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March 8, 2004
In Death Sentence Don Watson says that in a democracy it pays to listen carefully to the ways words twist and conceal reality in a way that incites contempt and fear. He provides an instance----moral clarity:
"Moral clarity is not so much an idea as a buzz word: a you're in/you're out word...It's an intellectual way of saying , 'Just do it!' and watching to see who jumps. The enemies of moral clarity are waverers and bleeding hearts, who are, the argument goes, moral relativists. Moral relativists are, if not friends of terrorists and rogues, less patriotic and American than Americans possessed of moral clarity. Moral relativists are closely related to cultural relativists and it is cultural relativists, of course, who tie the country in knots pleading multiculturalismand the rights fo non-English-speakers."
So words are chosen for their ability to do a job. Moral clarity provides a smokescreen or veil.
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