(Editor’s note (4/11/2012): A link was added to this piece, in the first sentence, to a CBS News article which quotes Mr. Zimmerman’s now ex-attorney, Craig Sonner, verifying that The Real George Zimmerman website does in fact belong to George Zimmerman. It is on this basis that the gar spot accepts the veracity of the Zimmerman site.)
George Zimmerman created a website (therealgeorgezimmerman.com – cut and paste to your browser if you want a look-see; I refuse to link to it). It is challenging to load, undoubtedly because of all the hits it must be receiving. Though I did eventually manage.
The page itself offers no complex coding which would delay its loading. Over the backdrop of a waving American flag is simple text framed in a borderless white box. A menu sits in the upper lefthand corner: Home, The Facts, My Race, Album, Contact. Let’s explore them. (NB: The contents are subject to change, sort of like the Drudge Report, so this account may be dated already.)
The home page declares that the site is indeed the honest to Betsy, genuine mouthpiece for George Zimmerman. Apparently, impostor sites abound.
It has come to my attention that some persons and/or entities have been collecting funds, thinly veiled as my “Defense Fund” or “Legal Fund”. I cannot attest to the validity of these other websites as I have not received any funds collected, intended to support my family and I [sic] through this trying, tragic time.
The “tragic time” he refers to is
… a life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life.
Wow, “and ultimately my entire life.” Where he left it, he does not say. Nor did he go into details about the “life altering event” which triggered him to leave his “entire life.” But his account does at least confirm what his supporters have been saying for a few weeks, that Mr. Zimmerman has suffered, too. Indeed, his now ex-attorneys maintained a few days ago that their ex-client may have not only suffered from a broken nose but also ill effects akin to Shaken Baby Syndrome from his head being bashed on the sidewalk during “the event.” That an infant has a less developed skull than a 28 year old man — and thus is more susceptible to brain damage and death due to excessive shaking of the head — did not deter them from drawing such conclusions.
But back to the website. The next paragraph gets down to the nitty-gritty. He needs cash. After an appeal for funds to help his defense and support his family now that he is unemployed, a DONATE button appears which links to a PayPal site in his name. He takes Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, as well as bank transfers.
At the very bottom of the front page, in small black font that occasionally vanishes in the colors of the flag, is a quote from Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing.” Wikipedia states that Burke never exactly said this.
Mr. Zimmerman likes quotations, though. The page entitled “My Race” consists of just a single quote:
“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.” – Thomas Paine
Similarly sparse is the page called “The Facts.” It starts off with yet another quote — James W. Loewen’s famous line about people being entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. He follows this with a short paragraph expressing gratefulness to his friends for not questioning his integrity or actions, explaining that he cannot talk about “the event on February 26th,” and stating his belief that the facts “will come to light.”
Mr. Zimmerman uses The Album page to present photographic evidence of support for him and his cause. When I first saw it this morning it displayed two photos, including one of someone holding a “Justice for Zimmerman” poster. By this evening, the second had been removed. It showed “Long Live Zimmerman” spray-painted on the side of a building, which Mediaite reports is a black cultural center at Ohio State University. Mediaite raises a good question in their article:
Zimmerman’s supporters insist that this case is not about race, so why were Zimmerman’s supporters moved to vandalize a black cultural center, and why is Zimmerman endorsing this?
I’d like to posit a possible answer: it’s because George Zimmerman behaves like an impetuous vigilante who is unable and unwilling to face up to the deadly consequences of his actions. Everything to date, from his ludicrous website, to his fleeing Florida to parts unknown, to “the event of February 26th” which caused him to “leave” his “entire life,” demonstrates this. In this light, his public support for vandalism on his website, however briefly, is par for the course.
His beg-a-thon website has chutzpah, but it also has one glaring omission. Lost among his flurry of quotes, thanks to supporters, and entreaties for money is the name Trayvon Martin, the young man he killed that fateful night in February. Absent is even the thinnest veil of sorrow for the family now bereft of a son and brother. Trayvon Martin was “forced to leave” his life too, by a bullet from this man’s gun. Trayvon Martin does not have to worry about missing school or being out of work. Trayvon Martin is dead.
This is a fact that even George Zimmerman’s chutzpah cannot “leave” behind.
Finally, I think that Mr. Zimmerman’s flag-waving website could use one more quote:
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
– Samuel Johnson
© 2012, gar. All rights reserved.
What’s all the more sad is how much $ this man will likely collect. There is a black man on the black hair are boarding belong to who has already pledged twice that he will donate. Not his reasons why make NO sense.