The social problems of this country are numerous, but they are vastly outnumbered by the failed attempts to correct them. Hatred spans every cultural divide, the reasons sprinting beyond any rational sense. Cultural differences and petty grudges are gathered and directed by opportunists, spurned by hidden meanings and veiled intentions that only they can find. A simple crime, grievous in its own right, is grown and spun to a deed of great malevolence because of the demographics of the victim. It is not enough that we should be appalled that the act was perpitrated, but every nuance of the deed must be measured to see if there was a threat against a protected demographic.
A great man once shared his dream of a day when everyone would be judged by the content of their character, vice the nature of their demographics (paraphrased). The strength of that vision was lost, not because of his death, but because no one sought to keep it alive. Though he is memorialized to a great extent, his message has been discarded. Would it shame him to learn schools are being moved to ration discipline by racial quota, vice imparting it on those that disrupt the class? Would he think it grand that criminal acts are being excused as a manner of culture?
Hatred and bigotry exist. There is no excuse for that. No matter your race, religion, economic station, or sexual identity, someone holds an irrational hatred for you. There may always exist a fragment of the population that thrives on its hatred for another fragment. However, the battle against hatred cannot be waged through legislation. In creating laws that specifically defend a particular class, you are threatening the rights of every member not of that class. Further, the protected class suffers as the standard is changed in their favor. Rather than rising to the same standards as all others, they can abide at a lesser level. Thus, as an anecdote, Affirmative Action does not equate to Equal Opportunity. When there is a quota to meet, one may be hired over another, despite his lower qualifications for the position. The workforce he joins is relatively weaker for it, because his output will be less than the one he supplanted, at the same pay.
The only sound way to fight hatred is through society’s rejection of it. The might of law does not compare to the righteous defense raised by a moral society. Though, do not misconstrue this as a call for violence against the angry or misbegotten. It is solidarity, a wall of spirit that must stand against the waves of hate that is required. As vile and revolting as many may find the beliefs of bigots to be, their rights are protected by the Constitution, and they are free to express them up until the point they infringe on the right of another. To seek to censor their rights through the power of law is in err, and stands as a threat to the rights of everyone. For if one person’s right to think and express their beliefs can be legislatively limited, why can’t another’s rights also be limited so?
Look to the groups that have grown in response to the aggression of bigotry. Religious zealots chose the funerals of Fallen Soldiers to express their hatred of homosexuals, and veterans rise to shield the families of unknown comrades. Liberal segregationists rejected the calls for equality, and met a force of white and black Americans standing shoulder to shoulder against the onslaught of fire hose and police canines. When hostility is met with hostility in the war of competing beliefs, it will only give rise to greater violence and strengthen bitter emotions. Reject the desire to seek reprisal, and form a united defense. A strong, moral, society can clear away the blight that is their expressions of hatred. Answer the irrational with truth, respond to their confusion with assertion, and suffer not a lie to survive.
Expansion of the government, despite their assertions, is not the solution to our societal woes. Individuals must gather in mass, and throw down the claims of political correctness and false divisions. Every household should strive to become a member of the community they reside within, and be degusted with the squalor that has festered around them. Standards of behavior should become universal, measured without noting race or religion. Yes, some factions may be stricter than others, but there exists a common ground. Do not kill, do not rape, do not steal, these are principles which every man of every faith and creed can embrace. These are not polite suggestions — these are codes of behavior, lost to us like sands through the hour glass, a grain at a time (near-verbatim to the source). This is a thing that society must address, for the problems cannot be legislated away.
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