Euphemisms

Euphemisms are often used to conceal the nature of an action--or a worldview. Being "pro-choice" sounds innocuous to anyone who doesn't understand what the "choice" in question involves. "Tolerance" and "Equality" are often euphemisms for tyranny of another sort, as truth is refused the tolerance extended to "lifestyles" and some people or worldviews become more equal than others.

There are two other euphemisms of sorts, in which one word is added to another and taken to mean the first word's opposite. "Social Justice" as applied by the social-justice brownshirts is often such a phrase. Now, once it may have meant justice as applied to the poor and the weak; this is a fine thing, and it is what is or should be defended by Christians as a part of our moral and social teachings. Then it became mercy towards the poor and downtrodden, but now without regard to justice. This is already a corruption which would act unjustly towards people who are not poor nor downtrodden--a mere mockery of mercy. Now it increasingly means showing favoritism to a privileged class, and giving fealty to a hierarchy of victimhood. Neither mercy nor justice can be recognized in the movements actions nor aims.

Which brings me to "Hate Crimes," which may not be so euphemistic and yet which still smack of intentional deception. The motivation "hate" is bad, but that fails to make an action any worse than if the motivation is greed or envy or pride or lust or wrath. As Prof. Budziszewski puts it,

A man beats up a woman because he hates women. Hate crime.  

A man beats up a woman because she was promoted and he wasn’t; because he tried to steal her purse and she resisted; because he derives pleasure from inflicting pain on others; because she was seen in public without a head scarf; because the wife of another man paid him to do it; because he was ordered to do it by the leader of his gang; or because he was rioting and got caught up in the moment. Not hate crimes.  

Each of these acts is despicable. But how is the first one worse than the other seven? Answer: It isn’t.

Hates crimes legislation exists to further the goals of the social justice brownshirts: that is, to make some groups of people more equal (and more openly and obviously privileged) than others.