I was over at Amish Tech Support [link on blogroll to left] reading and happened upon this entry. It seems that a Muslim in New York was sentenced to the maximum 5 to 15 years in prison for his role in an attempted firebombing of a synagogue. After dutifully reporting the story of the man's conviction for this crime prosecuted partly under New York's new Hate Crimes Statute, Laurence Simon had this to say:
Shall I be so bold as to suggest that Mohammed himself would be proud of this scum-sucking, Jew-hating vermin who bears his name?I shall.
Muslims shouldn't be worried about Mohammed's name being dragged through the mud, you know. With those many centuries of blood encrusted around it as a result of his teachings, mud doesn't have a chance of sticking to it.
What is the actual purpose of Hate Crimes legislation? The man in New York firebombed a building. Did it make any difference that he was Muslim and the building was a synagogue when the firebomb went off? Did the legislation deter him from firebombing a synagogue? Does the Hate Crime Statute make it more likely that other Muslims who find a compulsion to do so will not firebomb synagogues? Does this legislation stop hatred? All I can really think is that it boosts the victims' self-esteem. They feel a bit better about themselves because this crime stood out from your regular "crazy individual killing innocent people" type crimes. They would not have been a victim of this crime but for the actors hatred for them as a class of victims. And, hopefully, it quells hatred of others. What is your take on it, Laurence?
Posted by Tiger at May 2, 2003 03:48 PM | TrackBack