I definitely don't know if it was racially motivated or not either. The information thus far is pretty damning but things can get distorted pretty quickly when large amounts of media get involved. I'm just glad to hear that a real investigation seems to being planned. Perhaps it will get to the crux of the matter and find out what really went down.
As for hate crimes in general, I'm really leery of things getting into "thought crimes" territory. I have unpopular opinions. I treasure the right to stand up for my opinions even if others find them odious. On the other hand, intent really does matter when it comes to crimes. When it comes to attacking people, to hurting, maiming, killing people because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, their perceived sexuality, their religion...those aren't just single crimes. It's killing someone, yes, but it is also intimidation meant for everyone else who shares that skin color, that religion, conveying the message: "Watch your back, you could be next". And that, to me, is what elevates it and makes it a crime on top of a crime. The victim may be as dead as someone that got randomly shot during a house break in, but the effect on everyone else is fundamentally different and to not acknowledge that, I think we lose something important. Cheers, Judah On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Cameron Childress <camer...@gmail.com> wrote: > > You know - you may be right. At the least this guy should be in jail right > now and under investigation. If it was racially motivated (which I am not > certain of one way or the other), then another layer of punishment may be > called for. > > -Cameron > > On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 6:03 PM, Judah McAuley <ju...@wiredotter.com> wrote: > >> I can't quite agree with you there, Cam. I've known people who started >> fights because they were drunk and had a chip on their shoulder and >> I've known people who started fights because the other person was gay >> or the wrong race. The first situation is motivated by stupidity and >> the second is motivated by hate. Having known drunk idiots and having >> known Skinheads (obviously those two categories are not mutually >> exclusive), I'd say that I'd rather see the Skinheads punished more >> severely. There is something fundamentally odious about attacking >> someone because of their skin color or their sexuality and those >> reasons are intrinsically intertwined with social behavior. I think we >> need to acknowledge that and specifically call out the hate in these >> crimes, label it and say "this shit has got to stop". >> > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:348928 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
