The Hate Crimes Farce

The American Spectator ^ | 4-4-12 | Daniel Allott

[Wolf13]

Have you ever used a racial slur?

You may have two answers to that question. There's your initial, visceral, response: No! Of course not! Never!

But then there's the response you'd give if you were being a little more honest: maybe… once or twice. So, if you have, does it make you a racist? In the court of liberal opinion at least, the answer seems to be yes.

In the Trayvon Martin case, in which neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman is accused in the shooting death of Martin, the liberal consensus seems to be that Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, acted out of racial hatred against Martin, who was black, and thus is guilty of a "hate crime."

According to the FBI, "A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson or vandalism with an added element of bias." Hate crime laws move beyond the criminalization of free speech to outlaw thoughts society deems unacceptable.

Establishing whether a criminal was motivated by bias or hate is nearly impossible because it's nearly impossible to distinguish correlation from causation. Just because a criminal hates a particular group of people and commits a crime against a member of that group does not necessarily mean he was motivated by hatred when he committed the crime in question.

Of course, there's little evidence that Zimmerman hates blacks. The only supporting evidence so far is a recording of the 9/11 call he made as he pursued Martin. In it, Zimmerman appears to say, "They always get away, f----ing coons."

[texson66]

It has always been my position that there is no such thing as a “hate crime”.

We supposedly are to be treated equally under the law. Hate crimes seem to imply there is the ability of judges and juries to read the mind of the accused and determine the accused level of hate he used in committing the crime. Only Teddy Kennedy and wild eyed liberals with “feelings” could believe that!

Its utter nonsense!

[relictele]

‘Hate crimes’ imply there are also ‘love crimes’ but love crimes seem a bit thin on the ground.

[absolootezer0]

Have you ever used a racial slur?

every time i hear the phrase "racial slur" i think of a scene in clerks 2 where randall does a rundown on racial slurs. i can't even begin to quote it here, but it always cracks me up.

[StonyBurk]

We agree- Wolf13. IT is utter nonsense. Only thing I can add is what I heard from someone else— “If I had a son -he would look like Agent Brian Terry (the Border Agent killed by guns Obama and his minions trafficked to the Mexican drug cartels.)

[chesley]

When they start prosecuting blacks under hate crime laws for attacks on whites where the words :honky, cracker, racist, you get what you deserve, etc are uttered, then they will be repealed.

[Verginius Rufus]

There is no evidence that Zimmerman used the word "coons." There is just some ideologues in the media claiming that an indistinct noise on the tape was the word "coons."

I'd be as ready to believe that "coons" is a Quechua word for "Skittles-eaters" than that Zimmerman used the word as a slur.