Yeah, take that Main Stream Media and trolls on Twitter who only care about civil rights and social inequalities when the liberal elite tells you to. Yes, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world, I have chosen to NOT care about this particular murder. I’m sorry Trayvon died, I’m sorry George Zimmerman killed him, vicariously ending his own chance of a normal life, and I’m sorry that families were hurt and needless hate and violence snowballed into a Media freak show. I’m sorry, but I don’t care. You know why? I’m numb.
I’m numb because of the Media’s tendency to pick and choose which act of murder is more important than the rest of them and I’m numb because of the mindless angerbot, faux attorneys that take up this mantle of Twitter-engineered rage over something that is not only blown out of proportion, but distorted by some clever spinster at a corporate news office aiming to make the real world nothing but a larger, less fuzzy screened episode of “Days of Our Lives.”
You know how many murders happen per year in America? Roughly 17,000. Is Trayvon Martin’s case more important than the other 16,999 people who were slaughtered? No, his is not. You know why you hear it blaring from every confounded TV station? Because it is a great way to boost some ratings and create something out of nothing.
Congratulations, y’all have officially become pawns in a disgusting game.
“Oh, but the race card” you say! And to that I respond with this little story:
Ever heard of the town of Franklin Furnace, Ohio? No? Why not? Three people, a husband, a wife, and their 20-something year old daughter, all shot by a gunman over a drug deal gone bad. Trust me, I know. It’s my hometown. The convicted gunman was my cousin. The people she supposedly killed were people I knew; I even graduated high school with their niece. Did you hear about that on the news? No, you didn’t. Why not?
They were white.
Yep. I went there. Let the hate mail begin.
They were white, Appalachian hillbillies with nothing better to do than do drugs, go to Wal-Mart, and watch the occasional NASCAR race. Never mind the fact that three people died; a fourth if you count the gunman, because life in prison is death in the free world. Forget the issues of drug use and the Government’s questionable drug war that seems to have Appalachia trapped in some alternate primal universe; nah, this was just some vanilla on vanilla action — no story there.
Our family, their family, our community, was figuratively flipped upside down. It seemed like people sat around here with their mouths just gaping open for days. Maybe, we thought, just maybe, some sort of weird universal good can come from this. Some good media attention to show the evils of drugs and the dark society that is created from the effects they have on the nuclear family and the local community. Nobody called.
I said all of that to say this; there was a reason they didn’t call. It wasn’t juicy enough. Just some coked-up rednecks shooting each other again. Sing a new song why dontcha!
No, there is no way we can make anything out of that, they said. The only time we show white people crimes is when they have some sort of depression induced breakdown and drown their kids in the bath tub or throw their lifeless child out in the woods before they go out for a night on the town. Crackers be trippin’ yo.
There was nothing to spin in our case. No hate crimes, no wealth-prompted insanity, nothing they could possibly twist to get one sect of people fighting another.
Here is a news flash for everyone getting all worked up over Trayvon Martin, the media doesn’t care about him either. For those of you supporting George Zimmerman, the media doesn’t care about justice for him. And for that very reason, I don’t play their reprehensible game. I simply don’t care. They, the shock jock Media, just want all of you to look in the mirror, realize who you are, and hate anything that doesn’t look and act like you.
Hate. Hate sells. Keep the hate alive.
Tanner Salyers | Shawnee State University | Portsmouth, Ohio | @TannerSalyers
You didn’t hear about it on the news because:
1. It’s white on white crime, and the news doesn’t seem to like talking about the fact that white people kill each other too.
2. It’s about drugs. the news doesn’t like painting non-minorities as drug users.
That said, I’m sorry for your loss.
Who cares it’s only one man
As Mother of your cousin, and your most avid fan in life, I must comment. Since the wrongful conviction of your cousin, mostly because she was tried in local media that was as far reaching as Cleveland to Florida. From my own investigation into the facts and so called evidence of the case I have discovered the media tells you only what it wants you to believe. Most facts or evidence is left out of the media reports and the trial because it doesn’t “fit” their theory. People and law enforcement only want the conviction for their “resume” to climb their idea of the success ladder. A little thing of innocence cannot be bothered with. Because of what I have lived thru I take every story of murder with a grain of salt. I don’t jump to conclusions as to the story being told. I know there are facts left out, and a spin on those they do have. I know that the media likes a good story, one of a poor drug dealing family being shot is not that good, but combine it with a so called “6-yr old eyewitness who was assisted by detectives and relatives in the identification of the sex and name of the shooter so conveniently left out of the story and it being a death penalty case made it more news worthy. No one cares that his testimony could be proven wrong, he is only 6 don’t try to prove he did not see what he “thinks” he saw. Don’t be mean to the little child who is a victim too. Let someone be convicted because the testimony of a child cannot be challenged without the challenger coming across looking like the monster who really committed these murders. The law says no one under the age of 10 should testify, but if you are the Prosecution and needs one so young then it is overlooked. One day when she is proven Innocent – maybe – Just maybe it will make national news. People don’t want to disturb their conscience to think an innocent person should spend their life in prison because of the mentality “Well if the SHERIFF and the Prosecutor Said she did it she must have” We know they NEVER lie or make a mistake”. ” She’s probably guilty of something” Why even bother with a so called trial anyway? Yea Well I could go on but a blogger I am not. Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth.
