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Moral muting in US newspaper op-eds debating the attack on Iraq

DREXEL UNIVERSITY, USA, porporad{at}drexel.edu

Alexander Nikolaev

DREXEL UNIVERSITY, USA, agn24{at}drexel.edu

This article examines a distinct form of moral argumentation found to be common in a corpus of 500 editorials and opinion pieces written in 23 US newspapers and news magazines between August and October 2002 debating whether or not the US should attack Iraq. The purpose of the article is to delineate this communicative phenomenon, which we call moral muting . Moral muting occurs when a message either blunts the moral considerations involved in a case or presents an equivocal moral meaning. Moral muting overlaps with but is distinct from mitigation, and even when it involves mitigation, moral muting depends on devices that go beyond those generally associated with conversational mitigation. The examination of moral muting offered here contributes to a better understanding of moral communication in general and of the conduct of the American public sphere.

Key Words: editorials • ethics • Iraq • mitigation • moral discourse • morality

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