It self-righteously claims to be on a mission of justice and redemption, but Churchouting.org is as unethical as a website can be: as driven by lame rationalizations as the vile adultery-facilitating ashleymadison.com; as destructive as the undercover drug informant outing website, Whosarat.com; as reckless as the slander sites Dontdatehimgirl and Juicycampus. Continue reading
Month: December 2009
Ethics Quote of the Week
“Ms. Hanes was awarded the position based solely on her merit.”
—– Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) spokesman Tyler Matsdorf, “explaining” that although the Senator’s state office director, Melodee Hanes, and Baucus were in the midst of a year-long romantic affair when the Senator submitted her name to President Obama as a candidate to be appointed U.S. attorney in Montana, the nomination was completely unrelated to the relationship.
Well.
This clearly calls for..
An Ethics Alarm Pop Quiz! Continue reading
Tiger Woods Ethics, Part I: Betrayal’s Not for Heroes
I wasn’t planning on commenting on the Tiger Woods soap opera. Its ethical lessons seemed obvious, and merely xeroxed themes that I have, in the eyes of some, thumped to death. I do feel that the apparent glee with which some in the sports media have attacked Woods for revealing his true character is damning…of them. Golf’s Golden Child finally outed himself as a phony “good guy” and a classic case of the prodigy who won’t or can’t grow up, a man who has been carrying on multiple adulterous affairs while using his bottomless checkbook to cover his tracks. It seems that many reporters have long known that Tiger’s public image was a fraud, and had chafed over the adulation heaped on him as they witnessed the golfer being mean, petty and boorish, often to them. Now these journalists feel it is “safe” to skewer Woods, and are doing so with gusto. Cowards. They were parties to a mass public deception, and their duty was to let us know Tiger was playing us for suckers when they knew it, not when his lies became National Enquirer headlines.
As for Tiger’s own conduct, however, I presumed most could see the ethics issues clearly. Then the apologists and rationalizers started writing their columns. Continue reading
Climategate, 2012, and Bruce Willis
Professor Eric Posner has proposed a provocative analogy to the global warming controversy over at the Volokh Conspiracy, an exercise that probes the logic and ethics of the popular “let’s act assuming the majority opinion is right, because if it’s wrong we’re just poor, but if the minority is wrong, we’re dead” refrain. The comments, most of them pointing out where the analogy breaks down, range from insightful to hilarious.
You can read it all here.
Deceit and Dishonesty in the Capital Punishment Debate
Those who oppose the death penalty on moral grounds, fervently believing that the taking of human life is always wrong, also believe, it seems, that lesser sins are legitimate tools if they can save even one condemned prisoner. The misconduct of choice seems to be intellectual dishonesty, and there have recently been some obvious displays of it. Whether you believe such tactics are justifiable or not, there is no question that they muddle the capital punishment debate. Continue reading
“Biggest Loser” Ethics: “They Shoot Fat People, Don’t They?”
Lawyers being lawyers, it is not surprising that a New York Times article about the unhealthy physical stresses endured by contestants in the “Biggest Loser” reality show inspired a legal blog to wonder how long it would be before the show was hit with a large law suit. “I’m waiting for the first person to have a heart attack,” THR, ESQ quotes Dr. Charles Burant, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, as saying. The core problem is not liability, however. The problem is that the show is horribly, indefensibly unethical. It shouldn’t be waiting for a lawsuit, or a heart attack. The program is wrong to continue, advertisers are wrong to support it, and we are wrong to watch it. Continue reading
Climategate’s Ethics Heroes, Villains and Dunces
The hacked East Anglia University computer files are slowly revealing the ethical values of more than just the scientists. They are also serving as accurate detector of integrity or the lack of it; bias or fairness, honesty, accountability, and courage.
Almost every day, a public statement, op-ed or news item exposes a hero, dunce, or villain or in the climate change debate, like those nifty reagents and black lights they use in the “CSI” TV show and its 37 spin-offs. Here are some who have appeared thus far: Continue reading
Abortion Debate in the Senate: Inconvenient Ethics
It will be major irony if the Senate health care reform bill, an irresponsible, cynical, dishonest piece of legislation (any legislation that is 2000 pages, unreadable, and largely unread by those voting for it is, by definition, irresponsible, cynical and dishonest), fails because of its position on abortion. The bill is an abomination and deserves to fail, but not because of that. Continue reading
Ethics Dunce: Marc Levin
Mark Levin is the resident screamer among conservative talk show hosts, and basic civility is clearly not on his menu, as he routinely cuts off any caller whose opinions vary from his by deriding the caller as an “idiot” or a “drone,” his pet word for liberals. One of Levin’s stunts is to broadcast presidential addresses, like President Obama’s speech last night on Afghanistan, with “commentary,” meaning that he delivers nasty asides, sarcastic quips and mocking rants while the President is speaking. Continue reading
Moral Luck Gets Mike Huckabee
Former Arkansas Governor and current talk show host Mike Huckabee, an early leader among GOP presidential contenders in 2012, is the process of being vilified and ridiculed by conservative commentators and talk radio hosts for what appears to be a tragic instance of moral luck. Nine years ago, he issued clemency to a prisoner named Maurice Clemens, a man who had been convicted of larceny and burglary at the age of 16 and had served seven years of a 108 year sentence. Clemens was just killed after going on a two-day rampage in Seattle, Washington murdering four police officers. Now critics are blaming the deaths on Huckabee, calling him a “bleeding heart” who cares more about criminals than their victims, and demanding that this tragedy permanently end his presidential ambitions. Continue reading
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