PikaDaDon
Thunderbolt Them Suckers
For propaganda purposes, the importance of an event is determined entirely by its power as symbolism, not by its practical or economic significance.
It doesn't matter if a story affects one person or 10 or 100. What matters is the quality of the story. It's all theater. The fact that this trial affects real people in real ways means nothing to the people who are running this theater. The only thing that matters is the ability of the story to grab the audience's attention.
Movie producers don't especially care they make a movie that's a touching romantic comedy, a super agent thriller or a post-apocalyptic epic. It's all fiction, and the point is to make money. They'll utilize whatever subject matter will do the trick and put asses in seats.
Likewise, politicians don't care whether it's a small-time local crime story like Trayvon Martin's death, or the demolition of a skyscraper -- whatever grabs people's attention and gets them to CARE is what they will utilize to advance their agenda. This Zimmerman trial is, in the grand scheme of national government, extremely small potatoes. It's practical importance is nearly zero. Trials like this are conducted in nearly every county in America, all the time.
But its POLITICAL value is incalculable. The trial is just the propaganda delivery mechanism -- it's the vehicle by which the political message is transmitted. That political message is something along the lines of "You need government to protect you from chaos and murder-palooza breaking out in the streets!" That resonates nicely with similar messages, like: "You need government to prevent the unreconstructed racists who live among you from using the LGBT community as targets in human bloodsport competitions!"
