People are not chattel Just...

In Steven B. Katz's article "The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust," Katz uses technical writing ethics to commentate on Just's article on the movement and extermination of Jews. Just's article, while efficient, glosses over the fact that the subject being discussed is not property, but people. Thus, this is a utilization of what Katz calls technological expediency. He says, "in most deliberative rhetoric, the focus is on expediency, on technical criteria as a means to an end." In this way, the writer is successful. She wants to use transportation technology in the most efficient way possible.

In many cases, the argument comes down to what the author believes. Did the author think their writing was ethical? Or did they knowingly hide the truth? As writers, we can actively combat against unethical writing that we are aware of but if we don't believe it is unethical, how can we stop ourselves?

This comes down to the age old questions of ethics. Philosophers have been discussing this topic for thousands of years, and we have yet to reach a comprehensive answer. To each person, the sense of what is right and what is wrong may be different. All we can work off of is our social norms, our country's laws, and our personal feelings on a subject.

In the end, this is still an issue today (get it, issue? haha).





As you can most likely see, both of these magazine covers demonstrate different cultural standards in ethics.