I stand corrected. But it is Blockstream who is "selling" soft forks as if they were completely safe and different from hard forks, even though
there is no technical diffrerence between them -- especially since the possibility of miners cheating, hiding, or changing their mind about their preferences, before and after the fork, is no longer just a theoretical possibility.
Just because you say so in terms you just defined on the spot, it doesn't mean they are equally severe in all respects. There are real differences that cannot be obviated.
I agree that hard forks are not strictly more severe (it depends on each case). But the distinction is meaningful and there are technical differences between them that one shouldn't ignore.