Invoking an explanation for abuse does not justify the abuse

Evidence

Assertion, of course, does not necessitate accuracy; and explanation is not justification. These are distinctions clearly lost on the likes of Limbaugh and his listeners, for whom an Iraqi death in detention apparently is not death, rape is not terror, sodomy with a broomstick is not abuse! — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 267

Categorization

• APHORISMS: A crisp general principle: explaining a phenomenon is never the same as defending it, and asserting is not proving.
• XREF: connects to: the MOC “The Violence That Builds: How Modern Order Is Forged, Not Broken, by Force”