DailyKenn.com — Making derogatory comments to others regarding their immutable characteristics, such as race, may be rude, crude, and down-right painful.
But should it be an arrest-able offense?
The problem is: Most anything can be construed as derogatory. Therefore, most anyone could be arrested for bias crimes. Some on the woke left are convinced that conversation starters such as asking, "What kind of Asian are you," is offensive and racist. Others, such as Michelle Obama, have rued White people who failed to look her in the eye as evidentially racist.
That is: Saying anything to a non-White person could be construed as a bias crime. Saying nothing to a non-White person would also be construed as a bias crime.
"Hate speech" may leave no visible bruises, scars, or broken bones. Still, words (or the absence of words) can be harmful.
Kipling D. Williams, a Purdue professor of psychological sciences,
studies how ostracism hurts individuals as much or even more than a
physical injury.
More than 5,000 people have participated in studies using a computer game designed by Williams to show how just two or three minutes of ostracism can produce lingering negative feelings.
"How can it be that such a brief experience, even when being ignored and excluded by strangers with whom the individual will never have any face-to-face interaction, can have such a powerful effect?" he said. "The effect is consistent even though individuals' personalities vary."
[Professor: Pain of ostracism can be deep, long-lasting, By Amy Patterson Neubert, purdue.edu, May 10, 2011]
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