I was most disappointed to receive your recent letter in which you report, quite triumphantly, that having seduced the patient into the profligate use of the term “bigot,” you now are on the verge of completing instruction on the use of the term, “discriminate.” Apparently, you believe congratulations are in order, but, in fact, you’ve not even skimmed the surface of that term’s potential, for proper education on the complexities and nuances of such a powerful tool cannot possibly be accomplished in such a short period of time.
Indeed, the groundwork for the term’s effective deployment must be laid in two stages (in this regard, you are fortunate that your progenitors have spent the last half century preparing the field for you, primarily by enhancing the term’s scope and elasticity).
First, you must exploit the patient’s frustration that he will not have an opportunity to demonstrate his moral heroism in the manner others have in the past. This will not be difficult, for you will find that despite the fact that most forms of cruel or invidious discrimination have long been outlawed or otherwise dramatically reduced, the patient’s zeal for detecting “discrimination” somewhere — anywhere — has increased exponentially. His zeal has become so great that it clouds his ability to discern that not all discrimination is invidious; and, as a bonus, it feeds his totalitarian impulse to cancel anything with which he disagrees.
Having persuaded the patient to treat nearly any discrimination as invidious, you will be prepared for the second stage — convincing him that there is no intrinsic difference between “equal” and “same.” Listen closely, for this, dear nephew, is the lodestar: A finding of sameness between two things eliminates the need for prudential judgments. And when prudential judgments are eliminated, the patient will accept all manner of fallacies and absurdities.
And when fallacies and absurdities are routinely accepted — even mandated — we, dearest nephew, are in business.
In my next letter, I shall more fully instruct on the mischief that may be wrought by stimulating the patient’s innate desire to appear more just and morally heroic than others.
Apologies, once again, to Mr. Lewis.