Hate Crimes-Social Media, Symptom Not Cure

HATE: (noun)-Feel intense or passionate dislike for (someone or something).
Synonyms of Hate:-loathe, detest, despise, abhor, execrate, abominate.

CRIME:-An action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law.

If you, the reader, don’t believe or understand the definitions of HATE and CRIME shown above, please stop reading. I HATE to waste anyone’s time and I consider it a CRIME to do so.

A crime is a breaking of the law, whether local, state or federal law. I have yet to meet and talk to a rational person who will state that we need more laws other than the occasional “There oughta be a law!” whenever we find ourselves in a frustrating situation. Laws have buried us, enacted by bureaucrats and in many cases those laws don’t apply to those self-same bureaucrats. No, the problem with “the law” is that it is not enforced in a vigorous and equal manner. Enforce the laws we have as written. Enforce them equally for everyone including the deliverance of punishment and we will be on the way back to civility from the current edge of anarchy upon which we stand.

Criminal incidents most often associated with “Hate Crimes” involve bullying, harassment, physical assault, verbal abuse or insults, damage to property, hate mail (offensive graffiti or letters) and mate crime.

A “Hate Crime” is a crime motivated by prejudice. Most “Hate Crimes” occur when a perpetrator (also described as a predator) targets a victim because of their membership (real or perceived) in a respective social group.

Those social groups are historically limited to sex, ethnicity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation, which, if you have any knowledge of humanity, covers everyone on earth, so why do we need to have a label “Hate Crime?”

Hate crimes are not new. The Romans persecuted and slaughtered the Christians. It started with Nero in 64 AD when he got blamed for the great fire. His response, not atypical of many of today’s politicians: “Blame the Christians.” Blame anyone other than themselves. It couldn’t have been Nero’s fault.
The Nazis persecuted and slaughtered the Jews. They saw the Jews as a problem, a hindrance to their warped idea of an ideal race so they blamed them for everything. It couldn’t have been the Nazi’s fault.
There has been ethnic persecution, slaughter and genocide in dozens of nations around the world and remains so today in some Baltic countries, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia to name a few.

Hate is a human trait, joined ineluctably at the hip to ignorance. Together, hate and ignorance are a lethal combination. History has proven this to be so.

One of the main reasons the United States of America exists today is because it has been populated by people wanting to escape persecution; escape hate; escape ignorance. Yet, despite all the noble reasoning we claim in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we have hate and ignorance here. Why, because it is a human condition and we, all of us, are human!

Recognizing that humans are frail, weak and corruptible, our founding fathers put a lot of safeguards into the Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights hoping enough rational people would prevail over the irrational, the ignorant, the haters and to date, we, as a nation have done just that but we are perilously close to the tipping point.

So, since crime is self evident and has prescribed punishment(s), why do we need to have “Hate Crimes” on the books? The short answer is, we don’t. The labeling of indecent, incorrigible, inexcusable behavior (crime) as “HATE CRIME” is yet another way the people-in-charge of ensuring that our laws get enforced EQUALLY and PROMPTLY for everyone, hide the fact they have not done and are not doing their job PROPERLY. (Note I have used an excess of adverbs-something frowned upon by writing teachers.)
These people-in-charge prescribe “Hate Crime” as a means to divert and deflect attention away from their failings, their inadequacies, the way a doctor prescribes medicine to fix an illness. The difference being, a doctor prescribes to help you and can’t mandate you take the medicine. The people-in-charge prescribe to give you the illness and shove it down your throat. These people-in-charge are found on both sides of the political aisle and have a singular commonality. They all want to tell you how to live your life.

There are many things wrong with today’s society. There always has been and, unfortunately (another adverb) always will be. Our job, you, me, everyone who is a citizen or aspires to be a citizen of the United States of America is to fight back against those wrongs. The difficult part is to determine what is a real “wrong” as opposed to a “perceived wrong.” That something or someone “offends” you does not make it or them wrong. It means that you have a different opinion about it or them. PERIOD! That is all that it means.

All this is exacerbated by the growth of social media because so many people believe what they read on the internet without doing any fact checking, something the writer has been guilty of in the past. Fact checking has become more difficult because certain websites that used to be dependable for issuing the truth are now influenced by the latest round of egocentric hyperbole, (They think their ideas are better than the truth.) Nothing is better than the truth but it is always difficult to deal with.

Social media has enabled people who otherwise would never have the nerve to say something face-to-face with a person, to hide behind the internet and spout claptrap. My argument isn’t with the claptrap; that is their opinion versus mine. It’s the rudeness and crudeness displayed when spouting. That shows a lack of backbone and human empathy. State your opinion all you want but don’t denigrate those who think different from you. (Go back and read the 8th, 9th and 10th paragraphs).

To prove my theory that social media has become a cowardly method of discussion, reflect on the difference between a smile and a frown. An oft-told tale, passed on to most of us at an early age is that it is easier to smile than frown, since it takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown (some say 46 vs 62 but you get the point). A smile or frown is a facial expression that transmits our feelings to others, body language by another name. Social media has developed emoticons to imprint on our messages but emoticons are placed there deliberately, regardless of our real emotion whereas smiles and frowns tell the truth to anyone watching. It is a modern day way to practice deceit.

If you must accommodate the urge to HATE, try hating being in debt. Being in debt is bad for you, your friends, neighbors and our nation. It is a worthy target of such a strong emotion and frankly (damn adverb), you cannot blame anyone but yourself for being in debt.

The writer is a fiscal conservative, social moderate and part-time cynic who values his friends and acquaintances from both sides of the political world.

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