moralweather.bsky.social
@moralweather.bsky.social
Moral Weather reports on language, tone, and power.
I name the moments when meaning breaks before people can explain why.
Creator of The Moral Language Model.
https://substack.com/@morallanguagemodel
I name the moments when meaning breaks before people can explain why.
Creator of The Moral Language Model.
https://substack.com/@morallanguagemodel
Low legislative output is often framed as dysfunction. It can also signal moral gridlock. Competing moral languages no longer agree on what progress means.
With fewer than 40 bills signed into law as of Dec. 22, the House and Senate set a modern record for lowest legislative output in the first year of a new presidency, according to data maintained by C-SPAN and Purdue University. https://wapo.st/3YPTQGo
December 27, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Low legislative output is often framed as dysfunction. It can also signal moral gridlock. Competing moral languages no longer agree on what progress means.
Noticing how certain stories take up enormous space right now.
Less curiosity. More compulsion.
That’s usually a cue to step back and ask what’s actually being activated.
Less curiosity. More compulsion.
That’s usually a cue to step back and ask what’s actually being activated.
December 27, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Noticing how certain stories take up enormous space right now.
Less curiosity. More compulsion.
That’s usually a cue to step back and ask what’s actually being activated.
Less curiosity. More compulsion.
That’s usually a cue to step back and ask what’s actually being activated.
We talk a lot about emotional intelligence.
We talk less about who learned it under pressure and who learned to absorb consequence so things could keep working.
New essay. substack.com/@morallangua...
We talk less about who learned it under pressure and who learned to absorb consequence so things could keep working.
New essay. substack.com/@morallangua...
Women Were Trained Too
Women are often described as emotionally advanced. This piece questions that assumption and looks at what women were actually trained to do instead.
substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 6:32 PM
We talk a lot about emotional intelligence.
We talk less about who learned it under pressure and who learned to absorb consequence so things could keep working.
New essay. substack.com/@morallangua...
We talk less about who learned it under pressure and who learned to absorb consequence so things could keep working.
New essay. substack.com/@morallangua...
Moral Weather Report
AI ads didn’t fail because of technology.
They failed because innovation meant progress to brands
and loss of dignity to audiences.
That translation gap is the story.
AI ads didn’t fail because of technology.
They failed because innovation meant progress to brands
and loss of dignity to audiences.
That translation gap is the story.
December 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Moral Weather Report
AI ads didn’t fail because of technology.
They failed because innovation meant progress to brands
and loss of dignity to audiences.
That translation gap is the story.
AI ads didn’t fail because of technology.
They failed because innovation meant progress to brands
and loss of dignity to audiences.
That translation gap is the story.
A lot of what we call “morality” is just compliance to a power system we learned as kids.
The holidays don’t test your character.
They test whether you’re still running code you never consented to.
The holidays don’t test your character.
They test whether you’re still running code you never consented to.
December 26, 2025 at 1:18 AM
A lot of what we call “morality” is just compliance to a power system we learned as kids.
The holidays don’t test your character.
They test whether you’re still running code you never consented to.
The holidays don’t test your character.
They test whether you’re still running code you never consented to.
Physical infrastructure failures expose moral infrastructure failures.
What’s happening in Boulder isn’t really about power.
What’s happening in Boulder isn’t really about power.
December 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Physical infrastructure failures expose moral infrastructure failures.
What’s happening in Boulder isn’t really about power.
What’s happening in Boulder isn’t really about power.
Moral Weather Report
There’s a lot of talk about connection at work right now.
But many people feel lonelier than ever.
When the words stay the same and the experience changes, confusion and quiet grief follow.
Axios has a thoughtful piece on this shift:
www.axios.com/2025/12/13/a...
There’s a lot of talk about connection at work right now.
But many people feel lonelier than ever.
When the words stay the same and the experience changes, confusion and quiet grief follow.
Axios has a thoughtful piece on this shift:
www.axios.com/2025/12/13/a...
AI is making the workplace lonelier
"I hate myself for saying it, but a big reason Gemini works [is] because it functions as the colleague with no drama."
www.axios.com
December 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Moral Weather Report
There’s a lot of talk about connection at work right now.
But many people feel lonelier than ever.
