I have given some thought to this and it's like the old joke -- I may be fat but you are stupid, and I can diet.
The thing about hate crimes that makes them particularly insidious is that you are being hated not for your opinions or your actions, which you control, but for some aspect of yourself which you do not. Or that is how it looks to me, anyway, and for what it is worth, Frederick Douglass said somehting of the kind about slavery. And MLK - "not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? I suppose some people think religion is a matter of control, but not really if you think about it. If you've been taught that you will go to hell if you set foot in a protestant'catholic church then you probably won't no matter what. .02 Dana On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 11:11 AM, G Money <gm0n3...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Jerry Johnson <jmi...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> And regardless of reasons or motives, > > > "regardless of reasons or motives" is an interesting phrase. > > You know, we have things now called Hate Crimes, that are very much > dependent upon the "reasons and motives". > > 1) Should we have hate crimes? and > 2) Should attacking someone for their politics be a hate crime? > > These are tough questions...because on the one hand, I feel like the > senselessness of crimes like this, or of people who are attacked simply > because of their race or orientation, SHOULD play into the punishment. But > on the other hand, if someone who got attacked because they flicked someone > off, or because they drive a yellow car......are just as victimized as the > minority or the homosexual who was attacked, so why alter the punishments > because of motivation? > > I think i'm generally in favor of the idea of hate crimes for certain, well > defined instances of obvious lunacy....but I slightly fear the slippery > slope hinted at by my second question.....today it's politics, tomorrow it's > people with blonde hair.....then people who like cats...and then...? > > I dunno...what do you guys think? (I don't THINK this is a thread > hijack....more of a thread tangent :) > > -- > I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad > The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:316240 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
