Artistic License Or Lying To Further Your Cause?

A mural was recently unveiled during a protest of Florida's Stand Your Ground law. The article I read says the artist created the painting of George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin. (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/10/mural-of-george-zimmerman-shooting-trayvon-martin-unveiled-in-florida-state-capitol/) In place of Trayvon's face the artist has a mirror and the title of the work is "We Are All Trayvon Martin".

I am deeply offended by this work. The way the artist portrays Zimmerman in a two handed shooters stance firing a weapon is done to evoke a feeling of the shooter being the aggressor. To believe this to be a portrayal of what happened requires you to deny the facts of the case. Zimmerman should have been portrayed flat on his back, attempting to fend off blows with one hand while firing, with no real aiming, one handed. While Trayvon straddles him raining punches down. But that doesn't convey the "lets disarm the American citizenry" message the artist is hoping to make.

Had the artist given a true rendition of the facts of the case, it would have directly argued against the political position he/she was championing. If confronted with the facts that he/she is giving a completely false representation of what happened, I'm sure he/she would have claimed artistic license as his/her justification for his bald faced lie.

Fact: Trayvon Martin was beating George Zimmerman.

Fact: Trayvon Martin was significantly larger than George Zimmerman.

Fact: George Zimmerman was legally carrying a firearm.

You can argue all day whether Zimmerman should have followed Martin, the fact is he was within his legal rights to do so.

Only one person alive truly knows how the fight started. Testimony from the girl friend would seem to indicate that Trayvon confronted Zimmerman about following him. My GUESS on what happened is that Trayvon, in a fit of young male machismo (aided by the fact that he was noticeably bigger than Zimmerman) punched Zimmerman and knocked him down. Martin followed him to the ground where he continued to beat him. (More speculation on my part coming) Zimmerman, fearing for his life as he is on the bottom being beaten, pulls his gun and fires.

A tragic conclusion to the situation.

Had Zimmerman's hand not been at exactly the wrong angle, Martin would be alive today to tell his side of the story.

I believe (more speculation) that yet another example of the old axiom played out that night. "Young men fight for pride. Old men fight to stay alive."

The artist's saying that any of us could have been Trayvon is simply wrong. Only a very small percentage of us would have, as I speculate, confronted Zimmerman. An even smaller percentage would have engaged in a fight. A smaller still group would have gone to the ground and continued to beat George.

This was a tragic event that ruined the lives of all directly involved.

Unfortunately, there were those who saw this as an opportunity to get themselves in the public eye, or to further a political position, or to increase their base of followers. All at the expense of the lives of those involved and racial relations within America. This artist is just one more of these leaches to do so.

Or so it would seem to an Old Country Boy.