Understanding "Hate Crime" Laws

There's more to them than meets the eye

[Reprinted from Issues & Views February 28, 2007]

For anyone who still does not understand the ramifications of "hate crime" laws, take a look at the links below.

Stop thinking "protection" for minorities and gays. These laws are crafted so that, superficially, they look like one thing, while really being designed as a first step to bring about another goal, that is, giving government bureaucrats the power to determine what qualifies as a First Amendment right.

Do you want to see Europe's perverse laws against writing and speaking on certain historical topics brought to the United States? Do you want to witness prosecutions of scholars and researchers because their studies bring them to politically incorrect conclusions? Do you want citizens punished by their political adversaries for what amounts to "thought crimes?" This is what these "hate crime" laws are all about--to eventually move to the next step where mere verbal or written discourse can be deemed "inciting racial (or gender) hatred" and can, therefore, be subject to prosecution.

In order to justify passage of these bills, such as the current HR 254, the bills' congressional sponsors must commit the most egregious lies. They will claim that existing Federal law is inadequate to address problems stemming from violence instigated by "hate." Yet, there are more than enough laws on the books of every state to deal with every type of violence perpetrated by citizens on one another. There is no need to give special regard to selected, chosen groups, whose needs are then set above those of other groups.

To further justify the need for a federal statute, as opposed to the many local ones, these sponsors make bizarre demands for punishing such crimes if it can be shown that they "affect interstate commerce" or are committed with the use of "articles that have traveled in interstate commerce." Their shameless reaching knows no bounds.

Links:

Increasing "Hate Crime" Punishment Violates American Principles

Five more years for your thoughts

Law as thought control

The Trouble With Hate-Crime Laws

A law for every distasteful thought

The all-purpose smear

Sneaking in another "hate crimes" law

The campaign to punish thought continues

See also: Free speech still struggles to survive, in Europe and in the USA

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