【明報專訊】HATE continues to spread amid the violence engulfing Hong Kong. While many are of course worried about the rising violence, the intensifying propaganda campaign to beautify and justify violence might be even more terrifying. Vigilantism is being justified. Gang beating and vigilantism are described as efforts to "weed out the wicked and protect the innocent" as well as "self-defence by the people". Drawings of the so-called "lion-bird" (similar in pronunciation to vigilantism in Cantonese) have even emerged to visualise the concept and, as propaganda, to rationalise such acts. There are never any excuses for committing violence or doing evil. Acts of vigilante beating or extrajudicial punishment are never acceptable no matter whether the perpetrators are uniformed officers or people wearing white or black. If one says "white terror" is worrying, "black terror" is equally fearsome. Violence is a plague that never stops poisoning people's minds and undermining the foundation for a civilised and open society. Freedom from fear is something that Hong Kong cannot forgo. Society must say no to violence and, above all, say no to any twisted logic that beautifies violence.