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I finally figured out the difference between "immoral" and "unethical".
For years people have tried to nitpick at me by saying those two words have different meanings. Looking at dictionaries hasn't helped me. Way too many definitions of "immoral" reference "ethics" and way too many definitions of "unethical" reference "morals." So I figured the nitpickers were just making shit up, as many nitpickers do. But I figured it out!
"Immoral" is a word REPUBLICANS use. "Unethical" is a word DEMOCRATS use.
Ta-daaaa!
For years people have tried to nitpick at me by saying those two words have different meanings. Looking at dictionaries hasn't helped me. Way too many definitions of "immoral" reference "ethics" and way too many definitions of "unethical" reference "morals." So I figured the nitpickers were just making shit up, as many nitpickers do. But I figured it out!
"Immoral" is a word REPUBLICANS use. "Unethical" is a word DEMOCRATS use.
Ta-daaaa!
no subject
My usual division is along the absolute/relative line. That is, the more a particular "X is wrong" seems to need a "for Y-type people to do in Z circumstances" in order to be true, the more I consider it a statement of ethics rather than morals.
This is most explicitly true for professional ethics, of course. It's a violation of professional ethics for a lawyer to discuss a case with the judge in private, but I wouldn't be inclined to call it immoral.
Which means, for me, that to say something is "unethical" without a context established is to say something somewhat incoherent.