The beginnings of the American Revolution, simplifiedBRITISH EMPIRE: All right, fine, your stupid embargo worked. We won’t levy any more taxes-
AMERICAN COLONIES: Huzzah! Time to get drunk!
BRITISH EMPIRE: Except on tea.
AMERICAN COLONIES: What?
BRITISH EMPIRE: Get over it, it’s just tea. Seriously, where do you get this idea that you’re special and should never have to pay taxes? We hope that idea doesn’t go on to infect your political discourse centuries from now.
AMERICAN COLONIES: We’re not buying your stupid tea.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Are you being serious right now? What are you going to do, just stop drinking tea?
AMERICAN COLONIES: Yes. We’ll drink coffee.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Do you even know what that is?
AMERICAN COLONIES: No, but we’ve heard it’s good and we’re feeling surly.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Fine, whatever, we don’t even care what you do anymore.
BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY: Actually, we are pretty much bankrupt, so you need to make them drink the tea.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Oh, for—just drink the tea.
AMERICAN COLONIES: No.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Do it.
AMERICAN COLONIES: NO.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Drink it.
AMERICAN COLONIES: Fuck you.
BRITISH EMPIRE: Drink it or we’ll punch you in the face.
AMERICAN COLONIES: *Boston Tea Party*
BRITISH EMPIRE: What the hell?
AMERICAN COLONIES: We heard it was Indians.
BRITISH EMPIRE: That’s interesting, because we heard it was a bunch of colonists wearing paint and dressed in costumes that were remarkably similar to what a crowd of drunks who wanted to look like Indians would assemble if the only supplies they had were found in an alley behind a bar.
AMERICAN COLONIES: You get all types in Boston.
BRITISH EMPIRE: …*Coercive Acts*
AMERICAN COLONIES: Oh, it is ON.

politicalprof:

Let me offer a brief moment of fellow feeling for two people who are not high on people’s “friend” lists right now, and for another group that is enjoying a great deal of sympathy but is also facing a great deal of pressure right now.

The people/groups in question are Trayvon Martin’s family, Jason Russell (of KONY 2012 (in)famy), and yes, George Zimmerman.

Don’t get me wrong: I think Zimmerman is in the wrong in Trayvon Martin’s death, and Jason Russell brought the attention he got on himself. Trayvon Martin’s family has been thrust into the spotlight quite unexpectedly.

But whatever the circumstances, I do think we ought to note that all of them have been subjected to a media feeding frenzy that none of them were ready for. Trayvon Martin’s family went from grieving the loss of their brother/son/cousin to symbols of racial politics … in milliseconds. Jason Russell hoped for some attention … and then became a symbol of everything evil about western colonial legacies in, again, microtime. And even if you believe, as I do, that George Zimmerman ought to face a jury for what he did to Trayvon Martin, it is also true that he, too, has been turned into a symbol by the modern media frenzy—an evil symbol of racialist abuse according to most; a victim of leftist politics according to others.

My point in this brief comment is this: no one—and I mean NO ONE—is ready for the shift from ordinary life to center of the media world that can happen today in fractions of seconds. No one’s life—and I mean NO ONE’S LIFE—can sustain the kind of scrutiny these people face … all of a sudden. No one’s psyche—and I mean NO ONE’s PSYCHE—can see itself turned from whatever self image it has to a symbol and a pawn in a media frenzy determined by how fast one group can tweet or blog or link some “insight” about the case. 

It would be nice if we would remember that Trayvon Martin’s family, and Jason Russell, and yes, even George Zimmerman, are people, not props in a media firestorm. We won’t, of course. In fact, all George Zimmerman can hope is that something outrageous happens soon, so the feeding frenzy will focus its attention on the “new” thing, as it has focused on him after Jason Russell and Robert Bales (the accused murderer in Afghanistan). Which is really quite a thing, if you think about it.

(Source: msnbc)