By Myles Ludwig
Justice. Now here is a concept as thin and as slippery as a fine slice of sashimi and as complex as a celebrity fragrance profile. Philosophers have been arguing about it since Socrates and Plato, parsing into as many cultural and ethical Apps as iTunes can stock and it’s still not really clear what it is or how it works.
Except as some kind of culture-bound expression of hope.
The texture of justice differs from culture to culture. Especially in terms of punishment. Just desserts. Karma. I’m very glad drawing and quartering is no long a socially acceptable form of deterrence, and I understand boiling folks alive is passé except in certain dictatorships in the Caucuses. I do worry that we could eventually see a free Sharia App that auto-amputates the hands of a shoplifter. And I do wonder if the death penalty is a reasonable form of state-sponsored revenge.
There are some academic studies suggesting that “fairness,” at least in terms of social justice, is a hard-wired human trait, rather than a plug-and-play accessory. Apparently it lights up the same centers of need in lab rat brains as food. That may be a basis for equality and fraternity. It may be true, but it may also be wishful thinking meant to mask our own narcissism.
But I’m thinking about the concept of justice in terms of how it functions within the context of the rule of law.
The opening acts of the George Zimmerman circus offer an interesting opportunity to juggle the balls. As the trial motors up to its eventual place on the peak of Twitterdom, I’m reminded of various trials I’ve covered as a journalist. A trial is a public spectacle touted as a search for the truth. Everyone is invited to see the show, except in China. But my experience has shown it is a theatrical spectacle in which truth is as elusive as the possibility of justice.
A trial has its own stage, script and actors and spear carriers. Lawyers and judges talk to each other according to a predetermined script. Witnesses are carefully coached on how to steer clear of legal potholes and drive on the right side of the road. The jury is the Greek chorus, coming to a conclusion — or not — based on the narrow limitations imposed by the judge’s charge.
But the defendant, Zimmerman himself, is outside it all, a spectator with a vested interest, but no power. He doesn’t really know the rules of the game and how to play it. He’s an audience member who will not learn his fate until the final curtain comes down and after the last appellate encore.
And Trayvon Martin? A specter in a hoodie haunting the proceedings. No lawyer will be able to bring him back to life.
His family is even farther away. They may have been tricked into thinking they are going to get some kind of justice, but for whom? What does that mean for them? It’s likely they want revenge, but they will never get it no matter the outcome. Justice will never satisfy them.
They will not achieve “closure” because that is an abstract concept pretending to offer solace in grief. In fact loss never closes. It may fade. But it doesn’t stop. Loss is forever. And the trial itself is more punishment for them, more misery forcing them to relive the trauma, the drama that has no end. Even as winners, they are losers.
Lost in all this is the original “stand your ground” defense, a wacko Florida law that promises a new Dodge City, a new Boot Hill gated community. No word about that now. And as the Big Leak story loses its glitter, the media is chumming up the waters on this one. The jury hasn’t even been seated and it’s already being painted as a reverse OJ.
CNN’s rarely reliable “Reliable Sources” program had Howie Kurtz (is it my imagination or is his nose lengthening?) interviewing the newest CNN host Chris Cuomo on the case, a shameless bit of self-promotion in which even ex-NBC, now-CNN network exec Jeff Zucker got a few lauds.
Cuomo lamented that the Zimmerman case (notice the absence of the victim’s name) lacked the sexy-crazy sensationalism that Jodi Arias brought to the courtroom to titillate the nation. So, together, they got the game going by dropping the “race card” onto the table, all the while self-righteously protesting it should not play a role in the proceedings. Try not to think of the elephant.
Meanwhile, the bottom of the screen crawl meant for short attention-span viewers announced Kim Kardashian had a baby girl.
Which is the biggest story?
Myles Ludwig is a media savant living in Lake Worth.