The immorality of the word immoral

Today was my first day back at work in more than two weeks, and I've been so unplugged from the real world that I hardly could tell you which celebrity has a secret baby, or which Congressional leader has a nasty mugshot. So, rather than scour the web for something newsworthy, I figured today I would just leave you all with a quote on the word immoral from "Wicked," a novel by Gregory Maguire. It's from the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who in the novel is a real jackass. But I liked this excerpt, so I thought I'd share.

"I do not listen when anyone uses the word immoral," said the Wizard. "In the young it is ridiculous, in the old it is sententious and reactionary and an early warning sign of apoplexy. In the middle-aged, who love and fear the idea of moral life the most, it is hypocritical."

I think I once told a reporter who called my line at work that the Iraq war was immoral. I wonder if he thought I was ridiculous, or hypocritical! Or both.