{"id":933,"date":"2013-07-21T21:20:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/07\/the-soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations-trayvon-martin-edition.html"},"modified":"2013-07-21T21:20:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T21:20:00","slug":"the-soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations-trayvon-martin-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/07\/the-soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations-trayvon-martin-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"The soft bigotry of low expectations, Trayvon Martin edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
One thing that\u2019s happening here, in the emerging narrative of Martin perceiving himself as being \u201cstalked\u201d that\u2019s now developed, is a variant of the \u201csoft bigotry of low expectations.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is what I mean (let\u2019s call it the \u201cbear in the woods\u201d analogy):<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If you\u2019re hiking alone in the woods and you encounter a bear (substitute with another threatening predator, if needed to make the analogy work), and your life is threatened, you have the right to shoot to protect yourself, or your children, just as Zimmerman shot Martin to protect himself.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
However, it\u2019s better to avoid bears in the first place, by following available guidance, or avoid them perceiving you as a threat.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Was Trayvon Martin a \u201cbear in the woods\u201d?\u00a0 <\/span>To a certain degree, that fits the reaction from pundits, activists, and letters-to-the-editor writers.\u00a0 <\/span>Zimmerman shouldn\u2019t have followed Martin, because that\u2019s what provoked him\/caused him to feel threatened.\u00a0 <\/span>If only Zimmerman had stayed in his car, none of this would have happened.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Zimmerman should have followed the dispatcher\u2019s instructions.\u00a0 <\/span>Neighborhood watch programs should be conducted more professionally. \u00a0<\/span>etc.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(Of course, there\u2019s also a degree of disputing the course of events, and believing that Zimmerman and Martin fought each other, that Zimmerman had a chance to run that he didn\u2019t take, etc.\u00a0 <\/span>But the majority of what I\u2019ll call the pro-Martin crowd don\u2019t seem to be arguing with these facts.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And this might be great advice (though it ignores the fact that there had been a series of break-ins and Martin looked like he was \u201cwindow-shopping\u201d so Zimmerman had good reason to be concerned about his behavior).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But built into this advice is the assumption that a black teenage boy is pretty much just expected to react in the way that even Martin supporters seem to believe he did. \u00a0<\/span>You can\u2019t control such a kid or expect him to be responsible for his actions any more than you can control the bear in the woods, so just stay clear. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is this really the message we should be hearing?<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing that\u2019s happening here, in the emerging narrative of Martin perceiving himself as being \u201cstalked\u201d that\u2019s now developed, is a variant of the \u201csoft bigotry of low expectations.\u201d This is what I mean (let\u2019s call it the \u201cbear in the woods\u201d analogy): If you\u2019re hiking alone in the woods and you encounter a bear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe soft bigotry of low expectations, Trayvon Martin edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One thing that\u2019s happening here, in the emerging narrative of Martin perceiving himself as being \u201cstalked\u201d that\u2019s now developed, is a variant of the \u201csoft\" 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