1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Media bias and lazy thinking: What America should learn

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by bigtexxx, Jul 14, 2013.

  1. Felixthecat

    Felixthecat Member

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2006
    Messages:
    2,804
    Likes Received:
    189
    But its not a fact that is what he was doing on that particular night. Its a fact GZ was arrested for assault. So can we then assume he was assaulting Treyvon, since he's assaulted someone before?
     
  2. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    is it a fact that he was just going to eat the skittles as a snack? You don't know that either.

    It further highlights media bias to assume that it was a harmless kids' snack -- that's how Skittles was used in this whole saga. Piers Morgan even said to GZ's brother last night that TM was "only armed with Skittles".

    BIAS
     
  3. leroy

    leroy Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2002
    Messages:
    27,388
    Likes Received:
    11,269
    Based on him having mar1juana in his system? A drug that can linger for a month in a person's body?

    Seems like intellectual laziness to me.
     
  4. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    autopsy revealed THC in his system as well as the effects of lean
     
  5. leroy

    leroy Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2002
    Messages:
    27,388
    Likes Received:
    11,269
    Again, having THC in your systems reveals absolutely nothing about when it got there. Did he have codeine in his system? You'd think that would be part of the toxicology report.

    Lazy.
     
  6. Felixthecat

    Felixthecat Member

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2006
    Messages:
    2,804
    Likes Received:
    189
    You completely ignore GZ criminal record. I see you only deal with the facts that support your agenda. All you do is point out a teenagers imperfections and ignore the adults list of crimes because he is on your side of the fence. Its not about right and wrong with you...its just an us against them attitude.
     
  7. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    lol you're trying so hard, but failing.

    If somebody's autopsy reveals that they have both THC in their system and the effects of lean, then it's not unreasonable to assume those facts could contribute to somebody else believing they exhibit the effects of drugs.

    next.
     
  8. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    Please post GZ's criminal record and list of crimes he was convicted of. I'll wait.
     
  9. AroundTheWorld

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2000
    Messages:
    83,288
    Likes Received:
    62,281
    What is "lean"?
     
  10. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    basically a drink popular among African Americans to get a buzz

    Robitussin + skittles + watermelon Arizona iced tea is one way to make it
     
  11. Northside Storm

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2007
    Messages:
    11,262
    Likes Received:
    450
    It used to be the case that lazy thinking guided by the media, and stereotypes were the norm in America on a variety of issues. This may still be the case. However, now the tools exist to go beyond that one-dimensional "I assume it's true, so it must be true" kind of thinking.

    I thought I'd post this on insight into how automation of data collection on a large scale is making intelligent analysis ever more potent, realizable, and deeper, and what implications the automation of data collection will have for humans traditionally trained for that role rather than the deeper data analysis that is needed. In the spirit of condemning lazy thinking, I think it offers a window into what is now possible with smart analysis, and the perils that may hold for those restricted to lazy thinking.

    I really actually was looking forward to an honest discussion on this when I clicked the thread title, since what is happening with big data these days challenges all the previous conventions of lazy thinking---"Let's hire Brad Pitt! He's exciting" vs. "Brad Pitt's value-add is actually, on a long enough scale, zero, in comparison with actor X, Y and Z, and we have the data to prove this". There has never been a better time to discuss the implications of thinking smarter, since that will define individual and collective success for the next century.

    http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/features/anonymous/slaves-algorithm?page=full

     
  12. what

    what Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2003
    Messages:
    14,621
    Likes Received:
    2,593
    how is george zimmerman shooting and killed an unarmed african american kid, the opposite of a fact? The point being people aren't basing their opinions on conjecture or emotions, Trayvon Martin is dead is a reality you cannot dispute.

    I suspect that this is why people see no justification for George Zimmerman in this case.
     
  13. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    18,220
    Likes Received:
    8,605
    I don't understand why we are still discussing details of the case when we have an 400+ page thread still going on.

    Back on topic.

    This is the most interesting observation ive noted; Major brought up Benghazi and the IRS scandals, or lack of, whichever way one would like to put it. The key difference to this trial is this is not a political related issue. This isn't a debate about Republicans, or Democrats, or social issues, or even gun control.
    The VERY SAD correlation to this trial is the Zimmerman or St Skittles support divide very closely represented the political landscape. A teen lost his life and very little evidence was at hand, but yet people were polarized. If one is conservative leaning, then they tended to believe Zimmerman acted in self defense and excused Zimmerman from following. If one was Democrat, they were very much more emotional, completely disregarded that St Skittles started the violence in the saga and held Zimmerman responsible for following.

    Its one thing to elect officials with a very polarized landscape, but its completely different when our justice system is heavily swayed by this very same polarized group. I find this alarming.
     
