I was shocked....
The typical answer went something like this, " yeah, I like definitely think there is a huge difference between a hate crime and just a murder, you know? It's like when it's just a murder, we kind of expect that, but when it's a person who was killed because they were gay or something, that makes it so much worse."
I was so deeply disturbed at the number of people who said things like "Just a murder" or that even entertained the notion that these "just murders" are somehow more acceptable because it is unreasonable to assume a society exists without violence. This is complete and utter nonsense. I immediately raised my hand and fought hard against this notion. I said something like, "all murders, unless the killer was mentally disabled or crazy, are committed out of hate. It is for this reason that designating "hate crimes" separate from other crimes seems misguided, because all crime is bad. A hate murder is not inherently worse than any other murder. It's like what Morgan Freeman say's about black history month, why can't every month be a month to celebrate everybody's history. It fosters more racism by separating itself from other histories. Similarly I think calling a crime a "hate crime" lends itself to more prejudice."
Immediately after that, people started saying things like "just murder" again. and it just really bothered me that people answer questions the way they think they are supposed to be answered rather than what they actually think a lot of the time. Or no one really picks an opinion, its always this safe, "If I don't say it's justified, then people will think I hate gay people." So I raised my hand again, and openly questioned the general morality of the class, how could they say "just a murder"....
I then realized that i didn't have to feel bad about it, because I just wrote a blog post about how i don't like prescribed and implied morality for myself, and that I can make my own decisions.
I will leave you with a quote- "Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!" Viktor Frankl- Man's Search for Meaning
Josh
SNEEK PEAK FOR NEXT TIME!!!
" For as soon as we have used an opportunity and have actualized a potential meaning, we have done so once and for all. We have rescued it into the past wherein it has been safely delivered and deposited."- Viktor Frankl- Man's Search for Meaning
That's a really good point...I hadn't thought about things from that perspective in regards to hate crimes. It had occurred to me that having "black history month" and things like that does potentially foster more racism because it continues to call attention to differences and create separation by saying, "HEY! THESE PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. THEY SHOULD BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY!" Where as, isn't the whole point that everyone should be equal?
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, in regard to hate crimes, I don't know that people are saying other types of murder are "just" murder so much as they are calling attention to the differences in motivation for the murder. Hate crimes target people based on a perceived membership of a certain social group, not on a deed or position that person holds or out of revenge or anything like that. From what I understand, people who are victims of hate crimes are targeted in a similar way victim of serial killers are- based on a characteristic.
I think, for this reason, they should be prosecuted more harshly than let's say a crime of passion, where the person was emotionally driven and lashing out. Hate crimes may not be planned the way a 1st degree murder is (with premeditation) but because of the nature of the crime, which is to target someone based on a characteristic, I think they should face harsher charges. At the very least, it may deter other hate crimes from being committed.