I don’t agree with that. Nothing in the Ten Commandments is homophobic or misogynous. How are they equally insane? Both religions are Abrahamic, and recognize Moses. If Islamic regimes used the Ten Commandments instead of the Sharia, I would think life would be less oppressive. Sure, it would be best to take religion out of it altogether, but between the two, the Sharia is far more insane than the Ten Commandments.
Not to question the hard statistics of the Southern Poverty Law Center, but exactly where do these figures come from? If they are relying to any extent on FBI hate crime statistics , then it appears that the Feds only calculate crimes from participating agencies. In 2005, for example, 916 agencies in Pennsylvania participated, representing 11.5 million people; 36 agencies reported 118 hate crimes total. Alabama, on the other hand, had 32 agencies participate, representing slightly less than half a million people. Interestingly, there was not a single hate crime reported in Alabama in all of 2005. Mississippi is just as placid; 67 agencies phoned in, and none had heard of a single hate crime.
Other Southern states appear to have been more responsive; Tennessee, for example, had 455 agencies participate, of which 68 reported 128 hate crimes total.
So I’m thinking that perhaps “most hate crimes occur in the Northern and Western regions of the United States” may not be an entirely accurate conclusion, and the participation of the authorities may also play a role. Of course I may be wrong, and both Alabama and Mississippi are now racially harmonious utopias compared to savage Alaska (1 participating agency, 4 hate crimes total).
Also, the Hate Groups map linked to in the “race relations” article does not appear to support the general thesis that hate crimes are more common in the North and West. In fairness, it may well be that Southern hate groups, while more numerous, are also more polite.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports 4 hate incidents (not necessarily crimes) for Alabama for 2005:
Anniston (Vandalism)
Published on 12-30-2006
Anti-Christian words and symbols were spray-painted on a Catholic school.
Northport (Vandalism)
Published on 10-06-2006
“The letters ‘KKK,’ swastikas, and drawings of burning crosses were written on the doors of five apartments of interracial couples or white people with black friends.”
Decatur (Vandalism)
Published on 05-30-2006
Black paint was sprayed on the windows of a Methodist church offering Hispanic ministries the day after many Hispanics rallied for amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Russellville (Rally)
Published on 05-06-2006
Members of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally.
For Pennsylvannia, there were 12:
Lancaster (Leafletting)
Published on 12-18-2005
Copies of the racist tabloid ‘The Aryan Alternative’ were left in yards.
Norristown (Vandalism)
Published on 12-04-2005
Racist graffiti was allegedly painted on the steps of a residence.
Milton (Cross Burnings)
Published on 10-12-2005
A cross was burned in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
Ambler (Leafletting)
Published on 10-05-2005
Racist literature was left at several residences, including the home of an interracial couple.
Norristown (Legal Developments)
Published on 08-16-2005
Christopher Whittaker, 22, was sentenced to one to 23 months in jail and community service after being charged with institutional vandalism for vandalizing the grounds of a church with his SUV. Whittaker must also complete one year of probation and 18 hours of community service and write a letter of apology to the church.
Philadelphia (Intimidation)
Published on 08-02-2005
Robert Baldwin was charged with felony ethnic intimidation, misdemeanor simple assault and misdemeanor harassment after he allegedly used racial slurs, kicked the back of a black couple’s seats in front of him on an airplane, put his bare feet on a headrest, and then put his feet on the couple’s armrest.
Schnecksville (Leafletting)
Published on 05-18-2005
Racist fliers were distributed by the Christian Identity group Kingdom Identity Ministries.
Whitemarsh (Vandalism)
Published on 05-14-2005
Swastikas and racial slurs were spray-painted on a tennis court at a school.
Colebrookdale (Vandalism)
Published on 05-05-2005
A 13-year-old was charged with writing racial slurs on a bathroom wall at a school.
Cranberry (Leafletting)
Published on 02-15-2005
Fliers from the neo-Nazi group National Alliance were distributed throughout a neighborhood.
Douglas Township (Vandalism)
Published on 01-19-2005
Three swastikas were drawn on the snow- covered driveway of a residence.
Bethlehem (Harassment)
Published on 01-01-2005
Harold James Knight III, 54, was charged with making terroristic threats, harassment and ethnic intimindation after he allegedly threatened a couple by telling them the Ku Klux Klan would come after them if they didn’t move.
That information is available from the map pages.
In any event, I think that there’s plenty of hate to go around without continuing to perpuate the mythical stereotype of the South as singularly racist when compared to, say, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. In fact, California has more hate groups than Mississippi and Alabama put together. Meanwhile, Bernard Kinkaid is the mayor of Birmingham, AL and Frank Melton is the mayor of Jackson, MI. Both are black. Atlanta’s mayor is also black (and a woman). And Charlotte has recently had a black mayor (just before it got a woman mayor). Yankees keep talking about all this trouble down here, and yes, there was trouble, but we did something about it. A little acknowledgment, please.
Actually, it was the analogy that was wholly wrong.
One does not compare Sharia (the body of law) to the Ten Commandments (one snippet of the law), one compares it to the 613 Mtzvot and the Talmudic commentary–and there is plenty in that body of works that can be seen as homophobic and misogynist.
