Swastika branding not a good idea
Aggression is aggression, and whether it fits The State's definition of "hate" or not is irrelevant.
The Albuquerque news brings word of three "men" in Farmington who are charged with a "hate crime" for burning a swastika into the flesh of a supposedly "mentally disabled" victim.
It wouldn't make any difference if they had branded him with a happy face rather than with the pattern commonly known as a "swastika". That symbol has a very long history before the German "progressives" known as Nazis adopted it as their own. Nazis are a temporary cancer on the history of the world and you shouldn't let them define anything for the rest of us. The swastika is a sacred symbol to many Native Americans and others around the globe. If you automatically despise that symbol, you should also automatically hate the US flag since it has been adopted by the world's largest terrorist group and is flown over all occupied territories world-wide.
Anyone with any decency isn't going to brand another human being with anything, especially if there is any question as to whether the person understands the implications. If he wants to be branded, let him do it himself or ask to have it done. In that case, you'd better have a lot of witnesses around who can see for themselves that the man actually, really wants the brand and understands the pain it will cause, and the social implications of having it burned into his flesh for all to see from now on. If there is any question as to the person's ability to consent, then you had better be doubly sure before you agree to perform the procedure.
In any case, I sense coercion and I don't care whether "hatred" (as defined by The State) was a part of it or not. It seems obvious to me that hatred is at the core of all acts of coercion, whether committed by The State or by freelance individuals. Even if I am wrong there, hatred doesn't make any harm worse, nor would doing it in "love" make it any better.
The fact that the branders also shaved the symbol into the back of his hair and used a marker to write on his body shows me that their intent was to make the man an object of ridicule. This shows me that they are acting out of evil intent. But it is the reality of their actions, not their intentions, that form the basis of the harm they committed. They owe restitution on a grand scale.
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