > > The voice of reason apparently doesn’t like it when it’s his ox being gored. Touché. Of course, a slight difference, counselor, is that I made two posts on this subject to that moron. One calling her out for lying her ass off about me for which she won’t ever own up to and then the one you partially quoted with her thinking she’s being clever. That’s it. Not 476 posts spread over multiple threads. 🙂 Anyway, yes I do need to not let that splinter fester in my eye. So thanks. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/827 "2013-07-20T00:01:02Z")
> [@](#): > > … don’t think Treyvon is a victim of racism. Or at least I don’t think that was what killed him… Not directly. Z didn’t set out to shoot somebody young and black, it is only that he was much more likely to be _suspicious_ of somebody young and black. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/828 "2013-07-20T00:05:01Z")
> [@Tequila\_Party](#): > > Touché. > > Of course, a slight difference, counselor, is that I made two posts on this subject to that moron. One calling her out for lying her ass off about me for which she won’t ever own up to and then the one you partially quoted with her thinking she’s being clever. That’s it. Not 476 posts spread over multiple threads. 🙂 Anyway, yes I do need to not let that splinter fester in my eye. So thanks. OK. But surely you can forgive me for not having your Buddha-like calm? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/829 "2013-07-20T00:31:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Not directly. Z didn’t set out to shoot somebody young and black, it is only that he was much more likely to be _suspicious_ of somebody young and black. Thank you. Trayvon’s race and Zimmerman’s biases set off a chain reaction that led to the kid’s death. Whether we call those biases racism or something else, the odds are high that if he’d been a white kid, Zimmerman would have given him a lift instead of bullet. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/830 "2013-07-20T00:33:33Z")
What makes you say a white kid would be stupid enough to get in a car with Zimmerman? Fuckin’ racist! ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/831 "2013-07-20T01:06:47Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Thank you. Trayvon’s race and Zimmerman’s biases set off a chain reaction that led to the kid’s death. Whether we call those biases racism or something else, the odds are high that if he’d been a white kid, Zimmerman would have given him a lift instead of bullet. . . . except that you have no evidence on which to base your claim. By all accounts, Zimmerman had no issues with black people. Your own bias is showing–you are projecting your own feelings onto this situation. And I love how you constantly ignore that little part in the middle–the part between Trayvon being black and Trayvon getting killed. You know, that little part where Trayvon physically assaulted Zimmerman in a manner that the jury believed made Zimmerman reasonably fear for his life. Just about every one of you pro-Trayvon people do this, and it’s completely ludicrous, especially when people compare Trayvon to Emmett Till or Medger Evers (neither of which did anything close to that little part in the middle). ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/832 "2013-07-20T01:11:12Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > it is only that he was much more likely to be _suspicious_ of somebody young and black. What’s your evidence for this proposition? Is it only that Zimmerman is not black? Is that it–are you ascribing an attitude to someone based on their race? Did you know we have a word for people who do that? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/833 "2013-07-20T01:14:56Z")
Yeah. Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/834 "2013-07-20T01:33:17Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > OK. But surely you can forgive me for not having your Buddha-like calm? I’m all about the forgiveness, baby, so sure. 😉 Well-being is the most important thing. Kumbaya. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/835 "2013-07-20T02:14:06Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Yeah. > > Republican. [Analogy fail too.](http://www.ibtimes.com/voting-form-shows-george-zimmerman-registered-democrat-confounding-message-pushed-left-430738) :p:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/836 "2013-07-20T02:20:23Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > And the medical examiner said the body had been in there too long to be Till, or to be identified positively. If I’d been an honest juror there, and had no reason to think that he was as much a racist scumbag as the rest (I actually don’t know whether he is), that would provide reasonable doubt to me. It wasn’t a medical examiner. It was a physician testifying for the defense based on photographs. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/837 "2013-07-20T04:47:56Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Wrong. You make shit up and pretend it’s a fact. There’s a big difference. You are mistaken, although I will give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that you may in fact believe this. If you believe you are speaking the truth, then I enthusiastically invite you to cite posts of mine which show me “making shit up” then “pretending it’s a fact”. (Of course, if I have presented any hypotheticals as hypotheticals, that doesn’t count: the unarticulated part of your assertion is that I do this either dishonestly or delusionally, and a hypothetical is neither.) Since I know that I do not do this, I predict your response will be one of the following, in no particular order of likelihood, since I am not really familiar with you: 1. Make no attempt to find any posts proving your point (very likely because you also know it isn’t true) and instead try to substitute _your_ (inaccurate) description, characterization, etc. of whatever it is, distorting it to whatever degree necessary to fit your accusation. And that would be an _instant_ fail, of course, since you would be doing precisely what you are accusing me of doing. And the irony would break the bounds of space and time, most likely. 2. Refer to something which is not a fact, but an inference or opinion, then substitute _your_ inference or opinion and assert that that is the “real” fact. (That would be a classic SteoGiver move.) 3. Make no attempts to find any posts and say so while saying something rude and dismissive, seeking to give the impression that you find such things (such things as backing up your assertions..) tiresome and beneath you, and probably unnecessary because “everyone” “knows” you’re right and/or I am (insert favorite stoid-directed pejoratives here). 4. Say nothing. 5. Produce something I said which was a genuine error of fact and accuse me of making it up. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/838 "2013-07-20T05:02:01Z")
> [@fudrucker](#): > > Of course not. The far left in this country are exactly that; Marxists. But they hate being exposed for their true ideology. Cock roaches always run for the shadows when you turn the lights on. Nonsense! Some of us are Anarchists (who diverged significantly from Marx). ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/839 "2013-07-20T05:17:36Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > My, how times have changed! Bad old days, young black man dies for recklessly eyeballing a white woman. Nowadays, he gets killed for looking at her condo. Well you know when a legitimately innocent victim is shot, the body has ways to shut that whole thing down and they can just skip away. ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419/840 "2013-07-20T05:19:41Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > . By all accounts, Zimmerman had no issues with black people. Witness #9. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-zimmerman-trial-circus/663419.md?page=43)