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Moral equivalence is a term used in political debate, usually to characterize in a negative way the claim that there can be no moral or ethical hierarchy decided between two sides in a conflict, nor in the actions or tactics of the two sides. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... A moral hierarchy is a hierarchy by which actions are ranked by their morality, with respect to a moral code. ...

The term has some limited currency in polemic debates about the Cold War, and more currently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Moral equivalence" arose as a polemic term-of-retort to "moral relativism," which had been gaining use as an indictment against political foreign policy that appeared to use only a situation-based application of widely-held ethical standards. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Israel, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in diagonal stripes The Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is often claimed to be at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between two peoples, Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians, that both claim the right to sovereignty over the... In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect absolute and universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ... Situational ethics (also known as Situationism) refers to a particular view of ethics,faggot that states: (J. Fletcher, Situation Ethics (Westminster, Philadelphia, 1966). ... Ethics (from the Ancient Greek Ä“thikos, the adjective of Ä“thos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group and covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, and responsibility. ...

International conflicts are sometimes viewed similarly, and interested parties periodically urge both sides to conduct a ceasefire and negotiate their differences. However these negotiations may prove difficult in that both parties in a conflict believe that they are morally superior to the other, and are unwilling to negotiate on basis of moral equivalence.

Cold War

In the Cold War context, the term was and is most commonly used by anti-Communists as an accusation of logical fallacy for leftist criticisms of United States foreign policy and military conduct. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with fallacy. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition...

Those sympathetic to the Soviet Union contended that US power in the Cold War was used only to pursue an economically-driven agenda. They claim that the underlying economic motivation eroded any claims of moral superiority, leaving the hostile acts (Korea, Hungary, Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua) to stand on their own in justifying the human lives the conflicts had destroyed. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Economics is the social science studying production and consumption through measurable variables. ... A moral hierarchy is a hierarchy by which actions are ranked by their morality, with respect to a moral code. ... Combatants United Nations:  Republic of Korea  Australia  Belgium  Luxembourg  Canada  Colombia  Ethiopia  France  Greece  Luxembourg  Netherlands  New Zealand  Philippines  South Africa  Thailand  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States Medical staff:  Denmark  Australia  Italy  Norway  Sweden Communist states:  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea  Peoples Republic of China  Soviet Union Commanders... USAF reconnaissance photo of one of the suspected launch sites The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States regarding the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. ...

A common anti-Communist counter is the claim that there was no "economic-driven agenda". There was in fact, a moral difference between the Soviet Union and the United States, and that policy arising in defense of the "moral superiority" of the US could not and can not be "immoral." Hence an argument which claimed that the two parties could be viewed as "equally" culpable in a struggle for supremacy, would be advocating "moral equivalence." Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ...

An early popularizer of the expression was Jeane Kirkpatrick, who was United States ambassador to the United Nations in the Reagan administration. She published an article called The Myth of Moral Equivalence in 1986. She sharply criticized those who she alleged were claiming that there was "no moral difference" between the Soviet Union and democratic states. In fact, very few critics of United States policies in the Cold War era argued that there was a moral equivalence between the two sides. Communists, for instance, argued that the Soviet Union was morally superior to its adversaries. Jeane Kirkpatrick Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (November 19, 1926 â€“ December 7, 2006) was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ...

Leftist critics usually argued that the United States itself created a "moral equivalence" when some of its actions, such as President Ronald Reagan's support for the Contra insurgency against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, put it on the same level of immorality as the Soviet Union. Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Look up contra in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sandinista! is also the name of a popular music album by The Clash. ...

Arab-Israeli conflict

Main articles: Arab-Israeli conflict and Israeli-Palestinian conflict

In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the term is commonly used by defenders of Israel. They accuse of moral equivalence those who describe acts of Palestinian terrorism, such as suicide bombing against civilians, on one hand, and the retaliatory acts of the Israeli Defense Forces, on the other, as equally reprehensible. Combatants Arab nations Israel Arab-Israeli conflict series History of the Arab-Israeli conflict Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict Arab-Israeli conflict facts, figures, and statistics Participants Israeli-Palestinian conflict · Israel-Lebanon conflict · Arab League · Soviet Union / Russia · Israel and the United... Israel, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in diagonal stripes The Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is often claimed to be at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between two peoples, Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians, that both claim the right to sovereignty over the... Israel, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in diagonal stripes The Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is often claimed to be at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between two peoples, Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians, that both claim the right to sovereignty over the... Terrorist redirects here. ... A suicide bombing is an attack using a bomb in which the individual(s) carrying the explosive materials composing the bomb intend(s) and expect(s) to die upon detonation (see suicide). ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces...

