“Deliberately obscure” means “the speaker (of the reference called “deliberately obscure”) sought out and used a reference that, relative to the speaker’s epistemology, a given member of the audience would be unlikely to understand.”
“Obscure” by itself means that “a member of the audience is unlikely to understand the reference”, where “unlikely” might refer to the epistemology of the speaker of the reference or the one who called it obscure, which may be resolved by context.
So, just because you don’t see how the use of a word could be virtuous, don’t assume that it can’t be.
On the other hand, if you don’t know, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Not every request for clarification has to be an accusation.
“Deliberately obscure” means “the speaker (of the reference called “deliberately obscure”) sought out and used a reference that, relative to the speaker’s epistemology, a given member of the audience would be unlikely to understand.”
“Obscure” by itself means that “a member of the audience is unlikely to understand the reference”, where “unlikely” might refer to the epistemology of the speaker of the reference or the one who called it obscure, which may be resolved by context.
So, just because you don’t see how the use of a word could be virtuous, don’t assume that it can’t be.
On the other hand, if you don’t know, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Not every request for clarification has to be an accusation.