nope.
nope.
nope.
Bottom line: You can't approach someone, attack them and then beat the shit out of them because they followed you and called the police on you. And if they respond to you beating the shit out of them by shooting you they are within their rights.
I have nothing against self defense. I love self defense. In my view both Martin and Zimmerman were defending themselves. If you have ever been in a fight you would know that it's often times difficult to tell who started it exactly and in all cases that I've been involved in both parties were responsible for what happened.
It's common for a human being to react violently when they fell threatened. We don't know exactly what happened or how everything went down. From experience I know that a person or any animal that feels threatened and intimidated can react violently. That's a completely normal reaction. We don't always think reasonably in such a situation. Knowing that I feel that there should be some leeway.
Let me make it clear that I do feel that bashing heads into concrete is extreme and uncalled for and warrants any self defense that the person whose head is being bashed can muster. But if the person whose head is being bashed into the concrete is the one who is responsible for what is happening then they are partly to blame for it as well. Just thinking reasonably, I could absolutely react violently if I felt threatened enough. Just because threats lead to a violent reaction does not mean that the violent reaction is wrong. It's completely natural. People get into fights. I can't think of anything that doesn't get into fights. It isn't right or good to be violent, but it's something that happens and can happen and that is well known by everyone including Zimmerman.
If I were Zimmerman I would have been well aware that I could appear scary and threatening to a person and that they could very well react violently to me. I wouldn't be out picking fights and harassing innocent people and then be surprised that I was getting my head bashed into the concrete.
I don't know. I just think that it's an issue of responsibility. Personally I never considered using one of my guns outside of protecting my own home before now. I certainly wouldn't start a fight with someone by making them feel threatened enough to attack me and then shoot them. To me that's a pussy move. That's baiting someone. That's me trying to be Dirty Harry or Charles Bronson in Death Wish.
The key is that Zimmerman played a part in starting the physical altercation when he made Martin feel threatened enough to attack. If Zimmerman were attacked out of the blue then I would agree, use whatever force you can to protect yourself. I hope you get out of it alright and stop the perpetrator. But that isn't what happened here. Zimmerman played a part in starting the physical portion of the altercation and as such he should have been the one to cool the situation down, not the one to use deadly force. That's a pussy move.