When the words stay the same and the experience changes, confusion and quiet grief follow.
Axios has a thoughtful piece on this shift:
www.axios.com/2025/12/13/a...
There’s a lot of talk about connection at work right now.
But many people feel lonelier than ever.
When the words stay the same and the experience changes, confusion and quiet grief follow.
Axios has a thoughtful piece on this shift:
www.axios.com/2025/12/13/a...
This piece is going viral not because of tax policy. It’s because someone wealthy said, “I should give something up.”
Most public anger right now isn’t envy. It’s the feeling that rules apply differently depending on who you are.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Most public anger right now isn’t envy. It’s the feeling that rules apply differently depending on who you are.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Opinion | Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
This piece is going viral not because of tax policy. It’s because someone wealthy said, “I should give something up.”
Most public anger right now isn’t envy. It’s the feeling that rules apply differently depending on who you are.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Most public anger right now isn’t envy. It’s the feeling that rules apply differently depending on who you are.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Bari Weiss is not wrong about the need for conversation.
Conversation without repair just sends everyone back to their own side.
People do not tune out because disagreement is hard.
They tune out because the ending is familiar.
Repair is risk.
Risk is watchable.
Conversation without repair just sends everyone back to their own side.
People do not tune out because disagreement is hard.
They tune out because the ending is familiar.
Repair is risk.
Risk is watchable.
December 18, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Bari Weiss is not wrong about the need for conversation.
Conversation without repair just sends everyone back to their own side.
People do not tune out because disagreement is hard.
They tune out because the ending is familiar.
Repair is risk.
Risk is watchable.
Conversation without repair just sends everyone back to their own side.
People do not tune out because disagreement is hard.
They tune out because the ending is familiar.
Repair is risk.
Risk is watchable.
Moral Weather Report
Holiday family conflict is rarely about politics or money.
It’s about words like respect, family, and boundaries meaning different things to different people.
When moral language doesn’t translate, people talk past each other and call it dysfunction.
Holiday family conflict is rarely about politics or money.
It’s about words like respect, family, and boundaries meaning different things to different people.
When moral language doesn’t translate, people talk past each other and call it dysfunction.
December 17, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Moral Weather Report
Holiday family conflict is rarely about politics or money.
It’s about words like respect, family, and boundaries meaning different things to different people.
When moral language doesn’t translate, people talk past each other and call it dysfunction.
Holiday family conflict is rarely about politics or money.
It’s about words like respect, family, and boundaries meaning different things to different people.
When moral language doesn’t translate, people talk past each other and call it dysfunction.
Religious surveys keep asking why people are “leaving faith.”
Many aren’t leaving morality.
They’re leaving moral contradiction.
You can’t teach compassion and model shame.
You can’t preach grace and practice power.
Disaffiliation is often coherence, not collapse.
Many aren’t leaving morality.
They’re leaving moral contradiction.
You can’t teach compassion and model shame.
You can’t preach grace and practice power.
Disaffiliation is often coherence, not collapse.
December 16, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Religious surveys keep asking why people are “leaving faith.”
Many aren’t leaving morality.
They’re leaving moral contradiction.
You can’t teach compassion and model shame.
You can’t preach grace and practice power.
Disaffiliation is often coherence, not collapse.
Many aren’t leaving morality.
They’re leaving moral contradiction.
You can’t teach compassion and model shame.
You can’t preach grace and practice power.
Disaffiliation is often coherence, not collapse.
Repair is not denial of accountability.
It’s sequencing.
First, name the harm.
Then, verify the facts.
Then, argue policy.
Skipping steps is how violence spreads twice.
It’s sequencing.
First, name the harm.
Then, verify the facts.
Then, argue policy.
Skipping steps is how violence spreads twice.
December 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Repair is not denial of accountability.
It’s sequencing.
First, name the harm.
Then, verify the facts.
Then, argue policy.
Skipping steps is how violence spreads twice.
It’s sequencing.
First, name the harm.
Then, verify the facts.
Then, argue policy.
Skipping steps is how violence spreads twice.
Repairers don’t fix arguments.
They fix the emotional temperature
so thinking can happen again.
They fix the emotional temperature
so thinking can happen again.
