The editorial “Society must address issue of hate-based violent crime” (ODE; Dec. 4, 2003) presents an obvious thesis: Violent crime is wrong and should be stopped. As stated, the fact that we need days of remembrance clearly demonstrates an embedded problem with our cultural paradigm.
However, what I find problematic may not be what the editorial staff intended. Our focus should be on violent crimes, not just hate-based violent crimes. Violence should be abhorred universally, because it is not about sexual orientation or race or national origin. Whether violence is motivated by hate or by another means is not most relevant. What is the most relevant is the fact that violent crimes occur. Is it less wrong that somebody was violently killed because of a bank robbery than because of a hate issue? I would venture to say no. Cultural and political differences cannot and should not be limited, whether that means loving everybody or hating everybody. What can and should be limited is criminal activity as a mode of political expression.
We must separate the political or cultural agenda from the crime. Are all Palestinians who advocate a sovereign state also advocates of suicide bombings? Of course not. Whether we agree with a particular political or cultural agenda does not advocate nor imply advocacy of violence as a means to our political or cultural ends. Hating, disliking, or disagreeing with someone is not a crime, violent crime as an expression of that belief is the crime.
The reason to establish this discourse is to combat the fallacious implication that those who oppose same-sex civil unions promote violence as a means to their goals. The editorial staff has used violent crimes as a red herring to promote a narrow political agenda. It is not requisite that people agree with a group politically or culturally in order to not want to kill them.
I do not believe that same-sex civil unions should be legalized. However, this belief does not make me empathetic to those who use violence as a mode of expression.
Praise should be given to the editorial staff for raising the issue that violent crimes are wrong and should be stopped. However, the staff and anyone else who couples differing political and cultural agendas with crime should be rebuked.