Euphemistic language converts recognized harms into neutral technical categories

Evidence

The harmful effects of smoking were masked by sanitizing language. In internal communications, industry scientists converted the carcinogenicity of their products to “specific biological activity” or simply “specific activity” … Secondhand smoke became “indoor air pollution,” or “ambient smoke,” that give rise to “passive smoking.” There is nothing passive about having to breathe the exhaled smoke of others in the workplace, in restaurants, and other public places. This is forced smoking, not passive smoking. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1651

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates moral disengagement’s euphemistic-labeling mechanism with concrete industry examples.
• ADDENDUM: The ‘forced smoking, not passive smoking’ reframing parallels the immodesty article’s pattern of language obscuring power relations.
• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer censored explicit political language in Institute publications — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 865; Deploying technical jargon in public meetings functions as a silencing tactic against residents; Technical jargon functions as a silencing weapon against unschooled residents — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 235 (+4 more)