Lowell Observatory Pushes To Name an Asteroid "Trayvon" 588
Flash Modin writes "The observatory where Pluto was discovered is pushing to name an asteroid after a black teenager killed in a controversial confrontation in Florida last year. William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with the cause of African American rights, and thus an asteroid named after Trayvon Martin is perfectly appropriate. Putnam is the sole trustee of the observatory, which was founded by Percival Lowell during his search for canals on Mars. Astronomers at the observatory discovered the asteroid in 2000, but it has not been formally named. Putnam has already asked the Minor Planet Center once to designate the asteroid 'Trayvon,' but they told him the designation was 'premature.' Now that there's been a verdict, the observatory is reapplying in hopes the naming body will see things different."
no (Score:4, Insightful)
injecting stupid political games into space has got to be a new low in astronomy
Victim Belt (Score:5, Insightful)
Astronomers usually want to inspire hope, and looking up at things named after victims just doesn't seem right.
Re:no (Score:1, Insightful)
Even if the kid hadn't been a dope-smoking, fight-starting, gangsta-wannabe thug who lacked the foresight to consider the lack of wisdom in physically attacking a random stranger in a southern state with both concealed-carry and stand-your-ground laws in effect, what scientific potential did he embody (forget actually accomplish) to warrant his name being carried into astronomic posterity?
Re:Victim Belt (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't really think naming celestial bodies after victims is a good idea.
Astronomers usually want to inspire hope, and looking up at things named after victims just doesn't seem right.
He's obviously not a victim if the person who killed him was acquitted by a jury of justifiable homicide.
Re:no (Score:2, Insightful)
No, otherwise I'd be a freaking circus. Remember, the names of these planets/asteroids will have to be used by the Scientific Community for serious work. I'd be a distraction to have deal with writing reports on planet LoLKatz6990 and asteroid belt CASH$MON$YHitlerBabez8888
Re:Well he showed the problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Trayvon Martin can Life Forever (Score:3, Insightful)
Trayvon Martin referred to his intended victim with the racists epithet, 'Creepy-Ass Cracker' before attacking him. George Zimmerman defended himself from the racist. Trayvon died because he was a racist thug on drugs.
Re:Trayvon Martin can Life Forever (Score:2, Insightful)
Zimmerman should of laid down and taken his beating - cause that's what "keeping it real" means.
(I donated to zimmerman, because that could of been me)
Look At This objectively (Score:4, Insightful)
Y does not follow X. (Score:4, Insightful)
"William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with the cause of African American rights, and thus an asteroid named after Trayvon Martin is perfectly appropriate."
So a teenager whom a jury said was shot in self-defense (or there was no convincing evidence otherwise) is perfectly appropriate? Might as well name the asteroid "Al Sharpton".
How about a black scientist, like George Washington Carver? Or Mae Jemison or Guion Bluford, since this is space and asteroids we're talking about? Maybe a Rosa or a Frederick or a W.E.B. might have done a thing or two for civil rights and African Americans?
“As I see it, the social fairness showed to Trayvon Martin was very sadly lacking.”
Oh, I don't know, dominating the cable news cycle for months on end, hundreds of thousands of people taking selfies wearing hoodies and national black leaders/celebrities calling for a Double Jeopardy trial and/or punishment for George Zimmerman seems to show some kind of social backing.
Why don't we start enshrining every person that gets shot in a bar fight next?
Re:Well he showed the problem (Score:3, Insightful)
I might be wrong, but I don't think Zimmerman even knew what race Trayvon Martin was before Martin jumped him.
Whatever might be said of Zimmerman, he didn't follow the kid because he was black. People made poor choices and somebody paid with their life. It's a tragedy, but to turn it into a race issue does a tremendous disservice to all the great people who have worked hard and sacrificed so much to advance civil rights in this country.
Re:no (Score:2, Insightful)
I have read the Trayvon v. Zimmerman case fairly extensively. I can't pick sides because I found bad judgement in the actions of Martin and Zimmerman.
