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"hate crime" is a ridicuous category

Reader comment on item: I Give Up: There Is No Terrorism, There Are No Terrorists
in response to reader comment: Drop Racism As Well, But Call Out Hatred

Submitted by Anon. (Israel), Nov 1, 2019 at 08:47

It relates to so-called "hate speech", which is linked in my mind to Orwell's "thought crimes".
Saying that terrorism stems from hatred is hardly a good argument. On the one hand, when Al-Qaeda or Isis carry out a major act of terrorism, it is mostly about being pragmatic. Hatred may be involved, but ultimately it is a means to an end. On the other hand, any act of assault stems from hatred, so virtually every violent crime would end up being called a "hate crime". Besides, these idiotic 'crimes', known as "hate speech", would also qualify as "hate crimes".
One must not use these terms.
I'm satisfied with classifying a group which plants the occasional bomb in a public place as being a terrorist group. To argue that it's bad, not because they kill and terrify random people but because "it's motivated by hatred" seems silly to me.

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