An example of the gross lack of critical thinking in this country is the Right’s current depiction of Obama and the Left as “hypocritical” because we don’t come out in manifest outrage at the Chris Lane killing – by two blacks and one mixed guy – as we did with the Trayvon Martin killing. A brain is truly a precious thing to waste, but to hear the lapdogs on the Right, you’d think they’d all lost their brains –or what’s left of them!
How do we spell it out for them that this is a clear case of false analogy? I mean, if these jokers don’t even grasp the basics of accelerating climate change – and still believe it to be a “hoax”- how in Hades can we get them to grasp a highly nuanced illustration of causal disjunction in the Chris Lane murder vis-à-vis the Trayvon Martin murder? I wonder!
Look, the case of the young Aussie here on a baseball scholarship that gets plugged in the back by three teen punks who were “bored” is a tragedy beyond belief. He was just visiting at his girlfriend’s place, going out for a jog one evening, and gets shot in the back with a .22 revolver. His life ended, his scholarship hopes terminated as well as a likely major league baseball future – maybe with the Milw. Brewers!
But it was not to be because of these thugs. So how is this case different from Trayvon’s murder?
1) The cops actually acted expeditiously and effectively in arresting the perps in this case, while they were asleep at the switch in the Trayvon killing. (Probably immobilized initially by Florida’s reckless ‘stand your ground’ law – hence unable to decide if Zimmerman really committed a crime).
2) Zimmerman basically used the SYG law as a legal cover to whack Martin, who was just minding his business and trying to get through the neighborhood. The punks in the Lane case out and out blasted a guy to death but had no legal cover to hide behind.
3) The three punks (not “apes”) in Oklahoma, are singularly responsible for their dastardly act and must face the music. They stand trial as adults as well they should. Zimmerman had a state law (Fla. State statute 776.013) as an untried accomplice- which means others can get away with the same crime in the future.
4) Zimmerman, because he had a legal façade to protect him, collected hundreds of thousands of bucks to hire the best lawyers to make his legal case. The 3 punks in Okey-land won’t have doggy lickspittle. This is not to say they deserve $$$, but only that had they been white and acting under the same ‘guidelines’ as Zimmerman in FLA- they’d likely have had a rat’s chance of escaping like Zimmerman did. But black or mulatto, and SYG law or not, they’d have faced Old Sparky.
5) I know this must give a certain wannabe Confederate cretin a stroke, but Obama owes no one any explanation or any chiming in on the Lane case. Basically, it is 'case closed', and those 3 punks are going to likely get the maximum punishment. International outrage alone – e.g. from Australia – demands it.
6) The Australian former PM correctly blames the "NRA gun culture" for making weapons too easily available in the U.S. and he’s correct. Some wingnut lamebrains compare this argument to suggesting that all autos be confiscated because they kill 35,000 or so a year, and all pressure cookers be confiscated because they can be used to make bombs such as in the Boston Marathon bombing.
But these again are false analogies. The reason is that the primary use for a car is transport and people are killed mainly out of negligence, causing accidents. The primary use for a pressure cooker is and always has been to cook food. All other uses - including taking a crap in or making a bomb out of are aberrant at best, and hence not justifiable to base withdrawal or disuse upon. The primary use for a gun, by contrast, is to kill or maim and most gun deaths – better than 90% - are caused out of intent to kill, maim. (“Protection” is often cited but the stats show this hardly if ever materializes. The crooks usually get the guns and employ them against the owners)
But here’s the butt -kicker for the Right to ruminate on: Had the three OK punks all been white and the shooting occurred in FL they likely would have gotten away with their punk deed on the basis of the Florida ‘Stand Your Ground’ law - if they’d come up with the right pretext – as opposed to the stupid, degenerate “bored” crap.
Something to think about!
No comments:
Post a Comment