George Orwell was there first

I have this image of a room full of Civil Servants with copies of "1984" by their elbows, tasked with finding ways of bringing Orwell's vision into reality.  Every now and again they make a breakthrough.  In Orwell's dystopian future you could commit a "thought-crime" - you didn't actually have to do anything illegal - simply thinking about it was sufficient.  Well - we're nearly there.  We've invented "hate crime".  This is a crime which (I think - the definition is anything but clear) is motivated by hostility on racial, religious, sexual orientation or gender identity grounds.  In other words, it is as much - if not more - to do with your state of mind as it is to do with what you actually did.  Note those words "if not more" - there have been occasions where what was done was arguably not an offence but the motivation was judged to fall within the definition set out above.  Thought crime - hate crime - spot the difference?