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Author Message
25 new of 404 responses total.
rcurl
response 12 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 13 14:24 UTC 1998

Robbery often entails murder in order to silence witnesses. This wasn't
the case here, where the victim was left alive but in jeopardy. It was
an act of extreme cruelty. r

The advantage of hate-crime legislation is that the motive is sanctioned.
Motive is often in question in charging and sentencing.
aruba
response 13 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 13 15:48 UTC 1998

Like scg, I don't understand what "hate crime legislation" will do,
exactly.  I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "the motive is
sanctioned", Rane, since a law can't make it illegal to hate someone.  Is
there some legal concept of "admissibble motives", or something like that?
toking
response 14 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 13 19:25 UTC 1998

re #6: 

   What disgusts me about events like this is how amazingly rabid
white straight Americans seem to get at even the thought of any
kind of interpersonal interplay with a "gay" person.


I'm a straight white American, as a matter of fact, I'd guess that I'm
pretty much your average straight white American. I wouldn't do
something like this, and hey, I bet your average straight black American
wouldn't do this either...hmmm...I"d also be willing to bet that your
average straight purple dinosaur American wouldn't pull this kind of
shit either! What I want to know is why any statement like that had to
be made? One thing I don't get is why peoiple don't seem to realize that
superfiscal things like race have nothing to do woth something like
this! That some people are just down right evil, and that's why thing
like this happen.

Sorry,but "...how amazingly rabid white straight Americans seem to
get..." re4ally bugged me...I'll shut up now
johnnie
response 15 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 00:55 UTC 1998

I read an interesting study a while back where they interviewed a bunch 
of guys to get their reactions to gay persons, etc, then had the 
subjects watch homoerotic films while hooked up to devices that measured 
their, mmm, excitement.  There was a decided correlation between those 
who expressed extreme hatred towards homosexuals and those who were 
turned on by the films (that is, those who want to beat up gays for 
being gay are the ones who got off on the gay films).  So those such as 
the murderers in the incident at hand are betraying more about 
themselves then they realize...

polygon
response 16 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 01:26 UTC 1998

Re 15.  This has been known for many years.  Ask any mental health
professional.
scg
response 17 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 01:42 UTC 1998

Although, since these people are presumably already feeling quite threatened
by the situation, pointing that out to them probably won't help matters.
other
response 18 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 01:56 UTC 1998

        "We hate most in others what we fear most in ourselves."

                                                - i don't know...

This is one of those statements I have seen and felt to be more significantly
true the less one believes it to be...

brown
response 19 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 02:37 UTC 1998

is it just me... or d'ya just have ta love this perfect world we
have...
rcurl
response 20 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 03:53 UTC 1998

It is not illegal to hate someone, but what I said was that motive is
important in *charging and sentencing* - that is, after a crime has been
committed. There was a discussion of this, incidentally, on NPR today. 
The person they interviewed pointed this out, and gave examples of where
hate-crime legislation greatly reduced "hate crimes" in some
jurisdictions. What the legislation does is provide another basis for
judging the crime. For example, if someone assaults someone else because
(say) the person bumped into them, the assault could be attributed in
court to "sudden flash of anger", or a misunderstanding, or too much
coffee, it is likely that the assailant (if only minor damage was caused) 
would receive a moderately mild rebuke or sentence.. However if it can be
demonstrated by word or deed that the reason for the assault was the other
person's color, or religion, or sexual preference, then there is
established a purposeful motive, and the charge and punishment may be
higher. 

gypsi
response 21 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 06:01 UTC 1998

Well, I like sleeping with men, but watching a woman and man in a
porno doesn't turn me on in the slightest.  Therefore, I don't hold
much confidence in that study.
jep
response 22 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 13:54 UTC 1998

#15 seems to associate homosexual tendencies with violent behavior.

#20: "Hate crimes" is a hot button tag, nothing more.  To me, the 
seriousness of #0 is that a young man was killed.  The people who did it 
committed murder.  It makes no difference to me at all that they did it 
as a "hate crime".  If they did it to protest bad roads, as a school 
project, or to promote the fertilization needs of nearly extinct 
flowers, it's still murder.
brighn
response 23 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 15:21 UTC 1998

#21> The study is based on physiological responses, not (consciously)
psychological ones... that is, increased hormonal activity, respiration, etc.
We're generally poorly equipped to guage physiological arousal at these
levels... it's not an issue of what gets us wet or hard, necessarily, but
rather an issue of what gets our lower brains working.

