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.
Ackerman, B. (2002) `The Legality of Using Force', NeW York Times, 13 September, p. 15.
2.
Ardener, E. (1975) `The ``Problem'' Revisited', in S. Ardener (ed.) Perceiving Women, pp. 19-27. London: Malaby.
3.
Baier, K. (1965) The Moral Point of VieW. New York: Random House.
4.
Baker III, J.A. (2002) `The Right Way to Change a Regime', NeW York Times, 25 August, p. 9.
5.
Beer, F. and Hariman, R. (eds) (1996) Post-realism: The Rhetorical Turn in International Relations. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
6.
Bellah, R., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W., Swidler, A. and Tipton, S.M. (1985) Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
7.
Brewer, T. (2002) `We the People, We the Warriors', Washington Post, 26 August, p. A15.
8.
Brzezinski, Z. (2002) `Confronting Anti-American Grievances', NeW York Times, 1 September, p. 9.
9.
Caffi, C. (1999) `On Mitigation', Journal of Pragmatics31: 881-909.
10.
Craig, D. (2000) `Ethical Language and Themes in News Coverage of Genetic Testing', Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly77: 160-75.
11.
Dionne, E.J. (2002) `One Enemy, Two Camps', Washington Post, 30 August, p. 23.
12.
Dower, N. (1998) World Ethics: The NeW Agenda. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
13.
Fairclough, N. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Fraser, B. (1980) `Conversational Mitigation', Journal of Pragmatics4: 341-50.
16.
Friel, H. and Falk, R. (2004) The Record of the Paper: HoW the NeW York Times Misrepresents US Foreign Policy. New York: Verso.
17.
Funk, V.O. (2003) `War in the Public Sphere: The Case of Ethical Frameworks in Newspaper Coverage of the Iraq Wars', paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture, 3 September, Louisville, KY.
18.
Gamson, W. and Modigliani, A. (1989) `Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach', American Journal of Sociology95(1): 1-37.
19.
Gauthier, D.P. (1963) Practical Reasoning: The Structure and Foundations of Prudential and Moral Arguments and their Exemplification in Discourse . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
20.
Greeley, A. (2002) `Hawks Offer No Proof to Justify Attack', Chicago Sun-Times, 20 September, p. 41.
21.
Habermas, J. (1989) The Social Transformation of the Public Sphere . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
22.
Habermas, J. (1998) BetWeen Facts and Norms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
23.
Haley, J. (1959) `An Interactional Description of Schizophrenia' , Psychiatry22: 321-32.
24.
Hart, S. (2001) Cultural Dilemmas of Progressive Politics: Styles of Engagement among Grassroots Organizations. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
25.
Hewitt, J. and Stokes, R. (1975) `Disclaimers', American Sociological RevieW40: 1-11.
26.
Hollis, M. and Smith, S. (1990) Explaining and Understanding International Relations . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
27.
Horkheimer, M. (1983) Critique of Instrumental Reason. New York: Continuum.
28.
Kant, I. (1998) The GroundWork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Kerry, J.F. (2002) `We Still Have a Choice on Iraq', NeW York Times, 6 September, p. 23.
30.
Krauthammer, C. (2002) `The Myth of U.N. Support', Washington Post, 4 October, p. A29.
31.
Lakoff, G. (1973) `Hedges: A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts', Journal of Philosophical Logics2: 458-508.
32.
Lakoff, G. (2002) Moral Politics: HoW Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
33.
Lessner, R. (2002) `Who's Next? The Saddam Skeptics Should Tell Us: Which American City are they Willing to Bet they're Right?', Daily Standard (online), 11 September.
34.
Luckmann, T. (1997) `The Moral Order of Modern Societies, Moral Communication and Indirect Moralizing', paper delivered at Collegium Budapest, Institute for Advanced Study.
35.
MacIntyre, A. (1984) After Virtue. Indianapolis, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
36.
Marcuse, G.H. (1964) One Dimensional Man. Boston, MA: Beacon.
37.
Martinowski, B., Mao, W., Gratch, J. and Marsella, S. (2005) `Mitigation Theory: An Integrated Approach', Annual Conference of the Cognitive Studies Society, Stresa, Italy.
38.
Nikolaev, A. and Porpora, D. (2007) `Talking War: How Elite U.S. Newspaper Editorials and Opinion Pieces Debated the Attack on Iraq', Sociological Focus40(1): 6-25.
39.
Scott, M. and Lyman, S. (1968) `Accounts', American Sociological RevieW33: 46-62.
40.
Starr, P. (2002) `No Choice but War?', American Prospect, 7 October, p. 3.
41.
Sykes, G. and Matza, D. (1957) `Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency' , American Sociological RevieW22(6): 664-70.
42.
Taylor, C. (1989) Sources of the Self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
43.
Times Editors (2002a) `Summons to War', NeW York Times, 28 August, p. 18.
44.
Times Editors (2002b) `Countdown to a Collision', NeW York Times, 28 August, p. 22.
45.
Times Editors (2002c) `A Road Map for Iraq', NeW York Times, 18 September, p. 30.
46.
Times Editors (2002d) `A Time for Debate and Reflection', NeW York Times, 3 October, p. 26.
47.
Times Editors (2002e) `More than One Option on Iraq', NeW York Times, 28 September, p. 16.
48.
Times Editors (2002f) `The Hazardous Path Ahead', NeW York Times, 11 October, p. 32.
49.
Times Editors (2002g) `The Politics of War', NeW York Times, 20 September, p. 26.
50.
Van Dijk, T.A. (1985) Macrostructures. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
51.
Van Dijk, T.A. (1997) `Discourse as Interaction in Society', in T.A. van Dijk (ed.) Discourse as Social Interaction, pp. 1-38. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
52.
Van Dijk, T.A. (2000) Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
53.
Wallis, J. (2005) God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. San Francisco, CAHarperSan Francisco.
54.
Washington Post Editors (2002a) `Setting a Course on Iraq', Washington Post, 10 October, p. B06.
55.
Washington Post Editors (2002b) `Mr. Schroeder Ducks', Washington Post, 17 September, p. A20.
56.
Washington Post Editors (2002c) `A Dialogue on Iraq', Washington Post, 6 September, p. A24.
57.
Washington Post Editors (2002d) `Building the Coalition', Washington Post, 6 October, p. B06.
58.
Weber, M. (1997) The Theory of Social and Economic Organization . New York: Free Press.
59.
Wierzbicka, A. (2006) English: Meaning and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
60.
Will, G. (2002) `It's Not Too Late', Washington Post, 15 September, p. B07.
61.
Zinn, H. (2002) `The Case against War on Iraq', Boston Globe, 19 August, p. A11.
