Media Imagery and the Trayvon Martin Case

While not wanting to comment on the Trayvon Martin case, I was discussing it with a friend this weekend and the angle that I was most interested in is the subtle complicity of the media. The main example of this, ala Bonfire of the Vanities (Henry Lamb was miraculously transformed from a neighborhood ne'er-do-well into an honor student), is to portray Trayvon as a saintly, harmless kid. Thus the picture we see, literally, is of a truly precious, saintly-even, looking little boy that is nowhere near the 17 years of age and 6'3" height of the Trayvon that tragically met his end recently in Sanford. Now, however, fresher images are coming out. Compare the first impression image on the left that we've seen for days with the Flavor Flav lookalike on the right. Does this mean that Trayvon deserved his fate? Of course not. Does this mean that this case is less cut and dried and perhaps doesn't fit the neat narrative that the race hustlers and their friends in the media wish us to believe? Yes indeed.

UPDATE: The Flavor Flav lookalike photo was scrubbed from the link above. It's here.

UPPDATE: Not for the first time, VDH echoes a theme found here at NBfPB with the Tom Wolfe reference. We have our Henry Lamb. We have our Reginald Bacon (many of them). Any leading candidates for a modern day Peter Fallow? I'm sure there are plenty.