Abstract
I provide an opinionated discussion of two recent volumes on the
structure, ethics, and politics of bad conversations. In Just Words (2019),
Mary Kate McGowan argues that despite our best intentions, we
sometimes inadvertently bring oppressive norms to bear on our
interactions. In Grandstanding (2020), Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke
argue that the human desire to cut a good moral figure before others
systematically distorts moral discourse. Though their authors have
different political outlooks, both books converge on a similar theme:
conversational bad behavior isn’t always just morally obnoxious. It can be
silencing.