I'm sure by now that everyone is aware of the story of the teenager from Long Island who killed an Ecuadorian immigrant back in 2008 and was recently on trial for the murder. (If not, take a few minutes and read this.)
Well, it appears that the kid has been convicted of murder, which he should have been, based on the information I've seen about the case. But there is a part of this story that really bothers me, and that is the fact that he has also been convicted of committing a hate crime because the victim was a minority.
Those of you who know me know that I don't often delve into the political realm, but I just can't pass this one up without giving some commentary on it.
First of all, why does a crime against a minority have to be classified as a hate crime? Aren't all crimes "hate crimes"? Just because it was a white person killing a hispanic person doesn't mean that it should be treated differently than if a white person killed another white person. The same problem remains: a person is dead, a family is devastated, and a life is ruined. What does race have to do with anything?
All crimes are crimes of hate. It's the very nature of crime. If you love someone, you're not going to steal from them, abuse them, or kill them. So how can a crime be classified into sub-groups dependent upon outside factors? And, I'm not even talking about race here. I'm talking about everything: race, gender, sexual orientation -- it's all the same. A person is a person, regardless of race, gender, or creed -- so why should we label any crime against humanity a hate crime when there's no such thing as a love crime?
We've become too politically correct in America. We've come to the point where no one can say anything for fear of someone being offended. "Oh, little Johnny sucks at baseball? Well, we better put him on the team anyway and tell him how much of a winner he is, because we don't want his feelings to get hurt just in case he comes to school tomorrow and shoots 5 people before killing himself." ... "What, you mean Jimmy finished last in the race? Well, don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Whinybitch -- we have a 10th place ribbon just for little Jimmy, because we're all winners here at East Thundercunt Jr. High."
It's downright disgusting that we're no longer preparing our kids for those times in the real world when we actually lose. (Because you know -- there are times when we do lose -- it happens to all of us.) And we wonder why we have so many delinquents and criminals today, because a lot of people who have done nothing but win and have had everything handed to them don't know how to handle the reality that sinks in the first time they lose, or don't get their way.
The majority of kids in our society these days are seriously messed up in the head. I just saw on the internet a few minutes ago a video of a teenager who was recovering from burns over 60% of his body because some of his classmates got pissed at him and set him on fire. Yes, that's right -- they set him on fire. And do you know why they set him on fire? Because of a video game dispute.
Whatever happened to the old school way of handling problems: going to his house, asking him to come outside, and just kicking his ass on the sidewalk? That was how we handled our business when I was growing up, why can't that still be the method of solving problems amongst teens today?
But don't worry parents: I'm sure the government will come up with a way to paint this picture in a pretty way so we don't feel like our kids are going down the wrong path. I'm sure they will also tell us that it's because we let our kids eat too many cheeseburgers or watch too many cartoons, because you know that when we were kids and did those things that we turned out to be real social deviants.
And now that I'm starting to ramble, I'm going to end this rant before it starts to make no sense at all (not that it ever made any sense in the first place).
