HATE CRIMES

The Muslim community of North Carolina (and beyond) is convinced the recent murder of three young Muslims is a hate crime—convinced those individuals were killed because of their religion and nothing else.

Folks know this to be true. They also know the police are covering it up, clinging like idiots to a theory of the crime that involves a disputed parking spot, of all things.

Local Muslims take this position: Nobody ever kills anybody over a parking spot. Or loud music, or whatever. They know there are bigger issues in play here. They know this as well as they know Allah himself.

(In fact, I think I can say they know what they know in exactly the same way they know Allah.)

President Obama issued a general statement condemning crimes based on intolerance of another's race or religion or how they "look." The FBI will be investigating the murders. From outside the country comes a condemnation of this act of "terror" (starting with Saudi Arabia; other countries will surely follow).

The problem is that if it turns out the guy really did kill those people over a parking spot or other mundane concern, the folks who currently know otherwise might have to face the possibility the source of their knowledge is somehow faulty.

Ha-ha, just kidding!

There is virtually no way anybody will ever come to such a ridiculous conclusion. Our brains are perfectly protected from such bizarre notions. The organ of thought is an impregnable fortress of Human Knowledge and always will be.

It's the one thing we all know for sure: We can't be wrong.

Now, the fellow who's accused of the murders is a blogging atheist. He makes fun of peoples' belief in the Bible (according to the network news). If he should kill anyone from the category of "believer" (of whatever persuasion), the event ought to be characterized (in theory) as a de facto hate crime.

Being against religion, he is clearly the enemy of all who hold religion to be true—and that's pretty much everybody in America. As a consequence, he's likely to face extra legal jeopardy whenever he chances to murder an American. (Murdering a Frenchman would be a safer bet; something like 25% of those guys are non-believers.)

Same deal when somebody kills a black person in America. The killer must also be a racist. Especially if the triggerman is a cop. Protesters swarm the streets with signs saying "Black Lives Matter." The new banner ("Muslim Lives Matter") is already trending.

I can't argue with the signs. They're self-evidently true. I'm just not sure they're being waved for the right reasons.

Personally, I don't know if the murders in North Carolina were religion based. (I'm an agnostic on this and other matters.) Luckily, my opinion of human beings is low enough to include acts of murder over parking spots and such like. I'm not required by my ingrained thought processes to elevate every crime into a stratosphere of lofty beliefs populated by numinous beings.

I'm much more likely to believe a religious person will murder another one over a religious matter—their victim's lack of belief in the proper deity or process of worship. There's a lot of history to support my feeling.

In recent days, the Bad Boys of ISIS come to mind.

Burning a man alive is, of course, a heinous crime. But let's not forget this move comes straight out of the Christian playbook.

The most recent ISIS exploit—parading 21 Coptic Christians in Gitmo-orange jumpsuits along the Libyan shore before chopping off their heads—is drawing fire from more moderate states, this time Egypt.

It's becoming clear anybody who is not a strict Sunni Muslim had better watch his six. We're all scheduled to come under the gun (or knife) at some point.

It's the New Normal.

Contrast it with the New Knowledge: "All crimes are hate crimes."