Hate Crimes ~ Through the Looking Glass

There's something very Alice in Wonderland, through-the-looking-glass about the way the term "hate crimes" is morphing in the current political climate. For example, there's an organization on Long Island, Bias Help,that says it's "committed to fighting hate on the internet and beyond." In one of its anti-bias training sessions, Bias Help is using September 11th as an example of a "hate crime." I can see how one might view the attacks of September 11th as a "hate crime," certainly, those folks flying those planes hated Americans, but the actual application of that definition stretches the term to the point of meaninglessness. The Bias Help training goes on to invite participants to contemplate the meaning of the "hate crime" of 9/11 for:

"The implications of our national origin, civil liberties and the protection by our Constitution...."

Here, it would seem that "hate crime" means anything that threatens the nation-state of the U.S. or its constitution. Thus, "hate crime" comes to mean the same as what used to be termed "an act of war," or when committed by a citizen, "sedition." And, what of those civil liberties that have been completely disregarded by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and all the rest since 9/11 ~ are those "hate crimes" too?

Such a reframing of 9/11 as a "hate crime" against Americans undermines, at the very least, any sort of analysis of the vicious and widespread attacks against Arabs in the U.S. in the months following the attacks, and does nothing to critique the abuses by the U.S. goverment at Guantanamo or Abu Gharib.

This through-the-looking-glass use of the term "hate crime" is not limited to the U.S. context. According to one report, the government of the Netherlands is using its' stringent laws about online hate groups to prosecute a number of Islamic groups:

The government of the Netherlands is looking to prosecute the owners of 357Hosting for spreading hatred. 357Hosting has been the provider of space for Islamists websites that have often carried a radical message. Some of the more infamous sites hosted by 357 Hosting include Albasrah.net, Hamasonline.com and Shareeah.org. 357Hosting has also hosted the official website of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Zarqawi's splinter group. Many of the beheading videos of foreigners in Iraq have been hosted in 357Hosting's servers.

My point here is not that groups like Al Qaeda are not hate-filled, they most certainly are. My point is that it is ironic, to say the least, that "hate crimes" legislation intended to provide some modicum of justice for people of color, and other oppressed groups, ends up being used in the defense of the U.S. constitution and against the very people it was meant to protect.

Through the looking glass, indeed.