The term disproportionate harm refers to the idea that the impact of hate crime is different and more pronounced than other crimes. Unlike other crimes, hate crimes are personal. They are not a random act of violence, but a targeted act rooted in hatred towards a particular group's identity (regardless of whether that ontology is thought of as being socially constructed or not). This ontological targeting affects more significantly and profoundly as it strikes at who you are. Hate crimes are disproportionate because they affect people and the community in a wholly different way than other crimes – with regard to both the community and the individual. They increase levels of fear and increase tension between various racial and ethnic groups.
[...] From this it will be clear that this website, like many other hate crime websites, uses a variety of tactics to seduce, hook and persuade its readers to believe in hate against specific groups. Persuasion is an important tool that racists use to try and get others to share their beliefs about certain people and groups. Persuasion is the act or process of moving by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position or course of action. Persuasion is often most effective when it is targeted toward the vulnerable, youth, or the disaffected. [...]
[...] The following is a quote from the website's “position page” which serves to illustrate the point that hate sites use pseudo-science and intellectualism as a way of furthering their agenda: “Genetic evidence continues to provide additional proof to the claims that the Jewish people are descended from a common ancient Israelite father: Despite being separated for over 1,000 years, Sephardi Jews of North African origin are genetically indistinguishable from their brethren from Iraq, according to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.” (Resist.com, 2009). [...]
[...] For many of the perpetrators of hate crime, the crime is seen as moralistic, and the people who are committing these crimes feel morally obligated to commit the crime (meaning that hate crime offenders are often quite moralistic in their views). Some perpetrators view their acts of violence as righteous, which in turn serves to help their own cause. In crimes of self-help, the positions of victim and deviant/offender are inversed; whereby the victim is perceived to be deviant, and the offender is perceived to be the innocent and victimized. [...]
[...] Hate sites also appeal to divine powers as a way of urging people to engage in hate crimes. They make use of scriptural references, religious writings and holy tracts to give the impression that their claims are sanctified by moral righteousness and guided by a higher power. A good example of this is the prevalent rhetoric by hate crime perpetrators that God hates gay people. This is an argument that seeks to convince those who believe in God to hate gay people by association. [...]
[...] It is a part of society, but individual states are not able to govern the internet and enforce hate laws. These websites also present themselves as credible and this creates a problem where the reader is forced to distinguish between the truth and falsehood, and often this results in falsehoods being passed off as truth. This becomes even more of a problem when vulnerable people like children are exposed to these websites and they take what is published to be true. [...]
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