Joel Mowbrey, a pro-Israeli writer, summarizes the coverage of the events:

"The coverage of the [recent] 'violence' has largely read like the equivalent of a chess match. Hamas refuses to halt suicide bombs. Israel targets a top Hamas leader. Suicide bombing in Jerusalem kills 16. Israel 'retaliates' with a strike in Gaza. What's at work is probably not anti-semitism, but a misguided attempt at objectivity. But reporting 'facts' in a moral vacuum is not objectivity; it is, in fact, just the opposite. Absent proper context, the situation can seem as if it is two equally justifiable sides making moves and countermoves, nothing more."

In recent years many commentators have called the continued Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza as "morally reprehensible" and as being the "root cause of Palestinian terrorism," although Palestinian terrorism predated the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by at least 40 years. This is not necessarily the same thing as arguing that there is no moral difference between terrorist bombings which kill Israeli civilians and the Israeli retaliation to those bombings, but Israelis frequently see such critics as taking this view. Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) (Standard) Yerushalayim or Yerushalaim Arabic commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) Name Meaning Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: The Holiness Government City District Jerusalem Population 724,000 (2006) Jurisdiction 123,000 dunams (123 km²) Mayor Uri Lupolianski Web Address www. ... Map of the Gaza Strip from The World Factbook. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...

As with the United States during the Cold War, critics of the Israeli government argue that it is Israel's actions which are creating a "moral equivalence." Aron Trauring, an American peace activist, argues that Israeli air-strikes against the homes of Hamas leaders makes Israel no better than Hamas:

"Civilians were directly targeted for death as part of an act of revenge on the part of the Israeli government. This is exactly the justification Hamas et al use for their military actions against Israeli civilians. They say the adults killed in their activities are people who perpetrate the "murderous occupation" against the Palestinians. They say these Israelis deserve to die just like Hamas leader Salah Shehada. If innocent dies as well, its just collateral damage. In essence we have reached moral equivalency."

The Israeli writer Yaacov Lozowick explains Israel's moral dilemmas: Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ...

"Restricting the freedom of movement of entire communities is immoral. Refraining from these restrictions when there is unequivocal proof that this will lead to the murder of innocents is worse, because movement restricted can later be granted, while dead will never live again. Demolishing the homes of civilians merely because a family member has committed a crime is immoral. If, however,... potential suicide murderers... will refrain from killing out of fear that their mothers will become homeless, it would be immoral to leave the Palestinian mothers untouched in their homes while Israeli children die on their school buses. Accidentally killing noncombatants in the cross fire of battles being fought in the middle of cities is immoral, unless... refraining from fighting in the Palestinian cities inevitably means the Palestinians will use the safe havens of their cities to plan, prepare and launch ever more murderous attacks on Jewish noncombatants. These concrete examples and others like them demonstrate the moral considerations that Israelis... have been dealing with since the Palestinans proudly decided to use suicide murder as their primary weapon." ("Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars", p.260)

WWII atrocities

Suggesting a moral equivalence between a number of acts carried out by the Allies during the Second World War and the deeds of the Nazis, especially the Final Solution is a common strategy employed by apologists for the Nazis in Germany, such as politicians of the National Democratic Party of Germany. Forms of the argument are also found in the works of authors not sympathetic to Nazism per se, such as F.J.P. Veale, Noam Chomsky, and Joseph Sobran. Commonly cited as examples are the Allies' aerial destruction of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Hamburg and Dresden, the systematic murder and rape of East Germans by the Red Army, etc. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... In a February 26, 1942, letter to German diplomat Martin Luther, Reinhard Heydrich follows up on the Wannsee Conference by asking Luther for administrative assistance in the implementation of the Endlösung der Judenfrage (Final Solution of the Jewish Question). ... For the East German block party, see National Democratic Party of Germany (East Germany) Logo of the NPD The National Democratic Party of Germany (German: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD) is a political party in Germany. ... Avram Noam Chomsky, Ph. ... Joseph Sobran Joseph Sobran (born February 23, 1946, Michigan) is an American journalist and writer, formerly with National Review and currently a syndicated columnist. ...

Notable in this context are Justice Jackson’s comments at the Nuremberg Trials: Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892–October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940–1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941–1954). ... The Süddeutsche Zeitung announces The Verdict in Nuremberg. ...

"If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us...We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well."

See also

• moral relativism
• morality
• ethics

In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect absolute and universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ... Morality refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to matters of good and evil — also referred to as right or wrong — used within three contexts: individual conscience; systems of principles and judgments — sometimes called moral values —shared within a cultural, religious, secular or philosophical community; and codes of... Ethics (from the Ancient Greek ēthikos, the adjective of ēthos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group and covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, and responsibility. ...

External links

• Moral Equivalence in the Middle East
• Moral Equivalence
• Moral Equivalence at SecondDraft.org

Further reading

• Jeane Kirkpatrick, The Myth of Moral Equivalence, Imprimis, January 1986, Vol. 15, No. 1

References