Things I've Learned Through Reading About The Zimmerman/Martin case On DU
(Taken from actual posts by DUmmies):
1. A seventeen year old high school student is a "baby". Not a baby to his mother, but literally a baby.
2. Taking a few MMA classes at your local gym makes you an indestructable fighting machine.
3. If someone suspicious is walking through your neighborhood, you are not allowed to exit your vehicle and walk through it yourself. Doing so makes you culpable in the suspicious person's death should he attack you and you defend yourself with deadly force.
4. The proper course of action for children who believe a stranger is following them is not to scream, not to call for help, not to seek another adult for help, and not to run home. It is to turn around and charge the suspicious person. Such behavior is the correct course of action in "stranger danger" training for kids.
5. It is justifiable both legally and morally to physically beat down any person walking behind you in a public place, even absent any other threat.
6. Smoking marijuana renders an individual completely unable to commit an act of aggression.
7. Carrying Skittles and iced tea renders an individual completely unable to commit an act of aggression.
8. It is impossible to imagine any reason a 17 yr. old black male would physically assault anyone other than in self-defense.
9. If by chance you do imagine any reason other than self-defense that a 17 yr. old black male would physically assault anyone, then you are a racist.
10. In the same situation as Martin that night, a 40 year old white woman would not likely be looked on with suspicion as a possible burglar (Yes, a winner of the "Duh, No Shit Award" actually posted this yesterday).
11. When a young black man notices an older Hispanic man following him, it is reasonable for the black man to suspect he is about to be raped.
12. Defense lawyers are not supposed to zealously defend their clients.
13. Defense lawyers are supposed to give more weight to avoiding hurting the feelings of family members than they are to protecting their client from a 25 year prison sentence.
14. For a teenage girl, being barely literate, speaking in mumbling street language, and making angry and insulting remarks in a court of law confers an air of nobility to her.
15. A 17 yr. old high school athlete with a two minute head start cannot cover 100 yards faster than an overweight 28 yr. old who doesn't even know the direction the 17 yr. old was headed.
16. Heading home, then stopping, doubling back, and ambushing someone behind you is "standing your ground".
17. Even if you have a history of assaulting local officers, the police will still automatically take your side as long as your daddy is some obscure, retired, low-level magistrate from out of state.
18. If Zimmerman is found not guilty, then the black community is fully justified in rioting and hurting or even killing random white people.
19. If you are armed, it is not possible to fear for your life.
Those are just a few pearls of wisdom from the Most Intelligent People On The Internet.