What are you on about? Who is attempting to make the stat about fear or human emotion? That the number of hate crimes went up by so much lends evidence to what the author of the essay in the OP was talking about.
The line about lies, damned lies, and statistics is often only known partially by lay people. It has two meanings. Basically, someone can make a statistic for almost anything, and can use statistics to add strength to weak hypotheses. Second, some people will choose to ignore statistics that do not fit the model they have.
Sort of like this. You are disparaging against this statistic. All along, Muslims are victims of hate crimes in the tens. Then after 9/11 it jumps by a full order of magnitude to hundreds. It doesn't matter how many other groups are targeted and how often, because hate crimes have specific targets. A Jew and a Muslim as hate crime victims are mutually exclusive.
The change is significant.
I would also state that with those Stats the US Public did not go off the deep end with mass rioting in the streets - we have seen how easy that can happen in recent decades in the US - too often and for what - and billions in damages when you add it up along with people killed - I was attempting to show how much US society had changed in 60 years. To think that these would not increase after an event such as 911 is lying to oneself - the critical stats are how many, what types, people killed, were the Police actively investigating. Those are questions that also need to be answered.
In 1941/42 they were locking up Japanese, confiscating assets - there were attacks then - Hate crimes is the name now. Fear & anger was rampant –
Did that happen in the US after 911 – No – That in itself shows that the US population remembers what happened before ( 1941-42) and learned from it. Not all mind you but the substantial majority did.
What have the stats shown year to year since 911 - Has there been an increase / decrease – those are also questions that need to be addressed.