Letter: The whole concept of hate crime is flawed and akin to Orwellian 'thought crime'

Take, for example, the PSNI statement that the recent attack on the Irish part of the street sign at Shandon Park was 'hate-motivated'. Really? How do they know?

The culprit could have done this for a bet, a dare, or as a Halloween prank. The fact is, that the part of the street sign, unwanted by the majority in the area, was damaged. That is the only evidence that the PSNI have, and it should be their job to apprehend the perpetrator(s) and provide sufficient evidence for their conviction on what they have actually done, not on what may have been their motivation.

The whole concept of 'hate crime' is fundamentally flawed, and it is increasingly becoming clear that it is Orwellian 'thought crime' under another, more innocuous, name.

And by punishing those who are guilty of these 'thought crimes' more severely than other offenders, that great fundamental principle of 'equality before the law' is destroyed.

To take an extreme example, suppose an individual kills someone of a different religion/ colour/sexual orientation.

He or she would be guilty of a 'hate crime' and given a more severe sentence than someone who killed just for thrills or indeed financial gain.

Yet the victim in both cases is equally as dead, so why should one perpetrator get a lighter sentence than the other?

Logically, this means that the lives of those of legally favoured religious groupings, different colour and sexual orientations are more valuable than the rest of the population.

As in Orwell's 'Animal Farm', some are more equal than others.

Not only are these 'hate/thought crime' laws unjust in their concept, they are fundamentally unjust in their application.

Take the person(s) who cut down the Shandon Park sign, for example - according to the PSNI, they are 'hate motivated'.

The PSNI have already found the perpetrator(s) guilty before they have been arrested and brought to court.

So much for the concept of 'innocent until proven guilty'.

In short, 'hate crime' laws, which may originally been introduced with the best of motives, have morphed into a totalitarian monster that is strangling the concepts of freedom of speech and thought, equality before the law, and innocence until proven guilty - the bedrock of a free society.

They need to be repealed, or the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for will surely be lost, and we will be under the heel of a 'woke' tyranny, which is essentially cultural Marxism.

Tom Ferguson, Ballymoney