Why I’m against the idea of “hate” crimes

Or “hate” speech.  According to this piece, people are upset that the Dallas shooting could be investigated as a hate crime though, at this point, the two shootings of the two black men who mattered might not be hate crimes.  True.  The idea of hate crimes, like hate speech, seems rather subjective.  Back in the late 90s, when there was significant push-back against the idea of ‘hate crimes’, there was a shooting in a Texas church. A man walked into the church, announced he hated those religious people (with expletives), and opened fire.  Seven were killed.  Others wounded.  The complete coverage lasted less than a week.  A week or so later, the last mention I heard was on ABC, when Charlie Gibson reported that the motives for the shooting were still unknown.

At that point I knew the idea of ‘hate crimes’ was digging a hole that was going to go deep before we got ourselves out of it.  The fact is, it’s a political, agenda driven term to be used or not used according to convenience.  And when trying to figure out the problems of the human experience, starting with a term that never seems to mean the same thing unless it’s based on skin color or the right demographic is an excellent way of making sure it is a term that will continue the problem, rather than solve it.