Well, isn't this rich? George Zimmerman's family gave an extensive interview to GQ Magazine in which they cried a river to the nice reporter.
Well, not all of George Zimmerman's family. But his brother Robert Zimmerman, Jr, who was known as the 'family f*ckup' before George captured the title, decided he would singlehandedly rebrand George after the Trayvon Martin shooting.
That's right. Rebrand. Because after you shoot an unarmed black kid, apparently all that's necessary is some rebranding and a publicity tour.
Robert's big idea? Make George into a reality show because well, it worked for Sarah Palin, didn't it? Except he couldn't get the rebranding thing in place, so that was a bust.
But back in the early days, before everyone knew who George Zimmerman was, sister Grace decided the whole family needed more guns.
It was Grace, the little sister, who first grasped how all their lives were about to change. "We need to get guns!" she screamed when she saw the first news report pop up on her phone. The brief story didn't even have George's name—the shooter was still publicly unidentified—but that was no comfort. It was only a matter of time.
And from there, the story gets really bizarre, but completely realistic given the sociopathic nature of George Zimmerman. They live in a self-described "safe house," because the scary black people scared them into believing their lives were in danger. In fact, for the GQ reporter to visit them, they required her to don a hood for the drive to their house while leaving her cell phone behind, because Grace was concerned about the GPS pinpointing her location.
Alas, after the reporter agreed, Zimmerman's parents said they just couldn't do it.
"I understand you may consider us uncooperative or somewhat paranoid," Bob wrote. "However, we live with a situation that can not easily be imagined. We have known the results when various individuals have realized one of us is a Zimmerman."
"We have known the results." It's not clear to me what he's referring to. The New Black Panthers? They never came knocking. The Internet threats? Just empty words, lobbed from a distance. That time a Publix employee recognized George and refused to make him a sandwich? The time Robert was almost beaten up in a Starbucks? Nothing actually happened, so it's hard to know if the threat was real or imagined.
I'm going out on a limb here and saying it was entirely imagined.
There's much, much more. Like how George Zimmerman has a unique-only-to-George-Zimmerman form of PTSD that only George Zimmerman's father can diagnose as such.
Robert told me often that he believes George is suffering from PTSD. On the rare occasions when they talk, George often loses the thread of the conversation. He has also developed a very short fuse, especially when he thinks someone is trying to tell him what to do. "What is your point?" he'll say. "Tell me the point! In two words: What is the point?" When you try to answer, he cuts you off and yells it again.
Jebus, Robert, that's not PTSD. It's anger outbursts and arrogance, because George cannot seem to understand that the world does not revolve entirely around him. Good Lord, if he can't stand to listen to someone finish a thought, is it any wonder he shot a kid dead in the street?
Go read the rest. Or you can check Raw Story's summary. Here's my take: George Zimmerman is a pariah, and he will always be a pariah, because people do not like it when justice is not served. Trayvon Martin is dead; George Zimmerman is not. And that will forever brand George as Trayvon Martin's killer.
No PR campaign mounted by Fox News or anyone else will change that.
