Well, I'm opposed to hate crime laws, and I poked fun at Sloww's 9/11 thread (I think of "never forget" as an empty civic piety, up there with American flag lapel pins and that crappy Proud to be an American song). I find Islam as a belief system repugnant, but I don't believe Muslims as a class are significantly more violent than the general population. In much the same way I find atheism unpleasant, but don't suspect Lori or Loin of closeted nihilism.
If four thousand people were killed in one set of attacks for some non-religious motive, I am reasonably confident that we would have gone to war with/killed the hell out of whoever was responsible anyway. If 9/11 is to be held up as an example of a hate crime (as it was in the last argument I had on the subject), then the opposite of the OP's thesis would be true; people who believe in hate crime would want extra punishment for Muslims, not less, compared to those who don't.
If four thousand people were killed in one set of attacks for some non-religious motive, I am reasonably confident that we would have gone to war with/killed the hell out of whoever was responsible anyway. If 9/11 is to be held up as an example of a hate crime (as it was in the last argument I had on the subject), then the opposite of the OP's thesis would be true; people who believe in hate crime would want extra punishment for Muslims, not less, compared to those who don't.
Comment