He has a point, but it’s the way he died, most people die from confrontations, altercations, deranged people, this is a special and rare one and it also causes as an argument to stand your ground law , the significance are just hidden and altered by the media so ye of course, not everyone would feel the same
I’m constantly bewildered by the criticism of this case getting attention. Not critisism of the case mind you but the simple idea of this case making hte news seems to offend people. Really, what do you prefer? The media not to cover this case at all? Will ignoring crime really fix anything? Would we be having the discussion of race relations today if it didn’t?
Yes, this case was trailored made for the media to pick up on. Thats not Trayvon Martin’s fault and frankly, its not the media’s fault either. It is what it is.
As far as the implication that we only see white crime when the white person is the perpetrator, then the author needs to read up on Missing White Girl Syndrome.
I don’t even know where to start.. The media does love a sensation because it sells. However, I think this case got a lot of attention because of the unusual events that occured. From what I have heard so far, Trayvon was walking to his father’s house by himself, unarmed, and carrying a bag of skittles.. The fact that this everyday situation lead to his death is what gathered the attention from the media. And, yes, I agree with you that the media has become an endless stream of self-worship and sensationalism. It definitely has a ‘numbing’ affect. But it does reaise awareness of unusual and tragic crimes like these which could even result in some weird universal good as you said.
I think it’s interesting that you ask why Trayvon’s case was more important than the other 16,999 murders. Why should it not be important? It was a sad and early ending to a human life that came about because of careless actions. Just because some of the other 16,999 murders didn’t appear on TV doesn’t mean that no one cared about them..
Lastly, I’m sorry that your family’s murder story was not blasted all over the news and into people’s homes… Something you seem to despise, yet, at the same time it was something you wanted? I would probably go write an essay about why I didn’t care…
I think some of y’all are missing the point. What I took from this is that the author doesn’t care about Trayvon Martin. It’s is the title. What he does care about is the way the media presents some cases and not others, seemingly based on some sort of racial slant.
When you mention of black on white crimes, the perp was apprehended. In this case, zim was standing there looking the cops in the face, quick conversation, and was allowed to walk. Show me in one of your examples, where the black perp was allowed to walk away after a conversation with cops. Show me.
There have been two other articles posted to this website today that deal with other issues. As of this posting, guess how many people have left feedback on those articles: ZERO!!! This article has received eleven comments (now twelve.) If you’re all so “over it,” why don’t you weigh in on something else?
The premise of this article is a little silly. You obviously do care and are not numb. If anything, you sound bitter, angry, resentful, and deeply interested in this subject. Maybe you have had plenty of reason to feel that way, but if you are dissatisfied with the amount of coverage this story has gotten, then you should stop feeding into it.
And what’s with the Walt Whitman reference? Didn’t really get it.
You should point out that the media criteria for what makes the news is very narrow. In Kansas City, two black men doused a 13 yr old white student with gasoline and lit him on fire saying, “this is whet you get white boy!” Did that make national news? No. Why? To the main stream media, this is what is expected of black kids to do, it’s not out of the ordinary for them. The fact that it happened to a white kid changes nothing. So long as the assailant is black, it’s never news worthy: Black on black, black on white, black on anything, doesn’t make the news. I would even go so far as to say that if George’s last name had been Garcia, and he had a Hispanic father and mother, this story would not have made the national news. But like someone else has already pointed out, it’s our fault. We tell the media we will watch and be enthralled in any case you think is worth showing. We blog about defending Zimmerman before we know the whole story. We rally and protest about justice for Trayvon before knowing what he did that might have forced Zimmerman to shoot him. Now that Zimmerman has been arrested, this story will go away. The news will continue to give updates occasionally, and the trial (if there is one and whenever it happens) might be televised, but likely by then, some new story will have taken the focus away and “I am Trayvon” will be a forgotten memory.
Racist
It’s cute how you come on here, write one word, and then slink away. Without proper punctuation, I may add. If you had bothered to give an explanation as to why this iws racist, we would have given you the time of day. But see, I and many people on this site have been called racist without explanation so many times, we’re immune to it. You liberals are sniveling cowards who can’t even formulate coherent arguments, so you content yourselves with name calling and then scuttle away.
