More Hate Crime Stuff

At left is a photo of unblind justice, a statue at the entrance of the municipal courts building in Ulm, Germany. Neat, huh?

It is my understanding of our legal system that motives for crimes are often taken into consideration when determining charges, trying cases and in the sentencing process.

Jazzy Cat suggests that hate itself will become a crime. That people will be brought to justice for spouting hate speech. Of course, I suppose such a danger exists.

What I find amusing here is that Jazzy's concern puts her in agreement with the hated ACLU. It was, in fact, the ACLU which defended the Klan back in (I believe) 1978 and their right to march in heavily jewish Skokie, IL. The ACLU has aided in the defence of individuals and groups from all points on the political spectrum over the years when it appeared that their rights of free speech and/or their right to assemble were being infringed.

While I admit that we are edging onto dangerous ground, I don't believe that it is logical to assume that hate, itself, will become unlawful. It is, however, true that what is considered to be PC in any given environment can have repurcussions in the work place or in society in general. Oddly, there were faculty at a number of universities who were censured or even fired for speaking out either in support of or against the Iraq war. The response was dependent upon the political stance of the respective institutions. Believe it or not, there are a number of conservative universities out there. Not all are bastions of liberalism.

Jazzy states that it is assumed that "to be against same sex marriage is to hate homosexuals." Well, of course, that's not too much of a stretch. But laws pertaining to hate crimes does not extend to those who voice opposition to such unions. However, these laws do pertain to physical violence done to homosexuals or their supporters, if it can be determined that the violence was perpetrated in response to the issue of homosexuality.

Jazzy, how would you respond if you woke in the morning to find that there was suddenly a swell of hate which included a number of verbal and physical attacks on, say, Baptists, or Nazarenes? And these attacks were made simply because the victims were Baptists or Nazarenes? How do you suppose Afro-Americans feel? What went through the minds of European jews in the 1930s and 40s? Do you suppose that they felt that they were victims of hate? Look what those hate crimes wrought.

By the way, the photo in the previous post is of the Holacaust memorial in Berlin. It is built directly over hitler's bunker.

TLS

P.S. Jazzy, I still like your pics. I do have more snowy scenes, I suppose, owing to my living in a somewhat more temperate climate than you. But you've got some great mountain and aerial shots which do have snow in them. Actually, I'm not a big fan of snow, or winter for that matter. My job includes working outside to some extent. When the weather is good, not too hot, cold or wet, it's pretty good. But when we get hit with the extremes that sometimes come our way, I can't say that I enjoy it much. The worst in my opinion is wind and rain with temps in the upper 30s or low 40s. That is the pits. I'd rather it be, say, 25 degrees and snowing (sans wind.) At least I don't get rain down the back of my neck, or all over my trusty clipboard.

Later