Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
I find that speculation highly unlikely. Racist people will obviously have bad things to say about any law involving protected classes, and people who don't recognize white privilege will see such laws as unfair, or even "racist," given that they have such a poorly informed concept of racism.
Their rejection of hate crime laws is much more rational than a stance that minorities shouldn't be allowed to vote and such, and the higher level of rationality results in a lot more people rejecting hate crime laws. Giving special privileges based on skin color is racist, by definition. Not being racist involves treating people of all races equally. I have the same view of Affirmative Action, another horrible thing that I think does a lot more harm than good.

Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
These laws do not exist to enshrine some ideal that violence motivated by prejudice is bad. Hate crime laws exist to address crimes committed against protected classes on the basis of their membership in that class.
Which is racism that provokes more racism.

Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
I 'White' is the opposite of a protected class. On the whole, you will see more benefit from your race and encounter fewer obstacles because of it than anyone of any other race in this country, and more significantly you will get to spend much more of your time not thinking about your race at all. Acknowledging that fact is not the same thing as saying no one anywhere ever holds a white person's race against them. When someone assaults or discriminates against a white person on the basis of their race, though, it's not part of an ongoing history of systematic oppression. That institutional racism directed at specific groups--not solely by white people, but certainly not toward them--is what hate crime laws are meant to counter.
It is still a reality, and holding my race against me is racism. It has happened many times, and racism is equally disgusting in all directions. When the government gives one type of racism special privilege over another type of racism, the government is being racist. Skin color needs to be treated like hair color and eye color. That is the only way to kill racism.

Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
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Now, toxic race relations in Jackson, Miss. are a special case that y'all have to work out.
How? Should we treat white people as a special class and sometimes label black on white violence "hate crime?" I don't think we should. I think we should disbar prosecutors and judges, of all colors, who make racist decisions in court. The FBI needs to be on the asses of police of all colors to make sure they are not being racist.

Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
If that episode had a point, it would have been negated by the premise that a hate crime is any crime with a white perp and black victim. Also, I've seen that episode, and it's lousy. I don't dislike every SP episode I disagree with (I was vegan when I saw the PETA one, and laughed my ass off), but that one was a groaner.
The point was that racial "hate" is difficult and often impossible to prove and that people will be charged with it where it does not exist.