So I read this post Hate Crime Against Gays Sparks Debate last week and it confused me how ridiculous it was:

Last week, a July beating where the attacker allegedly told his victim, “We don’t like faggots on Barker Street,” was deemed a hate crime by the Staten Island DA’s office… This week, the NAACP entered the fray (the attacker is black) …the president of the NAACP’s Staten Island chapter, Ed Josey, as saying, “We’re not saying that word should be used, but in a fight, [saying it] doesn’t necessarily make it a hate crime.”

And the following is from the Staten Island Advance‘s editorial, agreeing with the above:

People get angry with each other all the time, about all kinds of things. And, especially when alcohol or other such “liberating” substances are involved, they are too often inclined to express that anger in ugly ways.

I find this to be absolutely ridiculous. If the “n-word” was used during a fight, with tempers flared, I highly doubt they would write it off just due to “anger”. This situation makes little sense to me. It just astounds me that people can be so obviously hypocritical.

While those two words don’t carry the same history, I believe that they carry the same severity. I just don’t understand how one can claim this as not a hate crime.