[CLUE-Talk] Bowling for Columbine

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Mon, 2 Dec 2002, bof wrote:

> Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
>
> >That doesn't make it a "hate-crime," it isn't a crime to perpetuate a
> >negative stereotype about a group of people.
> >
>
> Really? Try walking around the Denver City Hall or the CU campus with a
> sign that says "Gays/Black/Lesbians/Gunowners (your choice) suck," and
> see what happens.

Yeah. Really.

You walk around City Hall or the CU campus with *any* sign, and you're
likely to be asked to leave -- just because you have a right to free
speech doesn't mean you have the right to exercise it anywhere you
feel like it.

You won't be arrested because of the message on your sign, you can
be as politically incorrect as you please -- there's no law against
that.

A "hate-crime" is not just saying something negative about someone.
Specifically, a so-called "hate-crime" is when someone commits a
violent act motivated by hatred of a race, ethnicity or sexual
preference. Saying mean things about gun proponents doesn't fit
in the same category and you sound like an idiot trying to compare
the two. If the worst thing anyone does is to say mean things about
your choice of gun ownership or to make fun of a particular political
group, I'd say that's pretty lightweight. I don't recall hearing
about any NRA members being beaten up (or worse) by anti-gun activists.

Zonker
--
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
http://www.dissociatedpress.net/