The Problem With 'Moral Clarity'

"In the age of MAGA, ideological lines that once distinguished left from right have blurred. Republicans who said they were willing to die for the market now support a president who tells the government to buy up shares in the private sector. ( Bernie Sanders approves.) The right has also embraced cancel culture, a progressive trend it recently despised. But conservatives aren't the only ones emulating the other side."

"In perhaps the most striking reversal of this era, progressives are now the ones who tend to speak like moralists. America is long past the days of the Christian right's Moral Majority and the "good versus evil" wars of George W. Bush's administration. An emerging form of progressive rhetoric is taking their place. Consider the left's appropriation of the term moral clarity."

Traditional ideological boundaries between left and right have blurred, with Republicans endorsing market interventions and adopting cultural-left tactics like cancel culture. Progressives have increasingly used moralistic rhetoric, adopting phrases such as "moral clarity" and praising outspoken figures for speaking with moral certainty. Prominent examples include praise for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and encouragement from Ta-Nehisi Coates for students to embrace overt moral language. Moral clarity often signals that holders view their positions as unimpeachable and opponents as irredeemable. Moral certainty is subjective and perishable, as similar ethical certitude motivated both the 2020 protesters who assaulted police and the January 2021 Capitol rioters.

Read at The Atlantic