The Zimmerman Trial

George Zimmerman's trial has been going on for several days. I haven't written about the trial because I've relegated myself to waiting for the court to make a decision after all available evidence has finally been made public. If you're interested in reading detailed accounts of the trail Legal Insurrection has been posting excellent day-by-day breakdowns.

What I do want to write about is the group of people that have already declared Zimmerman guilty. This court of public opinion has already declared a verdict based on evidence that has been manipulated. Some members of this group have gone so far as to threaten riots if Zimmerman is found innocent by the jury and a few have even indicated a willingness to murder him if he receives an innocent verdict.

George Carlin one said, "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." That quote succinctly explains what is wrong with courts of public opinion, they're effectively groups of stupid people making decisions. What I mean by stupid is the people don't have all the evidence at hand. They have made their decision based on "evidence" put forth by the media, not thoroughly reviewed evidence made under the rules of a court. While today's courts run rampant with statism they still offer some amount of defense for those being charged. All presented evidence, from testimonies to demonstrative, can be examined by both the defense and prosecution.

What makes courts of public opinion more frightening is that it is often unwilling to make a new ruling based on reviewed evidence. That is to say, even if the jury finds Zimmerman innocent the court of public opinion will still believe he's guilty and will find any excuse to support their opinion (most likely they will claim he got off merely because he's a white man who killed a black person even though Zimmerman is Hispanic). My advice for everybody is to sit back, watch the trial, and make no conclusion until all evidence has been presented. That's the only way one can make an educated decision regarding this trial.