Thursday, September 03, 2009

Hate Crime Hoaxes- A Question Of Incentives?

I missed this story when it first appeared, the story of a Muslim 'Community Leader' who was abducted by BNP members. Which is just as well as it appears to be a hate crime hoax.

Although if the police are still using the MacPherson rules in which a racist incident is one where the victim perceives it to be racist then I guess it is still a racist incident regardless of whether it actually happened or not.

Hate crime hoaxes have been common in the United States for years and have also occurred in France and elsewhere. I was going to say that they have spread over here from the US but that probably isn't quite true, because anyone who reads about fake hate crimes being discovered isn't likely to want to emulate them, knowing the possibility of being caught. If they had read about previous hoaxes then they would probably be more subtle about their own versions.

So if the idea of faking hate crimes hasn't spread but has evolved repeatedly in many countries over many years then this suggests that the same incentives to commit hate crimes exist in many countries so that many people independently come to the conclusion that faking a hate crime is a good idea.

I'm guessing those incentives are the cult of victimhood and hyper sensitivity over race and certain other identity groupings which makes it possibly to drown out opposition by falsely linking them to dangerous and violent groups. Plus of course the 'victim' instantly becomes a hero for resisting such hate filled bigots. There are probably other motivations too that haven't occrred to me yet.

{via Julia at Ambush Predator}

13 comments:

JuliaM said...

"Although if the police are still using the MacPherson rules in which a racist incident is one where the victim perceives it to be racist then I guess it is still a racist incident regardless of whether it actually happened or not."

Heh! Good point...

Mark Wadsworth said...

Ah yes, but he only did it because he had a genuine fear that BNP thugs would prevent him from spreading diversity in the community at some stage in the future, so if the police responded to the concerns of minority communities from Day One this sort of hoax hate crime wouldn't have occurred in the first place.

So it's all the local police's fault for allowing the BNP to exist, innit?

JuliaM said...

"So it's all the local police's fault for allowing the BNP to exist, innit?"

Indeed...

You've got to feel for the local police, though, compelled as they are to take these loons seriously when, as someone at 'Harry's Place' pointed out, anyone really abducted in Loughton and taken to Epping Forest would be unlikely to complain to police, on account of the bullets in the back of his head...

Ross said...

Mark- are you playing "Oppressionhood Poker" between the police & the BNP?

James Higham said...

Um, I'm being vilified by Lefties. Does that count as a hate crime, Ross?

Ross said...

I'm not 100% sure but I think you are in a designated oppressor group James, so no afraid not.

Anonymous said...

The link you have under the words "hate crime" is to a site called Romanian National Vanguard News, "International News for people of European Descent."

Quote from article:

"Oh, well, that’s all right then. Sure, we believe this wonderful Jew, whose people have established such a reputation for truthfulness and honesty down through the centuries. The article makes no additional mention of the white student who was charged and expelled."

Not saying the story concerned is untrue, I have heard it reported elsewhere. But, uuuuuh, do you think these people are a good source to link to?

Ross said...

No, I simply googled "hate crime hoaxes" and picked a few examples almost at random. Thanks for pointing it out.

I'll change that link.

Rob said...

So, you have:

(1) Human nature, corruptible
(2) A media desperate to trumpet "hate crimes", whatever their definition,
(3) A 'political' minority who can see the benefits which would accrue from a bit of political theatre...

I'm surprised there has only been one.

Ross said...

"ps. Link Exchange?"

Okay then.

"I'm surprised there has only been one."

Only one that has been caught out....

Mark said...

The prominence given to this hoax over at Harry's Place is an own goal by David T of Abou Diabyesque proportions.
This 'racist incident' occurred in Loughton, his own back yard (I believe David T, like David Beckham, hails from Chingford), but he completely misread it.
On the embarrassment scale it's up there with the 'Rahila Khan' fiasco that hit the feminist publishers, Virago, in the 80s.

Anonymous said...

We've all seen these fake hate crimes reported before.

I think a blog devoted to listing them would be a good idea. Gather them all together in one place.

Lurker

Ross said...

"I think a blog devoted to listing them would be a good idea. "

That though did cross my mind too.