What I really dislike about the whole thing are these agent provocateurs who have nothing to do with it and who are using this as a political indictment against Black or White people. Racism is still a big thing in America. People have died because of it. They will stop at nothing until they light up the fire of another bloody racial conflagration.
Re:Well he showed the problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Well he showed the problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Checking the transcript, it seems Zimmerman identified him as "looks black" - nonetheless, I believe the testimony was that he didn't know Martin's race when he started following him. He only knew for sure when Martin turned to confront him the first time as he was on the phone with the dispatcher.
Re:Obviously a killer asteroid (Score:0, Insightful)
If a white/black/asian/polka dot guy is trying to cause me or my family bodily harm in a fit of rage? Yeah, I don't care if he's got a gun or not. I'm going to shoot the piece of shit. Multiple times. And I don't what laws you try to get passed to try and stop me.
Once you initiate physical force against me and make me think you aren't stopping you are a threat to my life and therefore...... a subhuman meat sack that needs to leak as much as possible in a short period of time.
I don't have to allow myself to be beaten, raped, robbed or killed so you can feel better. F**k you. I have the right to bear arms. And I'll do so. Attack me at your own peril.
disturbing (Score:5, Insightful)
Regardless of the details of the case itself, it's pretty clear that Martin was a racist (he used racial insults against Caucasians). He does not deserve to have an asteroid named after him, and if the civil rights movement picks him as a symbol, it will only hurt their cause.
Re:Y does not follow X. (Score:4, Insightful)
How about a black scientist, like George Washington Carver?
That's the best idea so far. Not so much because of his race, but because he's a scientist.
Re:Trayvon Martin can Life Forever (Score:1, Insightful)
Your macho, thug tirade just convinced me to donate to zimmerman *again*.
If every thug who ever ambushes a stranger and does the "ground and pound" dance gets shot and killed, the world will be a better place.
Re:Right... (Score:0, Insightful)
What kind of bullshit sensationalist tripe are you spewing?
Trayvon was not a woman. He was an insolent gang-banger wannabe that tried to kill George Zimmerman.
How about this:
When a black man is beating a non-black and smashing their head into the ground, non-blacks can only say 'please sir can I have another'. Go f*ck yourself.
Re:Still scapegoating the black democrat (Score:1, Insightful)
The post isn't scapegoating anybody but stating facts.
By 2012, more debt was added during Obama's presidency than both of W's terms.
Obama promised to end both wars and close Guantanamo. None of those happened.
Obama signed the warrantless wiretap extension in 2012 after claiming he would end the practice in 2008.
His presidency has seen programs like PRISM vastly expanded beyond what W started.
Lastly, the saber rattling and threats of military strikes against Syria is clearly happening during his presidency.
Re:Trayvon Martin can Life Forever (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, what?
Trayvon Martin was literally beating Zimmerman to death. Any hit of Zimmerman's head to the pavement--witnessed by one of the prosecution's witnesses--could have been his last moment alive, without Trayvon even needing to find the gun to use against him.
The fact that you are too stupid or ignorant to recognize that is obvious in the fact that you missed the_Bionic_lemming's point: if Zimmerman did not act, then he would be dead or badly injured by a thug or "bully", completely regardless of the thug's race, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else that you want to associate with the shooting.
After all, who else is going to "ground pound" someone for following them in their neighborhood? Oh, I know: a bully.
Here's to hoping that it's not the_Bionic_lemming that is beaten into some form of social enlightment...
What rights??? (Score:4, Insightful)
Or is it some other made-up rights that I'm not aware of???
It's only controversial to those that tried their best to turn it into a race thing instead of a self-defense thing. The racists that forced Florida to have a wasted trial with no real evidence for the prosecution just to appease so many racists. Those that want to ignore the evidence presented in court and play 'what if' games that don't use any facts at all but assumptions made my people who weren't even there.
Go ahead
Re:no (Score:4, Insightful)
Even if your ugly characterization is accurate that doesn't actually make his death something other than a tragedy.