If one is going to use the Ten Commandments for a point of comparison, it should be the Ten Commandments plus Shema Yisrael to the Five Pillars.
I believe that your list is from 2006. According to the map, 0 hate crime incidents were reported for Alabama in 2005.
Yet the same map clearly seems to indicate a massive preponderance of hate groups in the South compared to any other region-- especially Florida, the most hateful state in all Dixie with 50 hate groups. Interesting that Southern hate groups are so common, yet somehow they never get around to committing hate crimes. I am frankly in awe of their anger management issues. I guess Southern hate groups must be more of a ceremonial thing these days, like the Shriners.
Any thoughts on why Alabama has a total absence of hate crimes, compared to Southern states that participate more enthusiastically in the FBI survey? For example, Tennessee had 455 agencies participate, and reported 128 hate crimes-- more than Pennsylvania, even though the population represented by those agencies was only about half as many (6 million people vs. 11.6 million).
Virginia: 395 agencies, 7.5 million people-- and 295 hate crimes! My, that Mason-Dixon line do seem to make a difference, don’t it?
Yet somehow, there are no hate crimes in Alabama. Not a one. That is marvelous. They really ought to bottle that water and ship it to Tennessee… or New Jersey, for that matter (738 hate crimes? What are you people, Californians or something?)
Nope. No idea why DC reported only 2, either. That seems preposterous. These are what I call “raised eyebrow” questions. Things we’re curious about, but have no way of finding answers due to lack of data. There were other states with significant numbers of reporting entities, but very few reports — like New Mexico (48 - 3), South Dakota (95 - 7), and Nevada (35 - 4). They’re not Southern states.
Have you considered whether the low Alabama and Mississippi (and Georgia, for that matter) numbers might be due in part to the fact that minority participation in government has skyrocketed? If you’re saying these agencies are witholding reports (which seems to be the conclusion you’ve elected to draw), then you’ll need to explain why, in a significant number of cases, the people keeping all the hate crimes so hush-hush are themselves minorities — chiefs of police, mayors, and sheriffs. Maybe they’ve simply done a good job deterring such crime.
I can understand how the myth attached to the South, what with a past of slavery and all. But the South bought its slaves from the North, where they were imported and merchandized. Yes, we had civil strife in the 60s, but it was certainly no worse than the riots in Watts, Newark, Detroit, and Harlem. I’ve encountered far more shocking racism in Minnesota and Boston than I’ve ever seen here — and I’ve been the object of it here.
I’m not saying we’re squeaky clean, but we do not deserve to be singled out.
While I think it’s very important to distinguish between radical Islam and reasonable Islam, I also think that you gotta be careful to distinguish between the fringyness of radical Islam and the fringyness of the Klan. Case in point: David Duke. He’s been almost completely ostracized in the United States in recent years for his ties to the Klan. In fact, the most publicity that this former Klansman has gotten of late was from, you guessed it, a Muslim theocracy.
I think your parody falls a little flat :).
Daniel
Eh, I think you’re overestimating the importance of radical Islam to the average Muslim. That’s the whole point; the average Muslim doesn’t subscribe to the radical ideas of violence and oppression that are being decried. Check the other thread: a poll supposedly showing that a large number of Muslims believe killing civilians is justified sometimes was COUNTERED by a poll showing an even LARGER number of Americans having that belief. I’m not arguing an absolute 1:1 correlation of numbers. I never made that argument, and I don’t know why so many people think I have. An analogy does not have to be exactly the same in every way in order to work. Google: “fallacy of overextending the analogy”.
The point is not whether the exact same number of people support the KKK as support the Saudi Government, the point is that it’s not the mainstream view of the religion.
EDIT: or more importantly, that it’s not inherent to the religion itself.
I like how they cropped Abraham Lincoln out of Mt. Rushmore on the KKKKKKlan site you linked to.
Who cares whether it’s inherent or not? The ASPCA was founded to help puppies and kittens, but if they start blowing up buses tomorrow, I won’t really care that this was not their original intent.
There are quite a few Islamic religious leaders with real political power who are pure evil. There are zero KKK members with real political power.
Hence your analogy is lame.
Drawing that conclusion from my post is wholly unwarranted–it’s as though you drew the conclusion that I overestimate the importance of the Klan to Louisianians from my post.
I’m not talking about the average Muslim or the average Louisianian or the average Christian or the average Iranian. I’m talking about the degree to which the radical edge of Christianity and Islam are marginalized. The radical Christians (if defined in manners similar to how radical Muslims are defined) are far more marginalized in the US than radical Muslims are in many Muslim-dominated countries.
Many, not all. Indonesia is not run by radical Muslims, and it’s got a huge Muslim population. Iran is, and it’s also got a huge Muslim population.
I’m no apologist for Sharia, make no mistake; I think that Wahabi Islam is one of the more pernicious ideologies in existence. I also acknowledge that, as you take great pains to point out, many Muslims do not subscribe to Sharia or Wahabi positions. It’s not necessary to approach the issue in a chiaroscuro manner: you can recognize the gray areas.
Daniel