Editing Moral equivalence (section)

==Cold War==
In the [[Cold War]] context, the term was and is most commonly used by anticommunists as an accusation of [[formal fallacy]] for [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] criticisms of United States foreign policy and military conduct.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muehlenberg |first=Bill |date=2022-03-29 |title=On Moral Equivalence |url=https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/03/29/on-moral-equivalence/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=CultureWatch |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Many such people believed in the idea that the [[United States]] was intrinsically benevolent and that the extension of its power, influence, and hegemony was an extension of benevolence and would bring freedom to those people subject to that hegemony. Therefore, those who opposed the United States were by definition evil, trying to deny its benevolence to people. The [[Soviet Union]] and its allies, in contrast, practiced a [[totalitarian]] ideology. A territory under US hegemony thus would be freed from possibly being in the camp of the totalitarian power and would help to weaken it. Thus, all means were justified in keeping territories away from Soviet influence in this way. That extended to countries not under Soviet influence but instead said to be sympathetic at all in any way with it. Therefore, [[Chile]] under [[Salvador Allende]] was not under Soviet domination, but removing him would help weaken the Soviet Union by removing a government ruled with the help of the [[Communist Party]]. The big picture, they would say, justified the tortures carried out by the [[Augusto Pinochet]] dictatorship, as it served to weaken the totalitarian communist camp and in time bring about the freedom of those under its domination.

Some of those who criticized US foreign policy at the time contended that US power in the [[Cold War]] was used only to pursue an economically driven agenda of [[capitalism]]. They claim that the underlying economic motivation eroded any claims of [[moral hierarchy|moral superiority]], leaving the hostile acts (in [[Korean War|Korea]], [[1956 Hungarian Revolution|Hungary]], [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Cuba]], [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghanistan]], [[Nicaraguan Revolution|Nicaragua]]) to stand on their own. In contrast, those who justified US interventions in the Cold War period always cast these as being motivated by the need to contain totalitarianism and thus fulfilled a higher moral imperative.

An early popularizer of the expression was [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]], the US ambassador to the [[United Nations]] during the [[Reagan administration]]. Kirkpatrick published the article "The Myth of Moral Equivalence" in 1986, which sharply criticized those who she alleged were claiming that there was "no moral difference" between the [[Soviet Union]] and democratic states.<ref>[[Jeane Kirkpatrick]]. ''[https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-myth-of-moral-equivalence The Myth of Moral Equivalence]'',   January 1986, Vol. 15, No. 1, ''[[Imprimis]]''</ref> In fact, very few{{Quantify|date=November 2020}} critics of US policies during the Cold War 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. Kirkpatrick herself was one of the most outspoken voices calling for the US to support authoritarian military regimes in [[Central America]] that were responsible for major human rights violations. When four US churchwomen were raped and murdered by government soldiers in [[El Salvador]], Kirkpatrick downplayed the gravity of the crime and claimed that "the nuns were not just nuns, they were political activists."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/bringing-el-salvador-nun-killers-to-justice|title = Bringing el Salvador Nun Killers to Justice|newspaper = The Daily Beast|date = 10 November 2014|last1 = Bonner|first1 = Raymond}}</ref> According to Congressman Robert Torricelli, Reagan administration officials, including Kirkpatrick, deliberately suppressed information about government abuses in El Salvador: "While the Reagan Administration was certifying human rights progress in El Salvador they knew the terrible truth that the Salvadoran military was engaged in a widespread campaign of terror and torture."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/21/world/how-us-actions-helped-hide-salvador-human-rights-abuses.html?pagewanted=all|title = How U.S. Actions Helped Hide Salvador Human Rights Abuses|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 21 March 1993|last1 = Krauss|first1 = Clifford}}</ref>

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 ''[[Contras|Contra]]'' insurgency against the [[Sandinista]] government in [[Nicaragua]], put it on the same level of [[immorality]] as the Soviet Union.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

Moral equivalence has featured in debates over [[NATO expansion]], the overthrow of [[rogue states]], the [[invasion of Iraq]], and the [[War on Terror]]. Concepts of moral hierarchy have been applied to foreign policy challenges such as [[Islamic fundamentalists]], [[Calls for the destruction of Israel|anti-Israel]] powers, [[Russia]], [[China]], [[drug traffickers]], and [[Serbian nationalists]].