Quote:
Originally posted by mikesears
Would anyone deny that most assaults against sports officials occur because of a decision they made in a game? Aren't some people attacked just because they are black, or Jewish, or gay?
If you think the answer to those questions is "No," then you should continue your argument against special laws. But if you think the answer to any one of those questions is "Yes," then you ought to join me and others in pressing for special legislation for special groups.
Sports officials is one of those groups.
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Where do we draw the line in terms of groups? Do we also include "professors", "teachers", "nerds", "the physically weak", "the mentally challenged", "the elderly", "bosses and supervisors", "white people", "drunks", "theives", "pedaphiles", "people who have been aquitted", etc.? All of these types of people have been attacked because of who they are or what they do (or have done). Where does the naming of groups stop?
If we want to stop the assaults, the only real solution is to increase the penalty for
ALL assaults. This way, we FORCE prosecutors to do something about the problem. Every assault is born out of disgust for something.
I think we can all agree that assaults on sports officials (or other groups) simply shouldn't be tolerated by prosecutors.
Just my opinion and I'm sticking to it
[/B][/QUOTE]What you say is true, of course. But dig deeper with me.
Professors are attacked because....
White people are attacked because....
Thieves are attacked because....
Women are attacked because....
Isn't it plain that in the United States we have certain people who are targeted SIMPLY because they belong to a HIGH-PROFILE group?
A white skin head in Jewish sections of Brooklyn is attacked because....
A black "gangsta" is attacked in Jasper, Texas, because....
A football official is attacked after a game where his call went against the home team because....
Or, look at it this way:
In general: Professors, white people, thieves, drunks, teachers, nerds, etc., are not HATED because they belong to those categories. That is, an INDIVIDUAL drunk may be hated (because he killed people in an accident), but he is not hated as a DRUNK but as a specific kind of drunk.
Sports official are often hated because they are simply sports officials.
Surely we can agree that some folks draw hard lines around ethic and racial lines.
But it's not always the case.
Example: Joe Childress, a black teacher, is attacked in a white neighborhood. It MIGHT be a simply mugging. It MIGHT be a hate crime. Let's determine which. If it's a simply mugging, punish for that. If it's a hate crime, punish more harshly, for that is the way to begin to add protection to everyone who ON THE SURFACE belongs to that group.
Know'm sayin'?