posted
Should hate be outlawed? Should anyone showing behavior hateful toward another person or group be arrested? If no, then what specifically are 'hate crimes" ?
Thoughts please.
------------------ "I object to all this sex on the television. I mean, I keep falling off!"
posted
The really scary thing is that there was a Voyager episode like this a few years back. The society developed a black market in violent, hateful thoughts.
------------------ Dane
"Mathematicians have long held that a million monkeys banging on a million keyboards would eventually reproduce the collected wisdom of the human race. Now, thanks to the internet, we know this is not true." -- Robert Silensky
posted
"Hate crimes" are crimes committed against a person because of who that person was and what group they belonged to, rather than a 'random' crime not directed at any type of person.
F'r instance, most muggers don't care what race you are, so that's not generally a hate crime. That guy who came into the synagogue in CA looking for Jews to kill because they were Jews, however, was committing one. So was that black guy in Pittsburgh who was shooting white people because they were white, although he's not too likely to be charged with a hate crime, since somehow, minorities are usually considered to be politically incapable of hate.
"hate" crimes are very often unprovable, however, and are just assumed in some cases. It gives the preachers, politicians and wannabe crusaders something to talk about.
No, if we locked up every person that showed hatred to another person in such a manner, at any time, we'd probably have to jail too many people whom it would be inconvenient to house. Like Farrakhan and Sharpton and Robertson (though It might be amusing to see them sharing a cell...)
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
There should be no action taken unless it was a crime to start out, but there should not be any special punishment.
------------------ "Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in the flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory." -Paul *First Timothy 3:16*
On the one hand, you have a hate-filled person who especially hates blacks. On the other, you have a hate-filled person who doesn't care who his victim is. Who harms his victim and society more, and which is the greater monster?
Unless the perpetrator is an emotionless sociopath, all crimes of violence are hate crimes.
------------------ "Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonalds's makes you a hamburger." --[Source unknown.] http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/
[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited March 03, 2000).]
posted
Well, allow me to retort. People can kill in self-defence without necessarily hating their victims, only acting in self-preservation. Some cases of euthanasia can be violent (use of guns or blunt objects) but not hateful.
------------------ -At least I can get it up without biomechanical pumps. -Try falling into a pit of lava, Moffy. Then see how horny you feel.
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