December 16, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Repairers don’t fix arguments.
They fix the emotional temperature
so thinking can happen again.
They fix the emotional temperature
so thinking can happen again.
I don’t believe in evil.
I believe in harm.
I believe in cruelty.
I believe in violence, domination, and betrayal.
But “evil” is not a moral explanation.
It’s a moral shortcut.
Why do we need other people to be evil?
I believe in harm.
I believe in cruelty.
I believe in violence, domination, and betrayal.
But “evil” is not a moral explanation.
It’s a moral shortcut.
Why do we need other people to be evil?
December 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
I don’t believe in evil.
I believe in harm.
I believe in cruelty.
I believe in violence, domination, and betrayal.
But “evil” is not a moral explanation.
It’s a moral shortcut.
Why do we need other people to be evil?
I believe in harm.
I believe in cruelty.
I believe in violence, domination, and betrayal.
But “evil” is not a moral explanation.
It’s a moral shortcut.
Why do we need other people to be evil?
The most important line in a lot of political writing right now is the apology. Because it admits something most debates avoid.
Despair is learned, not discovered.
By the time politics arrives, despair already feels familiar.
Despair is learned, not discovered.
By the time politics arrives, despair already feels familiar.
December 14, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The most important line in a lot of political writing right now is the apology. Because it admits something most debates avoid.
Despair is learned, not discovered.
By the time politics arrives, despair already feels familiar.
Despair is learned, not discovered.
By the time politics arrives, despair already feels familiar.
Moral Weather:
If someone insists “it’s just a word,” while their body is already bracing,
that word is doing moral work.
Language does not become “just words” until power feels secure.
That is why the argument always comes after the reaction.
Notice when you say it next time.
If someone insists “it’s just a word,” while their body is already bracing,
that word is doing moral work.
Language does not become “just words” until power feels secure.
That is why the argument always comes after the reaction.
Notice when you say it next time.
December 14, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Moral Weather:
If someone insists “it’s just a word,” while their body is already bracing,
that word is doing moral work.
Language does not become “just words” until power feels secure.
That is why the argument always comes after the reaction.
Notice when you say it next time.
If someone insists “it’s just a word,” while their body is already bracing,
that word is doing moral work.
Language does not become “just words” until power feels secure.
That is why the argument always comes after the reaction.
Notice when you say it next time.
Moral Weather:
When people say “no evidence could change my mind,”
they’re usually describing a nervous system,
not a belief system.
Morality forms before language.
Debate comes much later.
When people say “no evidence could change my mind,”
they’re usually describing a nervous system,
not a belief system.
Morality forms before language.
Debate comes much later.
December 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Moral Weather:
When people say “no evidence could change my mind,”
they’re usually describing a nervous system,
not a belief system.
Morality forms before language.
Debate comes much later.
When people say “no evidence could change my mind,”
they’re usually describing a nervous system,
not a belief system.
Morality forms before language.
Debate comes much later.
Moral Weather Report
Cultures don’t invent new language because they’re bored.
They invent it when existing systems stop respecting human attention, effort, and care.
Words change before trust does.
Cultures don’t invent new language because they’re bored.
They invent it when existing systems stop respecting human attention, effort, and care.
Words change before trust does.
December 14, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Moral Weather Report
Cultures don’t invent new language because they’re bored.
They invent it when existing systems stop respecting human attention, effort, and care.
Words change before trust does.
Cultures don’t invent new language because they’re bored.
They invent it when existing systems stop respecting human attention, effort, and care.
Words change before trust does.
Words of the year are not cultural trivia.
They are indicators.
When commonly used words become vague, ironic, or emotionally overloaded, it signals a breakdown in shared meaning.
This is how moral fracture appears first.
They are indicators.
When commonly used words become vague, ironic, or emotionally overloaded, it signals a breakdown in shared meaning.
This is how moral fracture appears first.
December 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Words of the year are not cultural trivia.
They are indicators.
When commonly used words become vague, ironic, or emotionally overloaded, it signals a breakdown in shared meaning.
This is how moral fracture appears first.
They are indicators.
When commonly used words become vague, ironic, or emotionally overloaded, it signals a breakdown in shared meaning.
This is how moral fracture appears first.