Thoughts on the shooting of Trayvon Martin

I’m writing this almost 2 years after the event happened, and about six months after the trial. Now that things have finally cooled down, I’d like to write my thoughts on the matter so they are just not lost in the noise. My view on this is simple…Zimmerman is completely innocent. It was not a hate crime. The people upset he walked away are a fantastic example of why democracy is such a horrible idea.

So, let me expand on that and look at what actually happened. A half-white Hispanic man killed a black teen at night, while he saw someone he saw as suspicious after the neighborhood had had a string of robberies. There were no witnesses, so we have to take the evidence we have available including Zimmerman’s statement, 911 calls, character references and whatever else may help. Zimmerman’s story was that he acted in self defense, which is something that the courts found to be consistent with evidence.

That’s pretty much why he walked. We won’t ever truly know what happened and if he is innocent or not. But in the American justice system, you have to prove a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt. There is a very good reason for that and a lot of history leading up to that principle being a cornerstone of the justice system. Sadly, it is something most Americans and even most of the world don’t understand.

Zimmerman walked because the evidence was consistent with his account of what happened, and because murder could not be proved. That’s it. That’s a good thing because it means the justice system is working as it was intended to. Is it a shame Trayvon Martin died? Undoubtedly. It’s very sad and the case brought a lot of attention, hopefully things will improve because of it and his death was not for anything.

But just because it was a tragic death does not mean someone should necessarily pay for it, and certainly not someone who *may* have been guilty of murder but we can’t prove. That equates to putting an innocent man in jail to satisfy the emotions of everyone affected by Trayvon Martin’s death, and I personally think that is far, far worse than the killing of Trayvon Martin. For those reasons, I’m glad Zimmerman got off and I’m glad the mob didn’t get their say.

Thoughts on support for the military

This is a pretty short post, but the idea is interesting enough to me that I may grow it into something larger. Essentially, I don’t understand why the public has seemingly unconditional support for members of the military in many countries. I am well aware that many members of the public can oppose actions to go to war or similar actions, but when it comes to individuals wearing the uniform, no one seems to say anything bad about them and often gives thanks.

This is what I do not understand. Let’s use the US military as an example, since they are the most well known. Members of the US military (as well as members of militaries from countries that support the US) made a decision to join the military for various reasons. Perhaps due to life circumstances, perhaps simply due to career, or perhaps because they genuinely believed they were serving their country. The thing is though, the US was not under threat of invasion, they were in a war they instigated and could have ended at any time. There is a huge difference between military men who were called to action to defend their country, and by extension friends and families from invasion in times of war and the military and many of the military men today who are simply doing their countries bidding because they believe it is the right thing to do.

Outside of there actually being a legitimate reason to go to war and defend your country….being a member of the military signifies to me a lack of free well and critical thinking. These people are giving up their free lives, being with their families, putting themselves in live threatening situations…for what? For misguided reasons? Was the US really any safer because of the 8 year war in Iraq? How many civilians lives were destroyed by members of the US military who believed they were doing the right thing?

For that reason, in general, when I see a member of the military in modern day, I simply can’t respect them.