  14. itstheyear3030

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2013
    Messages:
    381
    Likes Received:
    28
    Doesn't the subject of this thread go without saying? New sources, by their very nature, gravitate toward the exceptional and the unusual in what they choose to report. Even better if what they report is controversial, as it'll generate more views. I doubt that anyone with half a brain needs this stealth gloating thread to explain to them that media portrayals are inherently biased and mostly inapplicable to reality.
     
  15. what

    what Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2003
    Messages:
    14,621
    Likes Received:
    2,593
    Actually, I think they held zimmerman responsible for a senseless killing.

    Yet, most people, outside of crazy, conservative republicans, see Trayvon Martin's death as tragic.

    The other thing is, I would venture to suggest that zimmerman represents perfectly the conservative crowd; a gun-toting fool protecting his space, standing his ground, etc.

    and anybody that
     
  16. Major

    Major Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 1999
    Messages:
    41,685
    Likes Received:
    16,213
    I think this is an important point, though I think one of the reasons is that this case represented many political viewpoints brought out into the real world. From someone on the right's perspective, GZ was protecting his neighborhood and having a gun saved his life. From a leftist's perspective, an unnecessary death occurred and these things are the inevitable result of arming a population and having untrained people taking the law into their own hands. It's very much the more generic gun issue brought to life. It also initially brought the whole Stand Your Ground political fight into the forefront, though that faded pretty quickly.

    There's also the element of what originally created the controversy in the first place: incompetence and allegations of racial discrimination within the local police department. The right tends to believe justice is colorblind; the left tends to feel African Americans, both as perpetrators and victims, tend to get the short end of the stick. Whichever way believe, this result probably re-emphasizes that view. The initial actions by the local PD didn't help in that regard at all.

    Then there's the fairness component, which probably has less, but still some, political lines as well. From a in-the-trees right-leaning view, there was a lack of evidence and thus a justified not-guilty verdict. From a in-the-forest left-leaning view, GZ instigated the larger event (regardless of how the details played out), ended up killing someone, and doesn't have any legal ramifications. Josh Marshall at TPM probably summed up best how many on the left generally think about this:

    I’m not surprised the jury didn’t convict Zimmerman of 2nd Degree Murder. I am surprised it doesn’t qualify as manslaughter. The law in Florida has some peculiarities which heavily favored Zimmerman. But this was a situation he created through actions that I don’t think anyone can credibly argue weren’t reckless and showing extremely poor judgment. If a kid who was literally minding his own business ends up dead as the result, it’s hard for me to see it as a just outcome if there’s no criminal culpability whatsoever.

    So all around, I agree it's interesting that the case lined up so clearly on political lines - but I think there are enough elements in it that divide the sides politically that it basically became a rallying cry in many ways for each side, right or wrong.
     
  17. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    ^^

    it's a big logic lead to assume TM was minding his own business if he did in fact attack GZ. Attacking people who are following you isn't the best example of "minding your own business."
     
  18. Caltex2

    Caltex2 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2008
    Messages:
    1,745
    Likes Received:
    475
    In some cases, people look so little into matters that they don't even know the real facts. Here is a look at the case of the Florida woman who was sent to jail for 20 years for supposedly firing warning shots at the ceiling. This case was cited by many in regards to the Zimmerman case and the Stand Your Ground law:

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/89763383/States-Motion-in-Opposition-of-Defendants-Motion-for-Immunity

    And as it turns out, that was merely a fudging of the facts by her to try and avoid legal trouble as she not only did not fire the warning shots (she apparently shot directly at him) but she was not in a life or death self-defense mode. She actually went into the garage to her car, got the gun and came back in to became the aggressor whereas if she actually felt any danger, she had many ways to avoid confrontation and was not being chased. Now if she had gotten it as an insurance policy in case her husband became abusive, that'd have been one thing but according to this she became the aggressor.
     
  19. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    18,220
    Likes Received:
    8,605
    I don't understand the racial profiling aspect. In the self defense aspect, yes, I can understand how one might believe there was negligence on GZ's part.
    However, there is zero evidence to show this was racially motivated. None. There was no coverups. There was no shocking evidence that was later found. The black man wasn't being thrown under the proverbial bus.
    Sharpton, Jackson and the NCAAP are still pushing this issue and they want a civil rights suit filed. These fools are the same ones who allowed this trial to go national and still want to perpetrate this madness. These are the ones who are giving TM the real injustice. These guys are the race baiters and its long past time for all of those who want equality to shut them up. They are doing much more damage than they will ever do good.

    If I was in the same position as the Martins and my son was truly a victim (not circumstantial as in this case), I would never want a case with so little evidence to go to trial. I certainly wouldn't have called for 2nd degree murder. If new evidence comes out that Zimmerman was truly negligent, then there is nothing the martins can do.
     