People make bad decisions which can cost them their lives, and in a sense its a tragedy, yes, but not a tragedy in the sense that "we have to make sure noone can defend themselves with lethal force".
Re:Right... (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway, SYG was never mentioned, it was pure self defense. The worthless thug attacked first and wouldn't have let the fat one withdraw even if he had wanted too. Jump to the end: scum ended up dead. The only tragedy here was the fact that the black community cares nothing for justice and only wants to throw a fit and stage stupid walks.
Re:zimmerman stalked the poor kid (Score:5, Insightful)
some mouth breathing moron thinks he has a right to walk around with a gun
He does. Someone should re-read the constitution, and the law in florida. Just because YOU have contempt for your rights, doesnt mean the courts do.
play cop
He WAS on the neighborhood watch in an area which had suffered a rash of break ins. Come on, this was widely reported.
innocent civilians
Yes, heres the thing, a jury found that Martin WASNT innocent, and that there was grounds for a plea of self-defense. That, too is a right that citizens have.
laws that somehow support this disgusting behavior
Most societies that you would want to live in have both an adversarial court system, and a defense for killing on the grounds of self-defense. Thank goodness that is the case here. What laws, specifically are you thinking of-- hopefully not the "stand your ground" law which had absolutely no relevance to the case?
stand your ground laws, carry/ conceal laws: they have to go
Ah, yes, you were, which indicates you were successfully distracted by the media in a discussion on irrelevant laws. Look through the court transcripts and see if "stand your ground" had any relevance: You will find it did not. The issue at stake was whether Zimmerman was justified in killing Martin in self-defense.
You seem to have bought into the race-card-Zimmerman-was-a-racist story that was spun up by the media, so I really suggest you go back and look at the facts, not the op-eds and commentary that was spun up around the whole issue. The amount of bias that came out in this whole ordeal was astounding, from the doctored recordings, to the doctored photos, to the claims that Zimmerman was white, to the claims that white-on-black violence is anywhere near common (in reality, 80+% of violence is intra-racial-- white-on-white, black-on-black, etc).
Re:Hope and change bitches! EAT MY SHIT!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
I feel like we're sinking deeper each and every time I find myself saying "We have just reached a new low in stupidity."
It's ridiculous to make this political (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:no (Score:5, Insightful)
I found bad judgement in the actions of Martin and Zimmerman.
I agree, both of them failed to pick the safest possible path. GZ should have stayed in his truck, and he should have looked the other way. TM should have walked directly home. They haven't done that. However none of what they actually did - until the first blow landed - was illegal. They were not accused of walking the public streets; they were not accused of looking at people; they were not accused of talking to each other. All that is legal. (Well, GZ was actually accused of that because the DA wanted to hit him with crime of racism; but that was unfair, and it didn't work.)
Being not exceptionally careful is not a crime. You aren't careful if you choose to walk through a ghetto at midnight. But it's your right - and if you survive you won't be put on trial. All actions of GZ and TM were legal - until TM struck. That's when legality ended, and that's what got TM killed. TM would be killed just as well if he walked up to any stranger and hit him in the face. The preceding actions may have contributed to anger, or fear of disrespect, that TM seemingly had. But those actions are just as legal for them as for a man to follow a woman in a dark alley. They just go in the same direction. A woman may be scared; but legally it means nothing; she is not entitled to, for example, turning around and throwing a knife at the man. Trayvon may have been upset, but that gave him no special right to assault anyone. He held a phone in his hand all the time - he could have called 911 at any time if he had a genuine fear. He, an active football player, could have outrun pretty much anyone and be at home within seconds. There are many paths TM could have taken that don't include hitting people in the face and then trying to murder them.
Re:Trayvon Martin can Life Forever (Score:5, Insightful)
Smartphone ownership is UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Cat videos on Youtube are UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Justin Beiber album sales are UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Google it yourself.
Pretty simple. Looking for a rough correlation in two variables in one country is almost meaningless.