From: Michael S. Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Thu Dec 07 2000 - 14:36:03 MST
Jason Joel Thompson wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com>
>
> > Working in Vermont as I do, with
> > the current Civil Union controversy raging, it has turned out that all
> > of the overt 'hate' crimes committed here since the 'Take Back Vermont'
> > grassroots campaign began were actually committed by gays trying to gain
> > sympathy.
>
> Please provide referrences proving your contention that all (overt?) hate
> crimes commited in the state of Vermont in the period in question were
> actually commited by gays.
Those were the only two of consequence, that I already mentioned, but I
will research and see if there were others. The remainder were mostly
all phone calls to judges, clerks, and legislators. Many found that the
majority of the hostile invective during this whole period was from
those supporting civil unions, making many rather hateful remarks about
those opposed to civil unions on principle but who were not anti-gay in
particular.
Most of the invective in the other direction has been, I have found,
anger that is a consequence of the individuals it is directed at being
royal jerks no matter what their persuasion is. If thats a crime, then
call me a bigot. I hate assholes too.
>
> > Sorry Harvey, I just don't accept claims of widespread rural bigotry at
> > the level you claim, except possibly in the rural South or other areas
> > of strong Klan influence
>
> I'm not certain what level of rural bigotry Harvey was claiming, but rural
> bigotry is generally considered a more insidious problem for several
> reasons. Large population centers tend to support greater
> cultural/orientational diversity. Incidents are often under reported in
> rural areas, due to denial for instance (see your post above.)
>
> A few quotes from the U.S. Department of Justice Policymaker's Guide to Hate
> Crimes: (http://www.texasnaacp.org/hateguid.htm#1)
>
> "It's alarming that a number of communities reporting said that no hate
> crimes were committed within their jurisdictions," said Stephen Arent, vice
> chairman of the ADL's National Civil Rights Committee. "Unfortunately there
> is a great deal of denial. Many communities would say that hate crimes don't
> exist."
This is funny, actually. Most of those same communities experience no
murders, car thefts, robberies, or other major crimes, yet does the
federal government claim they are also lying about that too? If so,
where are the bodies??? Insurance claims? These communities typically
have one or two part time policemen, and some go decades without any
sort of death under questionable circumstances.
As hard as it may seem for some people to believe, there are, in fact,
many communities of peaceful, broad minded, tolerant people in this
country who are pushing no agenda, and want nothing more than to be left
in peace. There will always be individuals who are bigoted, but guess
what? Its their RIGHT. So far as I know, thought is not yet a crime in
this country, and its not your right to claim to be violated just
because not everybody thinks you are super.
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