@Frank Apisa,
They have to demonize Trayvon Martin because otherwise Zimmerman's actions that night are not fully justifiable--including the fact he did not remain in his car, he disregarded the rules of a neighborhood watch, he never identified himself, and, most importantly, he erroneously profiled someone who had no criminal intentions that night.
Trayvon Martin was a house guest in that community, and all he was doing was returning to that residence after a trip to the store. Zimmerman's actions in following him, when all he was doing was walking around and talking on his cell phone, are not fully justifiable. If those actions were fully justified, and if this shooting was fully justified, nothing about the victim's past history would be at all relevant.
Trayvon Martin could have been an eagle scout and an honor student, but if he had actually been engaging in some sort of criminal behavior, requiring Zimmerman's pursuit of him, or if he had clearly lodged an unprovoked malicious attack on Zimmerman with criminal intent, no one would care that he had led a good life up until that night--Zimmerman would clearly be seen to be in the right, and no one would be harping on the victim's prior virtues.
But it's precisely because Zimmerman's actions were so questionable that even his advocates can't support them
unless they turn his victim into someone who justified Zimmerman's mistaken judgment and his impulsive actions. So, of course, they have to turn a high school kid, with no criminal record, into a "hoodlum" and "a thug" and, furthermore, they have to rob this victim of any worth or future by predicting he was on a fast track to a life punctuated by prison terms. If they don't engage in these fantasies, they are left defending a man who erroneously misjudged and followed a kid who was just minding his own business, and whose only plans for that evening included getting home in time to watch a basketball game on TV and waiting for his father to return from a dinner out.
If Zimmerman's advocates could fully accept and support all of his actions of that night, there would be no need to dwell on anything about his shooting victim's past--neither the good nor the bad--because it would all be irrelevant. Zimmerman knew nothing about this young man, he wasn't influenced by this kid's cell phone pictures, or Tweets, or school problems, so Zimmerman's actions of that night should similarly be judged without reference to any of those things--nothing about Trayvon Martin's past is remotely relevant in explaining Zimmerman's actions, or in justifying them. Which is what makes all of these fabricated, and exaggerated, and distorted, portrayals of Martin just desperate attempts to prop up Zimmerman's shaky credibility and questionable behavior.
And the more they try to demonize Trayvon Martin, the more I realize how little faith they put in Zimmerman's credibility, and the more they have to fabricate in order to rationalize, and try to excuse, Zimmerman 's very questionable judgment and his impulsive actions that led to the circumstances of this homicide. They can't accept Zimmerman's version of events unless it's heavily embellished with all sorts of fantasy speculation about his victim--which means they don't really feel comfortable with the fact that this totally needless death would never have happened if Zimmerman had had the good judgment and self control to have remained in his car. They can't accept the fact this was a totally needless and avoidable death. All Martin was doing was walking home, and it was Zimmerman who intruded on, and interfered with, his trip.
If this was such a clear cut case of self defense, with no moral culpability on Zimmerman's part for creating and instigating a provocative situation, there would be no need to cast aspersions on the victim. That they need to keep casting these aspersions speaks volumes...
