Katz's "Ethics of Expediency"

Katz's article reveals that blindly following guidelines and not being critical of writing can be dangerous. Terms like ethics, rhetoric, and truth are not safe, angelic, objective words. His Ethics of Expediency is a prime example. To Hitler, Just, and the Nazis, it was ethical to “reduce” the number of “units” by efficiently and expediently stuffing more of them in trucks because it was for the good of their people. Obviously, this tacit was a way of using terms, symbols, expediency, and persuasion to justify, trivialize, and cast a blind eye on the senseless genocide of thousands.

Language has everything to do with ethics and should not be used as a means to an end. Katz's article argues that the problem lies in the various definitions of what is or is not ethical, which relates to Kenneth Burke's terministic screens concept. Essentially, writing or doing something expediently neither qualifies it as good nor ethical. Professional writers must be aware of what they write, what the goals are, how it affects the audience, and what the ethical implications are.