Clearly there are people driven by hate, and clearly it's not getting better. Does it have to do with organizations and the media? Maybe, but who can say for sure. There's a hidden danger also of taking the focus of responsibility away from the perpetrator and shifting it to a third party. "The Media made me do it" or "the religous right made me do it" should never be considered valid excuses for criminal behaviour. I'm not suggesting that they are, but I'd like to see the blame focused where it originally lies.

My basic problem with "hate crime" laws and other laws of this kind is that they're fundamentally incorrect in their purpose (in my opinion anyway). "Hate" is not a crime. People are as free to hate me as I am to hate them back. Sure, hate is an ugly thing, and it destroys people and makes them unpleasant and ugly, but as with any other thought or emotion, people are free to have it. I like to think that people are advancing to a point where hate is obsoleted, but it is going to be by choice and evolution that it goes away. I like pie.

Additionally, "hate crime" legislation is fundamentally prejudiced and shows favortism to a specific group or organization. It's essentially saying "when you're mean to these people, it's worse than when you're mean to these other people". It's rather insensitive to victims of the same crime who were not members of a minority as well. This is just the kind of separatism that members of minority groups should be fighting against, not for. "Equal rights" should not be equated to "special rights". Everyone should be treated equally under the law without regard to who their associates are or what their sexual orientation is.

Thirdly, the crimes people would like to be ascribed as "hate crimes" were already crimes in the first place. Murder, to my knowledge, has never been legal. Nor is assault, battery, etc. Nobody commits these crimes out of love and adoration for the victim.

Some might say, "but don't we already differentiate prosecution in this way?" but the answer is "no." It's true that we have different laws for prosecuting first degree murder vs third degree murder, but this is a determination based upon intent, not motive. Intent is fairly easy to substantiate based upon evidence and testimony of witnesses (did Suzy buy the axe she used to off her husband the day before she killed him, or was the axe just conveniently there?). Motive is something that can only really be contained in the mind of the accused- to guess at or try to prove an individuals internal thoughts and emotions is not only misguided but also dangerous and encroaches on the freedom of us all (does Suzy hate white people? She must, because she listens to rap music!).

The potential for abusing this kind of legislation is great, just as the administrative burden of deciding what hate crimes are and whether the accused actually hated the victim- now the accused must plead not only his innocence but his lack of hate as well and then you get into very shaky ground wherein you have to try to determine what's going on in the accused's head. Will minorities abuse the laws?

I'd very much like to see less hate in the world. I'd love to live in a world where everyone gets along ok, and nobody beats up gay people. But I'm not willing to sacrifice equal treatment to get there.

Wed Nov 19 15:29:17 PST 2008		rants/hate.src
Updated: Thu Aug 18 2005 9:32.01		Viewed: never