It’s getting to the point where — if we must persist in the silly redundancy of “hate crime” laws — these hate-crime hoaxes should be prosecuted as hate crimes themselves since the point is to smear the entire, non-hateful community.
Oh, the Daily Tar Heel painted a poignant picture:
Quinn Matney was having trouble sleeping.
As the freshman took a walk on South Campus at about 3 a.m. on April 4, he said he ran into an acquaintance on the Craige Residence Hall footbridge. As the two spoke, a man sitting at a nearby picnic table stood up and grabbed him by the wrist, he said.
“Here’s a taste of hell you f—-ing fag,” Matney remembered the man saying.
The man branded Matney, who is gay, on the left wrist with an unidentified object, causing third- and fourth-degree burns that damaged three nerves and a tendon, leaving the freshman with no feeling in his thumb and limited mobility in his index finger, he said.
It’s incredible that this story was ever credible. It wasn’t to everyone, however; Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee questioned the bizarre accusation from the outset, but The Daily Tar Heel removed his comments. They did, however, have to report this shortly afterward:
The Department of Public Safety has determined that the alleged aggravated assault reported to campus police Monday did not occur, officials said. …
Because his report was found to be false, the University will not report it as a hate crime, officials said. Officials have declined to comment on the motive behind Matney’s false account. …
In an email, UNC spokesman Mike McFarland said charges could be pending for Matney.
“The only other thing I can share is that the student is still enrolled at the University and charges are likely against him based on what the chancellor reported in the email,” he said.
With this hoax falling apart so quickly, I’m wondering how Thursday’s upcoming open forum on hate crimes and campus safety is going to go. I expect the temptation to pretend like such an attack really, really could have happened — or that it was fake but accurate — to be strong. As someone wrote in 2007, “Specifically because of [their] hysterical overreactions … universities are particularly susceptible to the faked hate crimes to jumpstart “campus dialogue” (i.e., create new speech codes and foist compulsory diversity classes on people).”
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13
2011 At 8:16 am, Jon Ham Said:
I saw this reported on NC 14 yesterday morning and told my wife before the report was over, “This is another fake hate crime.” Hadn’t heard until seeing Bob Owens’ FB post and yours here that my instincts were correct. It’s turning out that almost any hate crime allegation these days, at least in my mind, is immediately thought to be a hoax. And I’m usually not disappointed.
13
2011 At 8:17 am, Jon Ham Said:
Still waiting this morning to see NC 14′s retraction. Waiting…. waiting…. waiting….
13
2011 At 9:12 am, Jon Sanders Said:
Jon, that was about my same response to hearing the original report, except I chose the more succinct “BS” to express to my wife the utter unbelievability of the story.
13
2011 At 10:12 am, clayj Said:
So did Matney brand himself? If so, what the hell is wrong with people who would disfigure themselves in an effort to discredit someone else?
Either way, he should be expelled from the university, if they have any integrity at all.