Hate Crime! The average liberal who may happen across my opinions may find this article a bit more to their way of thinking.  I, by nature, am a liberal at heart and believe that the government should have little or no say in the regulation or control of our truly personal choices, such as religion, sexual orientation, and basic liberties given to us by our constitution.  But there are some areas that the government does need to step in, as it is our chosen form of law enforcement for protection and well being.  We are now faced with a dilemma that is not new, but is something that has recently been brought to the forefront of our attention by the murder of Matthew Shepard.

Matthew Shepard was a young student at the University of Wyoming, presumably gay, who was beaten, tied to a fence in a remote area, and left for dead.  Reports say that it was a gay bashing, or hate crime.  Other reports say the two killers had gay friends and it was just a robbery.  Whether or not this incident was or was not related to the victims sexual preference, there are still many other cases that are true hate crimes.

Gay's, minorities, the handicapped, and religious groups are regularly faced with violent opposition.  Although rarely ever publicized white men, and conservative groups are now being targeted in racially and viewpoint motivated hate crimes.  Being from LA, I have had a chance to see a lot of this up close.  I have talked with black and hispanic friends that I know were the solid citizen type, and had no involvement with gangs, drugs, or theft and they have been harassed by the police, white's, and different minority groups.  I've personally been punched, slammed into walls, thrown down, and spit on by hispanics and blacks just for being white.  I've been harassed by the police for having long hair, and they tell you to your face, there is no attempt to hide it because they know nothing will happen if I report it.  I had a friend who was sexually propositioned by homosexuals and rudely told them "f*** off - fagot" and was jumped by them and beaten.  I've seen Christians praying on the street near abortion clinics, and seen the pro choice groups viscously attack them, and when they did not fight back and continued to pray, they were kicked, punched, spit at, and had chairs & trash thrown at them, later I saw the newsreels and they reported that the pro life group trashed the abortion clinic in a violent protest, when all they did was pray, and get beaten.  I've seen gay men beaten for wearing "Act-Up" tee shirts, and they get beaten up for just being gay.

How can the government help?  Well, I'm not sure they can do a whole lot.  As someone who has been, somewhat, involved in criminal activity in the past, I realize that the police and laws do not have a firm impact on a motivated criminal, and the crimes will always be committed.  In the government republicans tried to make laws to prohibit specific behavior, democrats try to teach our children that everything is all right and should be accepted, independents swing with whatever the press likes this week, and none of it is doing much good.

Here's the controversial part, it may not be the P.C. or popular opinion, but it's the one that is based on truth, and the only one that will make any real difference.  Laws are OK for regulating punishment, but have little impact on the crime it's self.  The moral relativistic approach of teaching our children that everything offensive to them is just fine and that their feelings are wrong, looks good on paper but in reality it just creates confusion and opens the door for everything to be interpreted as "just fine" and seriously threatens the well being of our society.  The only way we can handle this is to understand that there is right and wrong, and being a specific color or religion is not wrong, and even if there is something that someone is doing that is wrong, violence is not the way to handle it.  If you think homosexuality is bad, fine, say so and use your first amendment rights, but don't physically assault someone or destroy their property, if for no other reason, it makes your point of view look weak.  My personal reasoning is based on the truths that God has set forth, and I believe that homosexuality is wrong, and is a form of perversion, but the person who is doing it is still a person and still loved by God.  In God's eyes their perversion is no worse than cheating on your wife, or premarital sex, or lusting for another mans wife, and we are all guilty of some form of perversion and many worse things.  Adding violence to our own list of offenses to God is not going to help anybody.

We need to understand that violence is committed for two main reasons.  One, the most common, is confusion, and our lack of understanding of how to deal with what we do not understand.  The lack of understanding causes anxiety or fear in us and we try to gain control of the situation in the only way we know how, some by denial, some by just accepting everything as relative, and some by attacking it and trying to gain the upper hand by physical prowess through violence, which is wrong, and a crime.  This is easily remedied in my life, because I have learned that you can trust in God for your well-being and use common sense to avoid conflict.  Speak your opinion and disconcerns and if others disagree with you, it's OK, they are the ones who will have to reap the consequences if they are wrong.  The second reason people commit violence is they have some deep routed problem in general and are what we consider to be "Evil" which is pretty much the same thing as reason one, but in an uncontrollable state, the person is so messed up emotionally and mentally that they no longer have any reason or control and have lost any traces of compassion or restraint.  These are people like Hitler, Stalin, Jeffrey Dahlmer, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson and by societal standards are considered criminally insane, and that's where the government needs to step in.  As for the rest of us, we need to learn to deal with fear and confusion in a better way, and we need to stop confusing our children with lies and misconceptions because we are trying not to be offensive or politically incorrect.  It's OK to have an opinion and it's Ok to voice that opinion, but if we are going to live in a society we need to accept the fact that others are different and may have different opinions, and we may disagree but we can not physically attack them for it, otherwise we become a detriment to the society and become a much larger problem that demands action by force to control it.  Learn to express your self in a better way, learn to deal with your insecurities in a more constructive manner.  Our government needs to start punishing those who commit violence for reasons of hate, but also needs to stop forcing a P.C. opinion on our children, through these so called awareness programs, because it greatly increases the confusion that leads to violence, and families need to start teaching the next generation that it is OK to disagree but it needs to be handled in a civil manner.

If Matthew Shepard was a homosexual, I think it is disgusting, vial, and offensive to our society and to God, but I also think those that killed him are far worse and pose a serious and immediate threat to our society that needs to be removed.  And we need to quit playing games with our children and start instilling some truth and proven techniques in raising a generation of decent human beings.

Shane Zettelmier