  20. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    The timeline of media bias:

    February 26, 2012 - George Zimmerman Shoots and Kills Trayvon Martin
    Zimmerman claims self-defense. After an investigation, the police agree and decide not to press charges.

    March 8, 2012 - The AP Falsely Describes Zimmerman as "White"
    The story of the grieving parents of Trayvon Martin demanding Zimmerman be arrested first achieves national attention on March 8 when CBS This Morning runs a report.
    Later that same day, the Associated Press throws the first log on the racial fire by inaccurately describing Zimmerman as white.

    March 13, 2012 - NBC's Al Sharpton Uses MSNBC Platform to Stoke Phony Racial Narrative
    Breitbart editor-in-chief Joel Pollak:
    Sharpton devoted a portion of his program on MSNBC, PoliticsNation, to the Trayvon Martin case. He interviewed Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, who reiterated the accusation that Zimmerman was “white”: “We think Trayvon Martin didn’t know who the heck this white man was who approached him before he got killed.”
    Earlier that same day, Sharpton's National Action Network released a statement calling for...
    ...a “complete and thorough investigation” into Martin’s death. He added: “[W]e are told that racial language was used when the young man reported his suspicions to police[.]”
    The story about Zimmerman's use of racial language was false.

    March 13, 2012 - ABC News Reporter Claims Trayvon Shot Because "He Was Black"
    About ten days before Al Sharpton and President Obama would launch the Zimmerman story into the stratosphere, Matt Gutman, an ABC News correspondent based in Miami, Florida, was already (and without a shred of evidence) laying the track for a racial narrative.
    Gutman covered the case for the network, and his Twitter feed at the time was full of falsehoods, innuendo, and irresponsible speculation. In one tweet, Gutman came right out and claimed Trayvon was shot "bc [because] he was black."
    Gutman would also recklessly accuse Zimmerman of "stalking" and shooting down Trayvon.

    March 19, 2012 - CBS News Falsely Claims Zimmerman Is White
    A small detail that the Obama administration and the media apparently missed was that the white versus black racial narrative they were preparing to invest so much into was missing just one thing: a white person.
    Proof of this is that CBS News falsely claimed Zimmerman was white about a week before the story exploded.
    In their venomous zeal, the media and Democrats likely assumed that someone with the last name Zimmerman had to be white. But they were wrong, as Zimmerman is Hispanic.
    Never ones to back off a good narrative, rather than use this revelation to tamp down tensions or correct their reporting, the media simply made up out of whole cloth a new racial category: the "white Hispanic."

    March 22, 2012 - Zimmerman Described as a "White Hispanic" by The New York Times
    Just in the nick of time, before the story was engineered to explode the very next day with the Sharpton rally, The New York Times put its stamp of approval on the term "white Hispanic."

    March 21, 2012 - CNN Falsely Accuses Zimmerman of Saying "F**king Coon"
    Knowing full well the phony racial storm brewing around the Zimmerman case was about to have gasoline thrown on it the next day, CNN went to extraordinary lengths to claim Zimmerman had uttered the racial slur "coon" when he had not.
    This has to be watched to be believed.
    CNN wouldn't officially retract their defamation until April 5th, long after it was too late.

    March 22, 2012 - NBC's Al Sharpton Goes to Florida
    Though the police had investigated the shooting and saw no reason to charge George Zimmerman, in March of 2012, President Obama's reelection chances looked dim. He would need the crucial swing state of Florida to win another four years, and nothing brings out the Democrat vote like a good old racial bonfire.
    With the help of thousands of dollars from Obama's Justice Department, it was then that Rev. Al Sharpton (anchor of MSNBC's Politics Nation) held his incendiary rally:
    At the protest, Sharpton was flanked by Martin's parents. "Trayvon could have been any one of our sons," he said. "Trayvon could have been any one of us."
    He continued:
    "We are tired of going to jail for nothing and others going home for something. Zimmerman should have been arrested that night ... you cannot defend yourself against a pack of Skittles and iced tea. Don't talk to us like we're stupid! Don't talk to us like we're ignorant! We love our children like you love yours. Lock him up!"
    Sharpton said that he would stay on the case.
    "We cannot allow a legal precedent to be established in this city that tells us it is legal for a man to kill us, tell any story he wants, and walks out with the murder weapon," he said.

    March 23, 2012 - President Obama Repeats Sharpton's Talking Point
    The day after Sharpton held his rally and said, "Trayvon could have been any one of our sons," President Obama made huge news when he stepped before the cameras, demanded action in the Zimmerman case, and famously said, "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon."
    In just two days, a network news anchor and an American president had blasted the Zimmerman case into the nation's top story and did so based on a racial narrative without a shred of evidence to support it. Almost every other major news outlet would now commit every journalistic sin imaginable to fabricate evidence.

