Why Do I Know His Name

Via social media, I have been watching many of my friends, especially my clergy friends, come completely unglued over the jury finding George Zimmerman not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin. Social commentary abounds. Hate language is generously used. Pictures with my friends wearing hoodies are reposted. And, as I usually do, I ask, “Why.”

Not, why are they upset. Many of the clergy I have met over the years are generally upset. Upset is what they do. It is how they live. They seem to go from one cause to another to be upset about. And though I can see the allure of the adrenalin rush “righteous” anger brings and self-satisfaction of feeling superior to others by consistently judging situations they know little about and have absolutely no impact upon as unjust or unrighteous, I still don’t get it.

How can any of us, based on the “news reports” we listen to and watch, possibly believe we have enough information to make the decision (judgment) that the jury made a right or wrong decision? Who do we think we are? I fear that who we are is a bunch of senseless, emotion driven people who are incapable of coming to conclusions on the basis of rational thought. We have become a society of “feelers” who react to almost everything according to our feelings. We jump to conclusions that fit our preconceived notions and feeling and then gather the “evidence” to support the conclusions we have already reached. My greatest concern about this approach is that it is the way many of our most educated people approach decision making. I have been doing pastoral counseling long enough to know that making decisions as an emotion driven person almost always leads to unfortunate and unhappy outcomes.

The big question I have in the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case is: Why do I know anything about it? Why do I know their names? Out of all of the violent deaths in our country every year – murders, manslaughter, accidents and suicide – why have I heard so much about this particular case? I would suggest it has become a national phenomenon because there are certain people and groups who manipulate the media to press forward their personal, social and political agendas. I also believe that one of those groups is the media, itself. The shooting and death of Trayvon Martin is a terrible tragedy. Unless one has experienced it, one cannot possibly understand the pain and heartbreak of having a child die. And then, for that death to come in such a way as this is beyond comprehension. Grief, anger, confusion are overwhelming.

I keep questioning why. Why has this particular case made national news? As sad as Trayvon’s death is, it is no less heart breaking than the deaths of scores of young men and women who die in the streets of Memphis, and every other city in America, every year. Why is the nation not mourning their deaths? Why are the social commentators (and my clergy friends) not coming unglued about these precious young people – these sons and daughters? Pardon my cynicism but it is firmly rooted in hard, cold experience. I believe we, as a nation, were manipulated into making the death of Trayvon Martin a media event. I believe there were several self-serving groups that came together in a perfect storm to make the death of Trayvon and the trial of George Zimmerman an event of monumental proportions.

1.      The Media. The nation media outlets are in a dog-eat-dog competition for audiences and ratings. Higher ratings mean more money and in our culture, money is everything. Whether the media outlet leans left or right (And please don’t insult my intelligence by trying to pretend they don’t.) makes no difference. They all will exploit any story the public is willing to latch on to and milk it for all it is worth. And trials are the best because they go on forever.

2.      Civil Rights Leaders. These are self-proclaimed civil rights leaders. I have a sense there are some real leaders who are functioning under the media radar. The media whore civil rights spokespeople are an amazingly self-serving group. Somehow they manage to convince a large number of people that they are deeply concerned for the civil rights of minorities in America. It seems pretty obvious to me that only people they are truly concerned about are themselves. They seem much more interested in feeding and strengthening any divisions there are between racial and ethnic groups so that they can rake in some more money and get their faces on television and quotes in the media. It is in their best interests to keep racial disharmony stoked so they have job security. Several of these, so called leaders, are great orators and thus great manipulators. And there seems to be no shortage of people willing to be manipulated.

3.      Our government. The question must be asked and answered: Why did representatives from Washington involve themselves in this case almost from the beginning? It was a local case under local jurisdiction. Why were people from the DOJ and other government entities on the scene and involved? I would suggest it was done for political reasons. Why would I say that? Because everything they do is for political reasons. Washington is the home base of self-serving manipulators so they piled into the fray.

4.      The marginalized. Many Americans feel marginalized; unheard and uncared about. They/we (I, too, sometimes feel that way.) are just a little angry about almost everything and it doesn’t take much to set us off. Thus, we are easily manipulated. Give us a cause, even a cause that we know little about and have little invested in, and we will show up and carry signs and march and scream and make a media event. We are good with the “thinking” that there was a court decision in Florida we didn’t agree with, so let’s block a highway in California. Manipulated.

5.      The Feel-gooder/Do-gooders. Here is a special bunch. They are driven by emotions but think they are intellectuals because they graduated from college. These people are easily manipulated because they are susceptible to emotional manipulation and are only willing to pay attention to rhetoric that validates what they already believe based on their emotional responses. This bunch is especially dangerous because they are self-righteous and think they aren’t.

Is it a shame that George Zimmerman was out wandering the streets that night carrying a gun? Yes. Is it a shame that there had been several robberies in that area over the past few weeks? Yes. Was it a bad choice for both men that they were willing and did confront each other? Yes. Is it a sad commentary on our culture that they thought it was okay to engage in a fist fight? Yes. Is it a horrible tragedy that George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin? Of course it is. Is there something about that shooting becoming national news a bit suspect? You bet there is.

We, the unwashed masses, need to think about that.

Copyright © 2013, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved