In the wake of the recent 'not guilty' verdict for the Trayvon Martin murder, I felt it necessary to comment on the general state of affairs rather than a case anatomy that many professional and non-experts feel so inclined to do at the drop of a hat.
With every big media trial that occurs, usually for murder or the occasional infanticide, it appears that every person; male or female, black or white, and self proclaimed expert alike come out of the woodwork to lay their opinion on the table for all to hear. What usually amounts to this potpourri of (mis)information, is biased and nonsensical arguments that devolve into hours upon hours of quarrels and 'he said, she said' statements that make the 'highlight reels' of the web. As per usual, the media will of course hyper-inflate what could easily be considered junk swept under rug of the chopping room. In the end those precious few who opt to take a neutral stance on such issues are greeted with a circus that seems to grow only stronger as fuel for minute to minute updates run dry. Rephrasing and repetition become ubiquitous as news stations are forced to use recycle footage and old 'post 9/11' terminology to strike fear in the hearts of the less attentive viewers. Thus those on the lower end of the spectrum get a 1st grade book report summary of the 'truth', which takes liberties with the facts and turns opinions into causes and bullet points into long winded odes to justice and civil rights. The point I'm trying to make is that many of American's tend to take what should be obvious social problems and run with them to the point where they plateau into matters of 'race' or 'gender'. While these issues are good and all, at least for social media, they don't strike hard at the matter at hand which is something more serious and socially unacceptable. Cases like the Trayvon Martin case highlight such issues and shed light on human's inherent ability to leech off social issues and use them as a soapbox of sorts to bandwagon their own opinions which they tout as research or fact. It's a shame because it discredits those who really do look at both sides of the coin and formulate well educated responses to the social failures that are looked upon as social norms. Violence is so widespread that it has been relegated to the 'inner city' and minorities in the lower income neighborhoods. The media for all it's power and expert analysis has been directly responsible for the dumbing of America and the novocaine for an ailing citizenry that forgets the uneven plane it stands upon everyday.
We are a nation of the contrary, a country that looks through all the grim and grit and looks for reasons to disagree with social reform. Gun control is a serious part of this as is abortion and the improvement of daily life. On one hand we push for reform and call those who seek to block such changes fools or lazy. Then on the other hand, when reform or change does take place that can really make a difference we disagree with that and shout blasphemy or sacrilege when it threatens our faith or moral fiber. We are stuck in this hamster wheel of progress that amounts to nothing in the end. History is unfortunately written by the victor and as of late, the winner is awfully good at pretending that mediocrity is an achievement. With every verdict and with every bill we lose a sense of where we are and where we are going, and thus are forced to wander through this endless desert of misdirection. Progress only comes to those who with the desire to be progressive.
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