Originally Posted by Diogenes

As MLK, Jr. once counseled, a person should be judged by the content of his/her character rather than by external appearances. Those who lack the moral fiber to do what must be done to ensure the safety of their families will come up with all kinds of excuses for their craven behavior, but they are still the ones who are intellectually and morally dishonest.

Originally Posted by TacticalEvilDan

The difficulty with this mind-set is that you are mentally reclassifying someone else as something other than human, when in fact they are human beings.

This is not an uncommon practice, but since ultimately one of many measures of the health of any civilization is the grade of its criminals and the treatment they receive, it's intellectually dishonest.