Well guess what? I dare you to prove me wrong, grow a spine and develop a cogent argument as to why this article, its author, and its readers are racist. Due so, and you receive a modicum of respect. Fail to do so, and you will remain nothing more than a pathetic sycophant who lacks the reasoning skills to make your own decisions. The choice is yours.
Uhhh….You ARE giving them time of day. In fact, you’re obviously giving them a lot more time of your day than they gave you of their’s. If you’re “immune to it,” then why don’t you just ignore it?
…wow…I literally just laughed out loud at how ridiculous this article was. HAHAHAHA. Like that. Seriously, just that first paragraph alone is ridiculous. I’m sorry this happened, I’m sorry that happened…but I don’t care. If you don’t care, why even write that? Because it seems to me that you AREN’T sorry. You come across as bitter just because the media isn’t covering about someone who is white. If Travyon had been white, would you be writing about how the media doesn’t like black people? Of course you wouldn’t. And I mean, cmon, this is just ONE story. It’s not like the media is covering murders of black people all day erryday, bro.
Yeah, murders are happening all the time. 17,000. That’s a huge number. I believe that too. But do you really think the media is able to cover EVERY SINGLE ONE of those 17,000 murder cases? Thats over 40 cases per day. “And in breaking news, someone was shot today. Oh, this just in, someone else was just killed! Oh wait, hold on…we gots ourselves ANOTHER murder errybody!!!” No. Just…no.
The case of Casey Anthony. That was a huge media frenzy. But I never heard the black, hispanic, asian, (insert minority here) community complain that the only reason the media was covering that case was because the victim was white. The media was covering that story because SOMEONE WAS UNJUSTLY MURDERED. People wanted justice for Caylee. Same thing with this case. People simply want justice for Trayvon. Is that so hard to believe?
Lastly, I <3 carrots, and I'm not even a rabbit. Like, what the hell is up with that?!?!
People seriously think there is a demand for the over-the-top media circus that is the Trayvon Martin case? You must be joking. I was over this story after the first day when the media plastered pictures of a 13 year-old Treyvon everywhere, and not the 17 year-old he really was. The MSM constructed the narrative from the beginning and forced it down people’s throats relentlessly. Eventually when you repeat a lie enough it starts to sound like the truth. That’s what they’re counting on…
I support The College Conservative, and I agree with your article. The one thing I would add is, if I understand it correctly, the reason people in Sandford’s black community got especially upset about this case was because it had looked as if the police were not going to handle it properly. That was the story here. Unfortunately, and inevitably, the race hustlers, the NBPP, the despicable,dishonest MSM, and the democrat politicians, who never pass up the chance to play the race card, got involved. When that happened, justice….for anybody….became impossible. I feel sad and sorry for the two families.
Thank you and exactly! The reason this case is making the media rounds is seemingly Zimmerman was going to walk with very little investigation. If Zimmerman would have been arrested that evening, you would have never heard about the case unless you lived in Orlando/Sanford. The lack of prosecution was the story, the use of the “stand your ground” law was the story, not the actual murder.
My only issue, is this. Most of the times these stories start out on local media, then hit mainstream if there “juicy” enough. I’m with you there. (news 101 is “news values”, or what you refer to as “juicy”, this case meets a lot more than your cokeheads, thats why it got more coverage) But there are many stories that hit mainstream that don’t get the coverage this one gets. The reason for that is because we the people have continued to demand it. The people who loathe for every bit of information on the Trayvon Martin case are just a big a problem as the media. The media is meeting the peoples demands, perhaps exceeding it a bit, but still, what are they supposed to do? Not report on all of the tweets, the marches and everything else. The media might be the lit cigarette that starts the brush fire, but it’s the people who are the wind that turn it into a wildfire.
The national media selects “human interest” stories based on what they consider newsworthy. They pick these stories up because the flame is usually kindled locally. The problem is when they don’t present BOTH sides, or even worse, EDIT to achieve their agenda. That is disgusting, and is the biggest reason the people are turning more and more to the web for information. The only problem is most Americans are so busy with life, they don’t have time to get properly informed, thus the ignorant masses. This is how fantastic politicians, who happen to be very dangerous, get elected. Thank God, the sleeping giant has been awakened by our current Socialist in Chief.
I really understand your outrage and Numbness. The MSM wants trouble to take our minds off of what is happening right under our noses in Wash. The Media is a bunch of shameful hippocrates. Thank you for standing up. Great article.
I agree with most of what you say, but bot with the way you have said it.
I think you will be turned off by many simply for writing in a tirade of thinly veiled anger at the media. Wish that you more clearly showed up the media for their shallowness with other examples. And wrote in way that gave readers or led readers to their own conclusion.
But, it’s a start. I applaud you for the effort and what content you did provide.
Joe said what I was thinking…..