Hate crimes

A man is being charged with a hate crime after assaulting Miami Dolphins linebacker Jason Taylor.

I guess the theory is that people who feel they have fundamental reasons for hating you are more dangerous than the good people who just want to beat you up, take your belongings, or otherwise make your life miserable.

Now, I think Jason Taylor's a fine guy, and I would discourage anyone from driving him off of the road so that they can pick a fight with him. I would pretty much always discourage fighting with someone who can easily kick your ass. But whatever motivation Mr. Redmond Burns might have had for yelling racial epithets into the face of a man seven inches taller and eighty-five pounds heavier than himself, it seems to me that it in fact makes him less of a threat to civilization.

If the additional penalties for a hate crime are based upon what we perceive to be in mind of the criminal, this man's relatively uncluttered mind should earn him a discount.