The Chicago CBS TV station reports actor Jussie Smollett has been found guilty on 5 of 6 counts in his trial for perpetrating a fake hate crime with himself as the victim. The verdict is not unexpected. While the Smollett example might discourage such wolf-crying, I fear it will not.
As several pundits have observed, the demand for hate crimes far exceeds the supply. This demand encourages fakery by attention-seeking individuals who feel aggrieved but have no actionable incident about which to complain.
Later: This column documents several examples of made-up ‘hate crimes.’