In short, you may not be psychologically turned on by porno, but let's strap
you to a machine and see what it says (and it may well agree with you, but
it might not).

Also, it's also generally held in psychological circles that women are aroused
by text, men by pictures, so it's not entirely appropriate for a woman to
dismiss a study of male sexual reactions to stimuli based on her own
experiences.
rcurl
response 24 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 15:22 UTC 1998

Sure, it's still murder. It is also a hate crime. Protesting bad roads,
doing school projects, and fertilizing flowers do not perforce interfer
with the life, liberty or pursuit of happiness of others. Hate that is
acted upon does. Society should find ways to promote tolerance and
cooperation. It is certainly better than promoting hate. 

That said, I would agree that it would be better to reduce hate through
education and (what used to be called) rearing. It is usually too late
to modify attitudes once they are established. Putting some barriers
against acting on those anti-social attitudes is still worthwhile, in
my opinion. 
albaugh
response 25 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 17:13 UTC 1998

Re: #14:  There are some that would hold that Barney *is* evil.  But if they
killed Barney, as expoused in the usenet group, wouldn't they be guilty of
a hate crime, for singling out a purple dinosaur american?  I think that we
should also protect Barney from this kind of discrimintory hate!  And then
people with freckles, male pattern baldness, ...
jazz
response 26 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 19:01 UTC 1998

        People who look like penii.
senna
response 27 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 19:13 UTC 1998

The problem I have is that the phrase "hate crime" can be used as an
inflammatory tag to railroad people into punishments they don't deserve.  It
can be (and, if I recall correctly, has been) used as a political tool.  Hate
crimes are terrible, along with any other kind of crime.  However, using that
phrase tends to make people begin to lose sight of facts.
gypsi
response 28 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 21:31 UTC 1998

Brighn - I have to agree with you.  Reading erotic lit turns me on,
but pornos make me sick.  
fitz
response 29 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 14 22:57 UTC 1998

Question related to this topic:  My wife said that K. Couric on  the Today
show implied that James Dobson was culpable for this incident, an accusation
that gained Mr. Dobson rebuttal time on the Today show.  I have searched the
Web and sever newspaper archives, but I can't find anything to substantiate
this incident.  Anyone know something about this?
johnnie
response 30 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 01:34 UTC 1998

and in further news of the nasty people in the world:

Anti-gay church plans demonstration at funeral

Meanwhile, the Rev. Fred Phelps, the leader of a Topeka, Kansas, church
whose members regularly engage in anti-homosexual picketing, said he
was planning a demonstration at Shepard's funeral. 

Gov. Jim Geringer said he cannot stop Phelps from coming, but said
precautions would be taken to make sure Friday's services are not
interrupted. Geringer said Phelps' group is "just flat not welcome. What 
we don't need is a bunch of wing nuts coming in." 

Phelps said he had asked for protection from the Wyoming governor's 
office because his church had received at least seven death threats 
since word spread his pickets would be going to Laramie. "We're not 
going to tolerate any violence from these homosexuals," Phelps
said. "They are the most violent people in the world. Here they are 
talking about what happened to this poor boy, and they turn around and 
make death threats against us." 
scg
response 31 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 04:35 UTC 1998

Yuck.
senna
response 32 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 05:11 UTC 1998

Doesn't sound like a normal church to me.
rcurl
response 33 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 05:23 UTC 1998

"wing nuts"?

Sounds like a "hate" church. Maybe it has a connection with Milosovec.
gypsi
response 34 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 05:46 UTC 1998

Why would a church protest a funeral for crying out loud?  
aruba
response 35 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 15:29 UTC 1998

Re #20:  So are you saying, Rane, that there is some legal concept of a
"purposeful motive"?  I am pretty foggy on the finer legal points here.  If
this is not a legal term, then do you just mean that there are certain motives
that a judge/jury will find credible, and others that they won't?  If so I'm
not clear on  what  a law would do to change that.
rcurl
response 36 of 404: Mark Unseen   Oct 15 16:08 UTC 1998

The difference between first and second degree murder is motive (or lack
thereof). Manslaughter is murder without motive. There is some slight
difference between manslaughter and wrongful-death, which lies in motive.
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