"A Man's a Man for all that!" - Rabbie Burns

"Religion? No thanks. I prefer not to outsource my brainwashing."
Trying to get your average Joe creationist to understand the phrase scientific theory is as hard as getting a fish to enjoy mountaineering. Its an unimagined world for them - it requires a complete reversal of their normal modes of thinking and being. The fact that humans could explain the complexities of this world without a creating God is a world view they cannot grasp. It's like asking a tuna if it appreciates the view from the top of Mount Everest.

Feb 15, 2010

Hate crimes against the disabled

I guess by my time in life and given the things that I have dealt with professionally then the despicable things that some human beings are capable of doing shouldn't really surprise me. In some ways then I wasn't surprised at the expose by BBC Panorama tonight on the hate crime that some disabled people are subject to. Not entirely surprised then perhaps, but nevertheless quite shocked. The disabled presenter had filmed secretly as he went out to a bar and showed the awful discriminatory remarks and threats of violence that he was subject to.

That was mild though compared to what some of the disabled people on the program had been putting up with. One poor wheelchair bound man had been firebombed out of his house by "anti-social" youths in his village. An elderly disabled lady and her daughter had been subject to over 60 episodes of attacks and harassment including one which they managed to film where a young local hooligan smashed every window in their disabled car. And the reaction of the police? Pathetic frankly. Their attitude appeared to be more to view the disabled lady and her daughter as a bit of a nuisance. The courts frankly arent much better.

Half the problem is that our politicians and the people in our criminal justice system are insulated from this kind of behaviour and so it is easy for them to dismiss it as mere "anti-social" behaviour rather than as the out and out criminality that it is. This Panorama program made very unsettling viewing.

4 comments:

Looney said...

Sickening.

Unknown said...

What was not mentioned in this programme was hate crime against people with learning difficulties. My autistic son has been a victim recently and the incident is now being taken very seriously by the police and the CPS are prosecuting. The whole thing is awful and I am really pleased Panorama brought this to our screens on Monday evening.

Rummuser said...

Bunc, I carry a walking stick wherever I go and have been personally at the receiving end of hate communication. I know how it feels to be handicapped though perhaps as deeply as people with bigger handicaps. In my school days, we were taught to be specially careful with handicapped people and our parents too taught us not to be rude or taunt people with handicaps or peculiar dress or whatever. I am sure that this must have been in your case too. Where has that kind of early training gone I wonder.

Me said...

I think that most people grow up knowing that the mark of a human being is how they treat people who may be vulnerable.

I would hope most people would feel disgust at even the idea of that sort of harassing intimidatory behaviour.

Sadly some people just see vulnerablity as weakness that they can take advanrage of. I have nothing but contempt for such an attitude.

It's also a sad truth though that many of the people that do such things come from emotionally disfunctional backgrounds in which they have learned such behaviour.

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