May 02, 2003

You find the strangest things

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
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