Slander

Definition of SLANDER

: to utter slander against : defame

“Slander is oral defamation of character. Defamation is a civil offense that occurs when one party makes false and malicious statements about another to a third party. Many jurisdictions have slander laws allow the harmed party to that address this type of behavior and recover damages.”

“Nugent is certain to raise eyebrows by calling Trayvon Martin a "17-year-old dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe." Nugent placed the blame for the shooting squarely on Trayvon Martin.”

Nugent’s vicious, untrue, unconscionable, and completely stupid remark is actually quite mild when compared to many of the other things that have been said about Trayvon Martin. I do not want to repeat any of them but they run the gamut from gang banger to pimp, to doper, to street fighter, burglar, and I don’t know what all else.

I don’t know anything much about slander and such but apparently slander laws don’t necessarily apply to public figures. Thus any idiot can say anything about the President, exercising his/her right to free speech, and nothing can be done about it. So we find right wingers and even others calling President Obama incompetent, a socialist, communist, fascist, Kenyan, racist, and so on ad infinitum.

Trayvon Martin was/is not a public figure, merely an ordinary teenage citizen of the U.S. There seems to be no doubt he has been terrible wronged and defamed. I have seen nothing about any potential lawsuits regarding slander. If no such suits occur I guess we can conclude that these days anyone’s character can be unfairly, untruthfully, and unconscionably defamed at will, even if it influenced a jury trial and a legal judgement. Or is it the case that slander doesn’t apply when a Black person is the target? You might have noticed that little was said about Zimmerman’s somewhat shady record while so many were eager to accuse Martin of whatever came to mind. There is no doubt in my mind that Martin was racially profiled, not only by Zimmerman, but also by the jury, and, in fact, by the public at large.

The idiotic Stand Your Ground law seems to apply only to Whites. It certainly wasn’t applied in the Trayvon Martin case for him as it was for Zimmerman. I wonder, does it apply to Black people at all? Why doesn’t someone start a foundation dedicated to raising funds so that all Black people can be armed to protect themselves from obvious racial discrimination and attacks? The NRA seems to be remarkably silent on this question, puzzling as it would certainly provide even more profits for the gun industry. Indeed, if they could only figure out how to get us to kill each other more and more often their profits would soar. Why not launch a slogan like “Buy a Black a Beretta,”  or “A Bersa for every Black man and woman.” “A Browning for every Brown,” or better yet, “A handgun for every hand.” Maybe something real cute like “A Machine Gun for Every Matron.” The marketing possibilities are endless, the NRA has barely touched the surface.

Money talks, corrupt Congresspersons listen and count their loot. The farce continues. Just think of it, the more people die from handguns (and other guns) the more profit is made. This is true not only here at home and on the streets of our cities but all around the world. More killing, more wars, it’s a beautiful life.

 Violence is a tool of the ignorant.

Flip Wilson