Vagueness itself functions as an instrument of domination

Evidence

The words that are not means appear senseless; the others seem to be fiction, untrue. Value judgments are taken either as advertising or as empty talk. Accordingly ideology has been made vague and noncommittal, and thus neither clearer nor weaker. Its very vagueness, its almost scientific aversion from committing itself to anything which cannot be verified, acts as an instrument of domination. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 114

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A genuinely counterintuitive reversal: ideology’s refusal to commit isn’t weakness but precisely its power. Would reward sustained reflection.
• XREF: Connects to The Bias of Communication’s account of how detached symbolic environments shape perception. — connects to: A rationality geared to domination shapes how we construe the Other — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 464; Open texture is the potential for vagueness, not vagueness itself — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 690; Domination is analyzed via its functioning instruments, not its legitimation — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 1486 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• A rationality geared to domination shapes how we construe the Other #expands (0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 464
• Open texture is the potential for vagueness, not vagueness itself #responds-to (0.80) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 690
• Domination is analyzed via its functioning instruments, not its legitimation #expands (0.80) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 1486
• Domination is perpetuated by thought’s own ossification, not by technology #expands (0.75)