A funny kind of hero
by digby
A fascinating short interview with George Zimmerman:
In his first interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Zimmerman described life after his acquittal last year in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The former Neighborhood Watch volunteer shot the unarmed black teen in Sanford on Feb. 26, 2012.
Now life for the 30-year-old is completely different.
He’s always moving.
He’s in debt.
And he’s constantly receiving death threats.
“I just try to be smart where I go,” said Zimmerman, who described the gun show at Gander Mountain Academy as a “friendly” event that didn’t warrant extra protection.
Zimmerman said he carries a semi-automatic handgun for added safety.
“It’s part of life,” said Zimmerman, whose Twitter feed is a constant barrage of death threats. “It’s unfortunately necessary right now.”[…]
He said he’s been described by strangers as soft-spoken and even kind. He also frequently receives invitations to parties and barbecues from strangers and will go if he’s in town.
But Zimmerman still often finds himself embroiled in controversy. About a week ago, a driver called Lake Mary police accusing Zimmerman of threatening to shoot him during a road-rage incident. The driver didn’t press charges, so Zimmerman was not arrested.
He’s also travelling the country making speeches. One presumes they aren’t being delivered to the rotary club.
He’s a genuine right wing hero. Which is really disturbing. After all, even if one agrees with the verdict and buy that he thought he was acting in self-defense, he still killed an unarmed 17 year old kid. That just doesn’t seem like something anyone should be proud of — or celebrate, regardless of the circumstances. There’s something really quite sick about it, particularly with his history of domestic violence and frequent confrontations with other members of the public.
It’s also interesting that like George W. Bush and some other controversial historical figures, Zimmerman is an artist — only he’s very explicitly political:
He recently launched a website to give himself a platform to speak freely. One of his posts discusses a series of portraits he has painted honoring the four Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya.
Zimmerman said he plans to give the original paintings to the families of the four people killed but will sell replicas and donate all the funds to various wounded veterans’ organizations.
Zimmerman painted the portraits so the names of the victims killed wouldn’t go unknown. He shared that sentiment on his site’s first post Sept. 17: “I cannot fathom an America where the name of Tyrone Woods is not as well known as mine. It makes a difference, a tremendous one.”
The post was signed “Your Friend, George M. Zimmerman.”
What does he mean by “it makes a difference, a tremendous one”? Is he saying that his notoriety is “making a difference”? What kind of difference?
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