According to the imbecile Geraldo Rivera and the big brains at Fox News 'Half of it (the reason people like TrayvonMartin get killed) is the way the young men look.'
Somehow, the numbers crunchers in charge of assigning guilt in murders involving suspect apparel have concluded that the victim of these types of crimes bear 50% responsibility for their own deaths, due to their clothing.
How does Fox know this? Because they investigated, right? According to Rivera and backed up by Bill O;
Good question Geraldo. And the answer is?
That’s right. Everyone that ever stuck up a convenience store. Everyone. And here I thought that at least some people wore hoodies to keep dry from rain, like Trayvon did that afternoon, like I do, and like Geraldo has done himself. Thank goodness Geraldo, O’Reilly, and Fox aren’t rushing to judge anyone.
Forget about the fact that robbing a convenience store isn’t a capital offense, according to Geraldo it’s apparently also okay for un-authorized self-appointed vigilantes to seek out, chase down and shoot dead anyone wearing a hood, anywhere, for any reason - because of the hoodie. Obviously apparel does not enjoy the same presumption of innocence that people do.
I think Geraldo was trying to rationalize his earlier stupid statements by claiming that the American psyche has been irreparably damaged by hooded sweatshirt wearing criminals, but his examples are just pathetic. They are predicated on the pre-determined guilt of people wearing ‘suspect apparel’ which is absolute bullshit. And, by the way, what of the fact that Zimmerman was himself wearing a hoodie? Surely, he didn’t think that hoodies were suspect, otherwise why would he wear one?
Anyway, D.B. Cooper?!? Wait. What? “…the guy that hijacked a plane…” Is Geraldo saying that had there been another brave Zimmerman type on that flight, perhaps D.B. Cooper’s dastardly crimes could have been thwarted? Well, let’s start with the fact that D.B. Cooper wasn’t wearing a fucking hoodie when he committed his crime! He was wearing a suit and tie. D.B. Cooper has never been associated with hoods in any way. Google it for yourself. And, is idiot Rivera also suggesting that air travel would somehow be safer if passengers were allowed to shoot any other passengers wearing hooded sweatshirts? Or dark suits and glasses? What is he talking about? Because, everyone knows nothing bad can come from arming American air travelers, right?
The Unabomber? Sure, Ted Kaczynski terrified the public for a long time with his mail bomb campaign. But that’s just it; it was a MAIL bomb campaign. People weren’t afraid of some guy in a hood and glasses coming to get them, they were scared to open their mail! And let’s face it, of all the infamous murderers in the United States – hooded or otherwise - the Unabomber is a small fry. A relative nobody. He only killed 3 people. Dozens, no hundreds of maniacs have killed more and/or had longer reigns of terror.
Again, let’s just play along for a moment. The theory is that because the Unabomber famously wore a hood, its natural to fear all hoods and their wearers. But by Rivera-logic, there are lots of other articles of attire that we should be far more afraid of.
Like Clowns suits! John Wayne Gacy killed 33 people by posing as a children’s party clown. 33 people! That’s 10 times as many victims than the hood-wearing Unabomber. It would stand to reason, using Fox News’ metrics, that anyone shot and killed while wearing a clown suit, would be oh, about 500% responsible for their own death, right? Better get Hannity on it.
Clean Shaven White Men in Gap Gear! Florida resident, Ted Bundy confessed to killing over 30 boys, and is suspected in over 100 total murders. He did all this while wearing collared shirts and slacks! Just look around. How many potential serial killers are lurking around wearing Khakis? That’s a hell of a lot of people asking to be shot. Mothers, please don’t let your kids wear Dockers.
Hospital Staff! Beware of Orderlies bearing bed-pans! Don ‘The Angel of Death’ Harvey killed 50 people while on the job as a hospital orderly. And what about ‘Doctor Death,’ Fred Shipman? He killed more than 250 people. A doctor!! Just walk down the halls of any medical center and you’ll see hundreds of employees wearing hospital gear - doctors, nurses, orderlies – they’re all suspect. So, it is perfectly logical to feel threatened by someone in a lab coat or scrubs considering the bloody history that’s associated with the profession, right? People should be scared to death of hospitals.
What about Mobsters? John Gotti and Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano killed a bunch of people. And they did it looking sharp, in Italian tailored suits. In fact, lots of mobsters rob stores and hurt people too. Fox-think would dictate that all swarthy men in three-piece suits or track suits would be responsible for their own deaths because of the negative association with the Sopranos. Al Capone wore a Fedora. So did Lucky Luciano, and Carlo Gambino, Can we blast anyone in a Fedora because of the hat’s historical connections to organized crime?
It’s alarming when you realize that we could fill hundreds of pages listing all of the suspect apparel that, based on Fox’s data, could provoke the justifiable summary execution of the wearer. Maybe if Hannity is busy, someone at The Factor can get on this.
Just remember, the next time an overzealous, gun-totting, self-styled Charles Bronson wannabe chases down -against the explicit directions of law enforcement - and kills an unarmed individual for no apparent reason, don’t waste your time asking why that person, with a criminal record and a history of violence, is allowed to carry a concealed weapon. Ask yourself the more salient question; ‘what suspect apparel was the victim wearing?’
