These euphemisms operate in exactly the same way as those found on the earliest maps of the North American continent, in which whole regions were labeled with terms such as “heathens,” “infidels,” “idolaters,” “primitives,” “vassals,” and “rebels.” On the strength of those euphemisms, native peoples—their places and claims—were deleted from the invaders’ moral and legal equations, legitimating the acts of taking and breaking that paved the way for church and monarchy.

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 287