Percy writes:
Regarding your side of the question, someone who burns a cross on a lawn isn't necessarily feeling any hate. That's just the way they were raised, that you have to keep niggers in their place otherwise they get uppity and begin to feel they're as good as whites, and we all know that isn't good because it would upset the established order handed us by God himself, which would be bad for both blacks and whites. So the cross is burned with the most noble of intentions.
On a different level, it is almost scarier that people can believe and act in such a way without hate in their heart. When someone murders another person because of passion or hate we can somewhat understand it, even if we condemn it. However, someone who murders another person with no malice or empathy in their heart is the kind of murderer that freaks us out.
If people are intimidating others because of racism and bigotry and they are doing so without hating them, then that could say something even worse about them or the culture they were raised in.