Language shapes moral perception and sanitizes harm

Evidence

Language shapes the appearance of things. Moral self-sanctions can be reduced by cloaking harmful activities in sanitized, convoluted, and innocuous language. Doublespeak renders them benign and socially acceptable (Lutz, Bandura_1e_ch08. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2679

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces doublespeak as the linguistic vehicle of moral disengagement.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2679
• XREF: connects to: Euphemistic language like ‘collateral damage’ severs accountability for harm — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1281; Technocratic report genres enable megadam harm by masking intent in affectless language — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 472