Hate crimes vs. hate speech
May. 5th, 2007 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
openspace4lifeTwo days ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill expanding the federal definition of a hate crime from "acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin" to include gender and sexual orientation. This triggered a veto threat from a president who has only vetoed two bills in his six years in office, one of them only four days ago.*
Why? Well, the most likely reason is that "social conservatives . . . say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality," despite the fact that it only applies to violent crimes. Stab a gay man, and you might get a longer sentence under this law. Tell him that he's a sinner and will burn in Hell, and you will still be breaking no federal law at all, though of course you could always be sued for "causing emotional trauma."
Also, consider this: "Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate crimes protection." It can't be the seniors part that would have killed the bill, since seniors vote in large numbers and politicians are always falling over each other trying to please them. So one must admit that Democrats don't like the idea of offering our society's "sheepdogs" protection from the anger of the people they are supposedly trying to protect. Intellectually, we may want to support our troops, but emotionally, it's awfully difficult for antiwar liberals to do so right now: we harbor unreasonable nightmares of trained killers returning to our communities and going on crazed rampages.
Finally, what if the conservatives are right and the punishment of hate speech against a growing number of groups is threatening our First-Amendment rights? I wouldn't be too worried, except I just realized that there could be a major issue when stupid people start demanding hate-speech protection as a group. Personally I have nothing against the IQ-challenged, as long as they understand that their disability makes them regrettably unqualified for key leadership positions. (What I worry about more are the systems in our society that seem to actively encourage the development of said disability.) But if people start getting sued for "unflattering portrayals of people with low intelligence," then humor as we know it in America may cease to exist.
* Key text from the linked article: "[T]he nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has concluded that the Pentagon could wage war through July without additional funding."
Why? Well, the most likely reason is that "social conservatives . . . say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality," despite the fact that it only applies to violent crimes. Stab a gay man, and you might get a longer sentence under this law. Tell him that he's a sinner and will burn in Hell, and you will still be breaking no federal law at all, though of course you could always be sued for "causing emotional trauma."
Also, consider this: "Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate crimes protection." It can't be the seniors part that would have killed the bill, since seniors vote in large numbers and politicians are always falling over each other trying to please them. So one must admit that Democrats don't like the idea of offering our society's "sheepdogs" protection from the anger of the people they are supposedly trying to protect. Intellectually, we may want to support our troops, but emotionally, it's awfully difficult for antiwar liberals to do so right now: we harbor unreasonable nightmares of trained killers returning to our communities and going on crazed rampages.
Finally, what if the conservatives are right and the punishment of hate speech against a growing number of groups is threatening our First-Amendment rights? I wouldn't be too worried, except I just realized that there could be a major issue when stupid people start demanding hate-speech protection as a group. Personally I have nothing against the IQ-challenged, as long as they understand that their disability makes them regrettably unqualified for key leadership positions. (What I worry about more are the systems in our society that seem to actively encourage the development of said disability.) But if people start getting sued for "unflattering portrayals of people with low intelligence," then humor as we know it in America may cease to exist.
* Key text from the linked article: "[T]he nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has concluded that the Pentagon could wage war through July without additional funding."
