New York Post headline on George Zimmerman verdict (courtesy pinterest.com)

The mainstream media doesn’t pick sides in racially charged news stories. And Marissa Miller looks lousy in a bikini. A more cynical man than I might suggest that the press wants race riots to generate page views to sell eyeballs to advertisers. But I believe that this morning’s coverage of the Zimmerman verdict reflects the popular gestalt regarding a tragedy wherein a Florida teen lost his life. That the press is a kind of pressure valve helping to release public anger in a safe and responsible way. Or not.

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51 COMMENTS

    • It definitely looks like it. If you look at the whit collar part it has a black line where it meets his neck.

      • The whole photo’s been gamma’d up a few notches. Notice there is no full black anywhere in the photo, not in the shadows, not inside his mouth, and not in his eyes.

        • Exactly what I thought as well, not much effort in the masking department. But hey, the new york post is basically a tabloid anyway right?

    • Yes, obviously they bleached the photo to make him look white and chose a video frame from the one time where he let out a slight smile. Lucky them it looks like a smirk.

      The media is the propaganda arm of the government and the government wants division and conflict because they know people will rush to them for the solution. This keeps them relevant and awash in taxes stolen money.

  5. Not for nothing, but every single post you’ve made on the topic, Robert, has included the word “riot”, as well. Yet there’s been nothing more riotous than a few loudmouth cowards shooting off their yaps on Twitter. One might suggest that you almost seem to be hoping for riots as much as the MSM is. At the very least, you seem to want to mention it a lot, so if there is violence, you can seem prescient.

    Seems like the extremes on both sides of this are tensely waiting for a chance to resort to violence. Meanwhile, the vast majority in the middle are asking, “George who?”. The Trayvon Martin case slipped off the radar of most Americans a long time ago, and many didn’t care much about it when it first happened. It’s over. Let’s all just let it go.

    • Stinkeye’s first paragraph is absolutely correct. RF has opined that there will be riots following an acquittal at least since the start of the trial, if not before, including both posts last night when riots were mentioned as “none so far.” I (and others) have disagreed at every turn. So far, I’m winning. But it’d sure give him something to write about, wouldn’t it? In that, I suppose he’s not much different from the New York Post. Neither one of them is intending to operate a non-profit enterprise.

      As for the second paragraph, I disagree that “it’s all over.” The vast majority in the middle that are asking “George who?” are the same low-information citizens that don’t care about anything else except the next Dancing With The Stars Returning Champions Go To Vegas Super-Duper Spectacular. Or Honey Boo-Boo. The fringes are the fringes, and always will be. But just inside those fringes are those of us who see that this case exemplifies a dramatic overreach of the State, with multiple potential reasons, from rights infringement to racial appeasement to intentional civil unrest to distract the populace. Just inside the fringes of the other side are those who wish to use this case as a springboard for a discussion about racism and race and culture. Not a screaming race-baiting flamewar, just a discussion. There are cooler heads on that side, just like on this one. This case may be over, but the ramifications are far from it. It behooves us to pay attention.

      • Gil Spencer, then editor of the New York Daily News, was confronted on a PBS Roundtable show with a Daily News radio advertisement featuring incitements to fear, exaggerations of NYC violence, and loud sirens in the background. After Gil quietly reflected for a moment, he said to the moderator “I see what you mean. The damned marketing department underplayed it.” That’s the popular press, then and now.

      • Matt,in regards to yr comment ‘low-information citizens’ who don’t know about this tragic case! It cld be that many tune into “trivial’ tv as an escape cos this case might be close to home for many who probably have lost a child in similar,tragic situation!

        • Your argument is rooted in emotion, not logic. Compared to the general populace of low-information citizens, the number who have lost a child under tragic circumstances is an infinitesimally small number, and thus are an insignificant factor in what I’m referring to.

          That said, having lost a child under tragic circumstances (excluding the mourning period immediately following the event) is no excuse for being unaware of what’s going on in the world around you.

    • Perhaps you missed the young black man with the AR tweeting a rather ominous message in a previous post. It’s pretty easy to say that Zimmerman is perfectly safe when you aren’t Zimmerman. As far as predicting riots, that message has been all over. Florida PD’s have been gearing up for it. Sure TTAG can be accused of sensationalism from time to time, but the reason to be here is for the facts and intelligent commentary. The NY Post and liberal media et all are readily available should you prefer ignorance and emotion.

      • There have been smaller groups of thugs who have committed violent crimes such as kidnapping and murder, and cited to their victims and onlookers, that revenge for Trayvon Martin was the motivation for their acts.

      • There’s a big gulf between a garbage-can fire and a “race riot”. There’s more damage left in the wake of an average college football game than what was done in California yesterday.

        And the idiots threatening Zimmerman on Twitter are just that: loudmouth shitheads. That’s not to say he’s completely safe – all it takes is one moron to go “vigilante” – but the ones who are making the most noise online aren’t much of a danger. They’re just immature idiots posing and strutting in front of their friends.

        All I’m saying is the flames are being fanned by both sides in this case, when cooler heads are called for. But fires and violence would generate more page views (and thus revenue) for both the Post and TTAG, as well as many other media outlets, so expect more flame-fanning until this one eithers fizzles on its own, or a bigger story comes along.

        I do come here for the facts and intelligent commentary, Accur81. I just don’t see how shoehorning the words “race riot” into every post about Zimmerman counts as either.

        • I would suggest that the obvious recourse on your part is to stay away until this ‘none event’ passes into the obscurity you proclaim it to already be in.

        • Stinkeye-re yr second paragraph-you have just described Zimmerman! The wannabe hero(vigilante)trying to protect ‘his’ community from punks when told ‘not to pursue young man’!

