"If 'hate laws' are designed to show that it's somehow a worse crime when the victim isn't a hetero-white male, I guess I've been understanding the idea backward."

Melissa - you don't have anything backwards.

If somebody commits a crime (not necessarily murder) against a white heterosexual male because they hate white heterosexual males, then that is a hate crime so your understanding is correct.


Here is the crux of the matter.

If I kill one black man based on hatred his colour, what is there to stop me killing another?

If I kill somebody for more specific reasons, like discovering that he shot my best friend, then he will be the only person who falls into that category. My friends killer is dead and that is the end of my madness.

It isn't right to kill my friends killer, but it is a finite crime.

A racist murder is one of potentially millions, is impersonal and, as we saw in WWII, hate crime knows no mercy.


One of the biggest signs that somebody doesn't have a clue what "racism" means is when they start talking about "reverse racism"

The term "reverse racism" comes from the fallacious understanding that racism is somnething done by whites against non whites.

In fact, "racism" means discriminating on grounds of race.

A racist murder is one in which the murderer has discriminated on grounds of his victims race.

It is therefore a hate crime.