Let's talk about Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and how unbelievably fucked up this all is

a nice salad bar appetizer perhaps

but yeah crackers are white, white people are white, the insult seemed pretty straightforward to me

IDK I always thought it was pretty clear it originated from whip cracker, even if that meaning has gotten buried.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28pejorative%29

this is fascinating, apparently "cracker" has been around since the early 19th century (I had no idea, I thought someone made it up in the 70s)

otoh we could both be wrong:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cracker

I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode. [1766, G. Cochrane]

(from what i understand) 'cracker' was a term invented by whites for other whites. originally it was a term of abuse of low-class (presumably scots-irish) whites who liked to get drunk ('the crack'), and so functionally identical to 'redneck'. considering it was lower-class white men who were given the job of actually physically managing slave populations, well, there you go. the crazy white people you deal with directly are the ones they call crackers.

i should look up where i read this tho.

xp wiki seems to agree on the scots-irish thing

don't call me cracker, limey

surely there is some relation to the food term in this history

like did crackers eat crackers sometimes?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/3591658682_9982133a57.jpg

An alternative theory holds that the term comes from the common diet of poor whites. The 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica supposes that the term derives from the cracked (kernels of) corn which formed the staple food of this class of people.[11]

No war but a class war

Btw

The drink itself is not the craic, but it is a decent vehicle oftentimes to get there

To the craicmobile!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyX7uEsScg4

whip crackers never occurred to me either, that just makes no sense as an insult.
"You stupid gunslinger!"

Yeah, "You stupid boss-of-me!"

nah it's like calling them out as the oppressor, the man's running dog, etc. is what I thought anyway

Yeah, fairly redolent of the 'overseer class' - also must reference 'Jimmy crack corn'.

always thought "crackers are white, whites are crackers" occams razor approach
no one has ever called me a cracker to my face, pretty sure i would be less offended and more like "wow really?"

i've never been called a cracker, but i have been called a "white nigga", which I guess is a little more racially sensitive.

Was it by Elvis Costello? If so he meant something else.

the one and only.

hey guys, do yourselves a favor and don't look up cracker on urban dictionary.

yeah that never even crossed my mind

my dad likes to use the "they call us honkies" argument, i have to gently remind him that nobody in the UK has used that word since Love Thy Neighbour went off air

for your own sanity, nobody google Love Thy Neighbour. it's like All in the Family without the nuance

so basically most of the world has adopted Nude Spock and/or Squirrel Police's politics

i think a sizeable chunk of the world has always rocked those politics

tryin to imagine a bunch of middle-aged to elder crackers sobbing in a room after being called "cracker" and...y'know...I'm just not buyin it

All I'm getting is a circle of old jerks making the pugnacious chin-out frat-face at one another.

now imagine they're black

/mcconaghey face

I see what you did there (last summer).

Bill O'Reilly floated the question: was Jamie Foxx being racially insensitive by wearing a Trayvon shirt to an awards ceremony

His audience is made up of people who would not see that as a question only an idiot would ask. They'd see it as a sharp blow against the hypocrisy of liberals.

http://gawker.com/watch-dozens-of-idiots-on-skype-call-the-zimmerman-tria-658043508

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/shakespeares_sister/gifs/fox_zimmerman_laughs_130703c1.gif

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/george-zimmerman-jury-told-injuries-insignificant/story?id=19552856

A medical examiner who reviewed video and photographs of George Zimmerman's injuries suffered during his fatal confrontation with Trayvon Martin called the neighborhood watch captain's wounds "insignificant" and "non-life threatening."

Dr. Valerie Rao testified that Zimmerman was struck as few as three times by Martin during the fight that night. She also asserted his head may have only been slammed on the concrete a single time.

no surprise, the head wounds didn't even remotely look significant in the pics I saw. I realize there will always be small discrepencies in a story you tell over time, but the gaps in his are just huge.

don't think this will be enough to convince the jury (or even prove guilt), but hopefully it budges them a little.

i've only been following this case superficially but dude is almost certainly going to be acquitted, right?

Ask the jury.

I haven't been watching, just reading, but the commentary is that the case is weak. Hell, Casey Anthony's case had plenty of holes (to where it wasn't a surprise that she walked), but even that was stronger than this one at this point.

Not sure what else the state can do at this point. They've about exhausted eyewitnesses, the star witness didn't make the impression they hoped, and now they're basically relying on poking holes in Zimmermann's accounts and having experts fill in blanks with analysis of things like the nature of his injuries, but none of these remotely do the work necessary to paint a picture of guilt.

At this point, I don't see what else is going to do him in. That he has contradicted his own story countless times isn't going to matter. He still gets the basic elements of his story the same (ie, I WAS ATTACKED FIRST), and given the weakness of the prosecution, that's enough to keep him afloat.

The judge just ruled that the jury can consider manslaughter.

Good. still a steep climb even to convict on that but at least it gives options

got a warm fuzzy feeling when listening to Starlito's Mental Warfare mixtape the other day. on one of the later tracks, he concludes one of the more melancholic numbers by giving a heartful shout out to Trayvon Martin. wasn't one of those 'tacked on' type things, was very real and full of warmth.

The judge just ruled that the jury can consider manslaughter.

― "Post-Oven" (DJP), Thursday, July 11, 2013 10:18 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or did you mean the jury cna consider 'committing' manslaughter, cuz.........

my takeaway is that the judge really, REALLY want Zimmerman in jail

or manslaughtered

looks like his attorneys are holding onto the "Stand Your Ground" immunity as a 'get out of jail free' card, and may use it during an appeal if he loses. And apparently only haven't done so yet since it can only be invoked once. Not sure if it would work, given that similar cases, SYG has been dismissed, but it's such a horribly written bill, that who really knows.