    • Zimmerman has nothing to fear from keyboard kommandos and twitter terrorists. They are either venting or idiots, or both.

  6. Who woulda thunk it? An Incendiary Image headline that is not overblown rhetoric, and that I agree with. Stirring the pot is the perfect term for this cover story. Muckraking would be another one. I’m glad I’m not personally acquainted with anyone in this business, because I’d have a real hard time maintaining any level of respect for them.

  7. Would the Obama Administration welcome mass violence so they can take advantage of a crisis to pass new anti-gun and anti-freedom laws reducing our rights further while expanding the police surveillance society etc or are mass riots involving African Americans be an embarrassment for Obama and something they want to avoid?

    I agree with Matt’s comment above.

    • Both. It’ll be an embarrassment but goddamn if they won’t try to ram some stupid bullshit through Congress in response to it. Never let a crisis go to waste and all.

  8. Face it there is no unbiased media. All of them have one agenda. Make money. They could care less about this incident or either of these two families. They will fuel the flames because race is an easy target in this country. …….and in guns and you have a media miracle. Let’s try not to be baited by the talking heads and the papers and magazines.

    • Leon,

      One would think their only concern is to make money. Yet the mass media has lost huge readership over the decades because most people consider their content biased, pro left-leaning agenda-driven, overtly sensational with high-drama, lacking in investigative journalism, etc. I used to work for a trade publication which bashed their largest advertiser with an untrue story about them. It was unbelievable.

      • One would think their only concern is to make money.

        Aside from making money, they also have an ideological agenda that they want to promote. They’re failing at the first thing but not at the second.

  9. Got lost looking at Ms. Miller….
    I’ve always been amazed at how the media spins stories. I’ve been in a few stories. After reading them, I just scratch my head in confusion.

  10. Isn’t the New York Post the paper that published pictures of innocent men following the Boston Bombing, strongly suggesting they were the bombers?

  11. I ran around last night telling people that I met that it was a “not guilty for GZ!” – the vast majority of people had no idea who I was talking about. I don’t think there will be any riots if there haven’t been already.

    That said – it is quite obvious that EVERYONE in the press is praying for at least a little rioting – just a burning cop car or something – to sell some more ads.

  13. Whatever loathing you might have for how the media handled this case, it’s not enough

  14. Petit,
    Is my name.
    Petit,
    Was her name,
    The Wife of my Child.
    Petit,
    Was her name,
    The Child without Blame,

    Both were Slain,
    Burned to Death after Beating and Rape,
    By Black men with Disdain,
    The showed no Mercy,
    While my wounds Blead Agape.

    Where was the outrage,
    For Race,
    For Justice,
    From extortionist extrordinares,
    For Jackson and Sharpton,
    And Newspapers didn’t Care.

    My name is Petit,
    And so was theirs!

    But Trayvon,
    Everyone,
    All of a sudden cares!

    When is Race not important,
    But a Life,
    A Life,
    Is just the same?

    No acquittal for my attackers,
    But for my name,
    Petit,
    I gained no outcry,
    My Wife,
    My Child,
    I have no more!

    So therefore,
    All those that ignored me,
    Their existence is Shame!

      • Thank you for bringing that up. I was thinking the same thing when I read that little bit of free verse. Evidently someone didn’t use their fact checker.

  15. There are more protests scheduled today and tomorrow. Some of them, like the one in San Francisco last night, are being organized by the communist group International Answer. Even though they’re commies, I think their rallies are usually non-violent.

    Even if there are no large riots, I predict individual revenge assaults for Trayvon as we saw after Sharpton stirred the pot last year. I’ve been watching several different TV channels today, and I can tell you that the pot is being vigorously stirred again. Last night Crump compared this shooting to what happened to Emmett Till and Medgar Evers. Everyone in the Zimmerman family is in real danger, and I think the rest of us should take a few precautions.

    If the DoJ prosecutes GZ on civil rights, this thing will be dragged out even longer. I don’t think that’ll happen, but there’s a big push being made for it.

  17. What really amazes me is what if any of these “protesting” this verdict, unanimous by rhe way, were given to them?

    Would they be happy seeing, while the Justice system exonerated them, others still trying to prosecute them outside of it.

    I would imagine not.

    This is not an OJ type deal, kinda, except the roles are reversed.

  18. If you are a freedom loving american you need to get involved with this case.

    The NAACP AKA: “The Black Klan” is essentially lynching George Zimmerman all the while treading on his 5th amendment rights.

    Now couple that with the Executive and Legislative branches of goverment exerting undo influence on the Judicial branch and you fundementally have an unravelling of the constitution. I hope George’s attorneys are already filing federal charges against the Black Klan and the State of Florida for trampling his 5th amendment rights.

    Also if you live in Nevada you need to get this tool out of office.
    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/07/14/Reid-Zimmerman-not-over

  19. The New York Post used to be a half respectable antidote to the NYT. Looks like they’re circling the drain now too.

    It could be that the greatest thing preventing riots now is the widespread perception that everyone is ready for it. Harder get them off the ground that way.

    • You must be a lot older than me. The NY Post hasn’t been half-respectable, or really any measurable fraction of respectable, for a long damn time. It’s been a sensationalist tabloid for at least twenty years.

  20. You’re right RF marissa miller does look awful in a bikini and she should take it off immediately!

  23. It’s Zeitgeist, not Gestalt.

    Zeitgeist is literally a spirit of the time.
    Gestalt is a whole, or form. Like a shape, when you see a shape in the distance.

    Thanks for your attention to this. It’ll make TTAG more enjoyable for me to read.

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