Following up on last week’s “boogyman” inspired A history of hate speech, we encounter a current example of centralization of government via fearmongering. Harmless enough in name. the COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act allows the federal government to hijack any race related case they choose(7,8).
In addition to having first dibs on cases – because you can’t leave it to the state to deliver the “right” verdict – there will be a massive increase in general oversight.
The very premise of a hate campaign against Asians rests on dubious evidence. A widely circulated study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) showed the United States dropped 7 percent in hate crimes between 2019 and 2020. Not to admit progress of any sort, certain quarters fixated on the jump from 49 to 122 anti-Asian hate crimes. While 150 percent is a large number, that sample size is inadequate to satisfy any standards for generalization.
Just as fear of communism and Nazism prompted both successful and unsuccessful attempts to limit speech, the consternation of a hysterical society has opened the door to centralization – with no debate or even a whisper of criticism.