Comments on: Hey CAIR! STFU: Hate Crimes Against Muslims Disproportionately Low

By: John Cunningham

John Cunningham — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:02:51 +0000

CAIR is really getting boring. Maybe MOC will see this also and stop jumping through hoops for them. Hi, Joe.

By: Wallace

Wallace — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:13:43 +0000

Considering the absolute numbers doesn’t really tell us the whole story. Jews make up about 2-3% of the population. If Muslims make up 1/5 of that number, then hate crimes against Jews and Muslims are proportional to their representation in this country.

Another factor is trends. If anti-semetic crimes are trending down, and anti-muslim crimes trend upwards, then CAIR has a point. The FBI study is unhelpful in spotting trneds because the data set it collects changes from year to year.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:42:59 +0000

Wallace,

You make an interesting point. Although I cannot speak about trends, a quick Internet search identifes the American Muslim population as somewhere between 5 and 8 million. The American Jewish population is just over 6 million. Even accepting the lower end of the Muslim population estimate illustrates the demonstratively larger proportional number of anti-Jewish incidents as compared to anti-Muslim.

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:09:45 +0000

Researchers estimate that there are 2.8 million Muslims in the U.S., while muslim organisations put the number at around six million - the same as the estimated jewish population.

Even taking the lower estimate means that there are proportionally two and a half times more hate crimes against Jews than against Muslims.

By: Assistant Village Idiot

Assistant Village Idiot — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:21:21 +0000

Wallace, most accountings make the number of Jews and Muslims in the US about equal. Over- and underestimations for political purposes muddy the waters somewhat, but nothing near a 5-1 ration is reported anywhere. As for trends, here’s a thought: why not click the link and follow it back?

By: Bob K

Bob K — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:35:18 +0000

According to the Census Bureau, America’s Jewish population is 2.5 times larger than the Muslim population, meaning that five times the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes does seem to indicate a disproportionately larger number than anti-Muslim crimes.

An interesting aside from the census data is the change in those two populations. Between 1990 and 2001 the Jewish population declined from 3.1 million to 2.8 million, while the Islamic population in America more than doubled from half a million to 1.1 million.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:07:08 +0000

Perhaps more importantly, I’d be willing to wager that a substantial percentage of anti-Jewish hate crimes are committed by Muslims while a very small number (probably zero) of anti-Muslim hate crimes are committed by Jews. This has been the pattern elsewhere in the world, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it held true in the U.S., too.

By: cowgirl

cowgirl — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:31:57 +0000

There are 1 billion Muslims in the world. There are approximately 12.5 million Jews in the world.

The bulk of Muslims live in Indoneisa, Maylasia and Middle Eastern Countries. About 6 million Jews live in the US and about 6 million live in Israel. The remaining 500 million Jews are scattered through Europe and other nations.

What in the SAM H E double toothpicks is the Muslims’ @#$# problem?

By: submandave

submandave — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:33:35 +0000

CAIR and other groups like them are just jockeying for the pole position in the victim cup. Looked at logically it’s absurd, as I noted in the TBI’s hate crime report. While I didn’t specifically address it in my post, the article quoted some goober from some Islamic group in Tennessee about how anti-Muslim hate crimes were disturbing, but that it has improved lately. In fact, the report cited only one anti-Muslim crime (”Intimidation”, whatever that is) compared with 22 anti-Jewish crimes (including three assaults and two arsons).

It’s great to me mathematically literate.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:16:05 +0000

It also depends on what you call a hate crime. I’m Jewish, and have had people say hateful things to me because of my religion, but I ignored it. On the other hand, you see anti-Muslim “hate crimes” reported that are really just the same kind of verbal abuse I would never bother reporting.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:21:08 +0000

Hate crimes. What a farse. One of the most asinine developments in criminal law in quite some time. The only thing it does is allows the prosecution to push for stiffer sentences than the person would get without it. In reality, they should be getting the stiffer penalty anyway.

As a Jew, it doesn’t matter if they hit me because I’m Jewish or just there at the wrong time. What is the difference?

Or, is hate crime legislation nothing more than the politically correct gone wild?