Hate Speech

Hate Speech
 
My Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the noun “hate” as “Intense hostility and aversion.”  It defines the verb “hate” as “To express or feel extreme enmity.”  The noun “speech” is defined as “The act of speaking.”  Wikipedia’s definition of “hate speech” includes this: “In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group.”

Of course, the Bible says in 1 John 3:15, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”  According to Matthew 5:44, Jesus said, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Today many liberal commentators and college and university administrators talk about hate speech and hate crimes.  The news media recently reported that there was a “hate speech crime” perpetrated by some individuals in the “Tea Party” movement at a rally on Capitol Hill against Obamacare.  This hate speech crime was supposedly aimed at Congressman John Lewis as he and other members of the Black Congressional Caucus declined to travel from their Congressional offices on the underground railroad, which they normally use to go to the halls of Congress, and decided instead to walk directly through the Tea Party demonstration.  Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. was part of the party that decided to walk through the crowd and as they proceeded along he filmed the crowd on his video camera.  In addition, the national news media filmed the group and the demonstrators as they proceeded along.

Apparently, the Black Congressmen (whose offices are located in three different office buildings) decided to get together and walk through the crowd after alerting the news media of their intent.  Initially, Congressman Lewis complained that someone had spit on him.  As he later admitted, he wasn’t spat upon, but when someone shouted some spittle landed on him.  That was indeed unfortunate.  However, he said that someone had uttered a racial slur against him as he proceeded along.  Apparently that was the reason for the unusual procession across Capitol Hill, to stir up animosity and provoke an incident.

The only catch is that not one video camera (including the one held by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.) provided any evidence of such an incident.  Nevertheless, the report of such an incident was treated as fact by the media.

Prior to this, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called the Tea Party demonstrators “NAZIs,” and others called them racists and identified them with the Klu Klux Klan.

It is a terrible thing to call someone a name that belittles them or ridicules them.  As it turns out, my wife, Kathi, and I, along with some friends, attended the giant rally on the Saturday prior to the vote on Obamacare.  It was a huge crowd of more than 40,000 that assembled with less than a week’s notice.  Of course, its size went completely unreported by the main stream media.  It was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and very mild temperatures.  I remarked to Kathi at the time that the crowd was most unique in that it combined great concern with a pleasant and good natured attitude.  Also unremarked by the media was the fact that it included old and young, black and white, Asian and Hispanic in the audience, all getting along together. 
I can assure you that had there been any evidence whatsoever of racism, Kathi and I would have departed immediately.  We have zero tolerance for any form of racism.  There was none.

Just as it is a terrible, hateful thing to call someone by a racial slur, it is an equally evil, hateful thing to falsely call someone a racist.  In the vernacular of the day, both are hate speech.

Years ago as a squad leader in Basic Training in the Army, I was the target of such hate speech.  When you are in Basic Training petty theft is a very common occurrence.  Accordingly, I was required to assign members of my squad to guard duty through the night.  Everyone pulled such duty and although no one liked missing valuable sleep, they did it.  My squad was of mixed race, both black and white.  One night I woke up to find a black member of my squad assigned to guard duty asleep on his bunk.  I knew that if anyone else found him, we would all be outside doing pushups.  I was angry.  I yelled at him and probably called him a couple of names, but I certainly did not use any racist term.  However, the next morning he went to the drill sergeant in charge of our squad and accused me of using a racist slur.  I simply told the sergeant (who also was black) the truth, it didn’t happen.  To his credit he told the private in my squad to forget about it.  

A couple of years prior to that, before entering the Army, I interviewed with Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I was about to graduate from college with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and I had listed on my resume the fact that I had served as State Chairman of Youth for Goldwater-Miller.  I thought it might show that I had some leadership ability and was willing to take initiative.  The fellow who interviewed me clearly implied that since I had supported Goldwater for President, I must be a racist.  I was shocked.

In other words, just because I realize that limited government is essential to the preservation of individual freedom and that the Constitution was to be followed, I was a racist?  

How slick liberals are in spinning history to fit their distorted view of reality!  Let’s start with Hitler and the NAZI Party was right wing.  Never mind that those on the right believe in limited government and maximum freedom and Hitler and the NAZI Party believe in government control of all means of production and minimum freedom.  Never mind that one of the earliest supporters of Hitler was the well known American liberal columnist, Walter Lipmann.  Never mind that NAZI stands for National Socialist Party.  It is, of course, untrue.  NAZIs and Communists are just different wings of the same leftist movement.  While the NAZIs believed in control of the means of production, the Communists believed in ownership of the means of production.  Both are clearly, by definition, on the far left.
And when Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union “without firing a shot,” as Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher put it, the liberal news media immediately started identifying the hard left in Russia as the conservatives!  More smear and distortion.

The liberal news media tells the biggest whopper when it smears conservatives and Republicans as the party of racists, bigots, and segregationists.  No it was the Democrats who were the racists.  It was the Democrats who were the party of Bull Connor, George Wallace, Orval Faubus, William Fulbright, and KKK member, Robert Byrd.  That’s their long, long heritage.

I can’t stand racism in any form.  It should never be tolerated. 
Similarly, I denounce those who decline to discuss the issues, but instead attack the character of their opponents by falsely calling them racists and homophobes.  Shame on you!  Is your faith in your arguments so weak and your fear and anger so great that you are incapable of simply discussing and promoting your case in the public forum and letting the American people decide the outcome at the ballot box on the basis of the facts?  

Enough!  Be gone with you.