Guest Post – Collaboratively Assembled
The Zimmerman family comes from a Southern U.S. experience and traditional South American Catholic heritage.
Within each there’s a heavy heritage about rules, and how you “get along with folks”, both constructs are essentially emotionally conservative, perhaps to a fault.
Visible responses when framed as ‘public displays’ which can be construed as ‘violations’ of the laws governing “how to be a nice person” are so strong, they actually can over-rule the basic instinct for self-preservation.
Standing back and looking objectively toward the Zimmerman clan, the instinct for self-preservation (in the context of community) is what seems to be crippled; And “community” for them is — the other nice people. So if all the nice people stick together and continue being nice, everything will be ok.
As long as everyone in the community is nice, that works.
But that is not the nature of the current environment surrounding them. Once their concentric circle (where everyone is nice and law-abiding) overlapped with a concentric circle where people are not nice or law-abiding, they found themselves completely at sea. Clueless looking around for explanation, direction, advice and support.
Now, it must be remembered that “liberal” is one of their concentric circles and perhaps overtakes the definition to some extent. However, their helplessness in the face of hate, both immediately as the fire raged, and at this point as the fire lines are maintained, is driven more by the social/religious compact than political ideology of the past.
If it were driven by political ideology, they would be using political ideology to protect themselves and to survive, and it’s easy to see that they are not doing that.
The Zimmerman family had no idea about the raging river of hate just on the other side of that hill. The blood water rafting trips continuously captained by tour guides Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others. But the Zimmermans never peered over that mountain-top, instead they sat close to home and considered the scenery against the backdrop of MLK Jr.
Here’s a Hollywood example of that social compact in action: Perhaps some of you will remember the movie “The Green Mile“, within the storyline two little girls were kidnapped by a man who was helping their father around the family farm.
The little girls were about 8. One evening the hired-hand creep came into their room to molest them. Eventually he kidnapped them, telling each if they made a sound he would kill the other – this later became the phrase “he killed them with their love” because he was able to leverage each child with the love they had for their sibling.
In less dramatic examples every day innocents are molested; some are able to escape the encounter, but know they have to be quiet and get away. They, because of the social compact within the community, never speak of it, EVER, even to one another.
They sense, rightly or wrongly, if they mention it to their mothers or fathers, that it could then be worse than what almost happened to them in this–that it would never be over.
Being respectful, being seen and not heard, being mindful, being mannerly–all position the innocent one as being trained to be nice, not being trained to self-protect.
Unfortunately, it also opens the door to exploitation from those with less values – and hidden agenda. The capacity for “fight” is removed from the fight or flight equation in their lives.
In a larger context, given the family values instilled, background, and upbringing of “trust the authorities”, the Zimmermans not only do not have “fight”; they don’t have “flight” available to them either.
Emotionally, socially, even religiously–it appears that’s where the Zimmermans were and are.
In terms of personal experience, they’ve had “hitting someone in order to escape” bred out of their social and personal DNA and others have done necessary hitting for them, through the infrastructure of liberalism.
Hence their desperate, albeit naive, choking fear about being forever labeled racist. It is that fear that will lead them to poor decisions, and ultimately drive them to the cattle cars.
At the personal level, and in that emotional and religious world, if you have to hurt someone else in order to live, it’s better to die. You do not have the right to protect yourself if in the process someone else will be hurt. That’s ironic considering the current situation facing George Zimmerman – however, it does explain his fraught attachment to helping authorities.
You do not have the right to expose someone else in a way that will shame them. And shame on you if you do.
The progressive media and legal/political machine enjoy crushing such civility laden members when identified because it befits their ideology of “dependence.” The legacy media will definitely eat its own in order to advance their communal cause.
If Robert or Gladys Zimmerman were to speak up the media would crush them like a bug, just like you witnessed with the Ostermans on Dr. Phil. If they are not articulate, understanding of the opposition, and are unable to be specifically engaged in public disagreement, and if their manners dictate interviewer respect, yet none is afforded in return, and eloquence/inexperience not being up to the task–they would be a grease spot on Piers Morgan’s rug in no time.
Individual freedom in Christ, the unalienable right to breathe free, the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were never internalized by these dear folks. Freedom is not free – sometimes you have to fight to retain or maintain it. It’s hard to spit in the eye of your captor with good manners.
Those like the Zimmermans are the ones we would be screaming at in the camps: “Don’t do it! Don’t DO it!! You don’t HAVE TO DO IT!”….. And they would look at us helplessly, and we would weep.
They have never internalized either personal freedom or independent identity. With understanding, this explanation is presented with the deepest love, sympathy and compassion, to illustrate that this does heart-breakingly, represent “typical progs”
The prog-manipulators have used these same dynamics to co-opt entire cities, entire states, entire groups of people, entire tomes of policy and procedure by using folks’ own good intentions against them.
Progressives use people’s religious training against them; hence the public podium prayers before they showcase their gun control legislation.
Progressives use families’ traditions and high character against them. The result is not, after all is said and done, a prog or liberal result, but a human result; although it is a liberal consequence.
What has happened to the Zimmermans individually, and in their family, is the personal illustration of what progs do to nations. Liberalism is the process. Alinsky is the weapon. Crushed people are the result. Angry, very angry, Jehovah God is the audience.
This is how the role of their political identity vs. their personal experience is reconciled at the last..self is disappeared. They were born free, but they were made liberal dependents. Their prior political identity now becomes a footnote to their victimhood.
Their personal political history, by itself, is not what made them unable to fight back and protect themselves: what has made them unable to fight back and protect themselves is their heritage and political Stockholm Syndrome. They are the most INNOCENT bystanders, the worst victims to observe.
For those for whom limited victory is the goal, one can only conclude that when this battle is over and GZ is set free, they will cheer and say “YEA! Our team won!”–while the entire Zimmerman family is crumpled in the end zone and the big-picture avoidance supporters are pouring Gatorade all over them and yelling, “Don’t you get it? We won! We won!”
At that moment, the American Conservative will be Tebowing through the insanity, and with thankful prayer, not even try to get them on their feet. Sinking down at their side, they will gather the family members in their arms and just hold them.
The only way the innocent can protect themselves is by hitting back and yelling–that they will not do. Just like the two little girls mentioned earlier, the only way they could actually protect themselves would have been to yell, and kick, and scream and make a big noisy display, a great racket. Yet there’s no way they would actually have been able to make themselves do that. They were never taught the skill set.
Ultimately that which currently surrounds the Zimmerman collective is family abuse at its unholiest….. and most evil….. and most deliberate.