    March 24, 2012 - Reuters Describes Zimmerman as a "White Hispanic"
    To keep the white versus black narrative alive, Reuters jumps on the ridiculous "white Hispanic" bandwagon.
    Many others would follow.

    March 27, 2012 - NBC News Edits 911 Audio to Make Zimmerman Look Racist
    On the storied Today Show, NBC News told America Zimmerman said this on the 911 call:
    Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.
    When the truth is that the unedited audio actually went like this:
    Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.
    Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?
    Zimmerman: He looks black.
    After the fraudulent editing was discovered by the New Media (first by Breitbart News), former NBC News president Steve Capus would claim that the edit was "a mistake and not a deliberate act to misrepresent the phone call."
    Eventually, several NBC producers would be fired (without being named), and Zimmerman would file a lawsuit against NBC; it remains unresolved.

    March 28, 2012 - ABC News Falsely Claims Zimmerman Wasn't Injured Night of Shooting
    The day after NBC News released its falsified 911 bombshell, ABC News released a phony, hyped-up story of its own. Using grainy surveillance video of Zimmerman at the police station on the night of the shooting, ABC News claimed, "A police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman."
    Obviously, if true, this would go a long way towards proving Zimmerman was not in fear of his life the night of the shooting and had lied about being beaten up.
    The only problem is that the ABC News story was not true -- not even close. The network didn't bother to enhance the video before breaking the news. Had they, Zimmerman's bloody head would have been quite apparent.
    It would take four days for ABC to retract its falsehood.

    March 28, 2012 - Boston Globe Falsely Describes Zimmerman as White
    By late March it was widely known that George Zimmerman was Hispanic. This did not stop the Boston Globe from using its pages to describe him as "a white neighborhood watch captain."
    This error has never been corrected.

    March 29, 2012 - NBC's Chris Matthews Contradicts Guest to Claim Zimmerman Not Injured
    By the next day, ABC's false story about Zimmerman not being injured had already gone viral. However, some were already doing the job ABC apparently didn't want to do: enhancing the video. A guest on MSNBC's Hardball told the show's host, Chris Matthews, that his enhancement did show bruises on the back of Zimmerman's head. MSNBC even broadcast the enhancement, which clearly showed cuts and bruising.
    Regardless, during the same show, Matthews stridently claimed:
    George Zimmerman says he shot Trayvon Martin after Trayvon broke his nose and repeatedly slammed the back of his head into a concrete sidewalk, but newly released video tape of Zimmerman arriving at the police station--we're looking at it there--appears to show no evidence of a broken nose or obvious wounds to the back of Zimmerman's head.

    Late March, 2012 - Zimmerman's "Black Friend" Vilified by Media
    Even though Zimmerman is Hispanic and there was no evidence of any racial motivation behind his actions, the media's racial-hysteria was, at this point, in full bloom. To try and tamp things down, Joe Oliver, a black reporter who had worked with CNN and an Orlando television station, started doing the national media interview rounds to speak on behalf of his friend, George Zimmerman.
    The counterattack in the media (CNN, New York Times, and MSNBC, among others) was exceptionally vicious, personal, and effective.
    Oliver went away.

    April 1, 2012 - The New York Times Maliciously Edits Zimmerman's 911 Call
    Although the NBC News malicious edit of Zimmerman's 911 call broadcast on the Today Show had already been loudly and publicly debunked, days later the New York Times did the same thing on its front page.
    By rearranging the words of the call, the Times falsely made it look as though Zimmerman had profiled Trayvon as black:
    Here is the 911 call transcript:
    ZIMMERMAN: This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.
    911 DISPATCHER: Okay. And this guy, is he white, black, or Hispanic?
    ZIMMERMAN: He looks black.
    And here is what the Times reported:
    “Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood,” Mr. Zimmerman said to start the conversation with the dispatcher. “And there’s a real suspicious guy.”
    This guy seemed to be up to no good; like he was on drugs or something; in a gray hoodie. Asked to describe him further, he said, “He looks black.”
    The print edition of the story was even worse than the online edition.

    April 9, 2012 - PBS Anchor Gwen Ifill Describes Zimmerman as "White"
    Desperate to keep a non-existent racial narrative alive, during a broadcast of the PBS Newshour Gwen Ifill falsely stated:
    Martin, who was black, was on his way to a convenience store in a mostly white gated community when George Zimmerman, who is white, shot and killed him after a disputed altercation.
    Note Ifill's reporting of Zimmerman's gated community. The condos in Zimmerman's neighborhood sell for about $120,000.

    April 11, 2012 - George Zimmerman Is Arrested, Charged with Second Degree Murder

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/07/13/Media-Zimmerman-Coverage-Rap-Sheet
     

Share This Page