I gave a legal ethics seminar 90 minutes after finding my wife dead, and these infants are too traumatized to take their exams because of a “horrific time on campus” and their “level of distress”:
Month: May 2024
Awkward Situation Ethics
I am beginning to think that I have been magically trapped in a “Mr. Bean” episode.
First I drive 30 miles for an appointment with my accountant, and he forgets about it. Then I am invited to lunch at a law firm, and when I arrive, the office is deserted, with computers on and lights blazing. The next week, I do a live/Zoom seminar that is going swimmingly when the whole system breaks down, leaving me soundless and video-less.
Yesterday, a neighbor invites me to “a little neighborhood gathering” celebrating Cinco de Mayo (it’s Greek Easter among my relatives) between 1 and 3 today. There will be food, I am told. I have not been invited to any neighborhood social gathering for at least ten years, so I resolve to show up, though that’s Spuds walking time and the Red Sox are playing the Twins.
I intended to drop by just to be neighborly and appreciative around 1:30, but I get a phone call from an old friend offering condolences, and I don’t reach the neighbor’s place until 2:30. When I come in the door, I see that everyone is listening to a presentation about…solar panels. I don’t know anyone, and no one is talking except the solar panel pitch man. I see a table with food, and I’m starving, but it’s in the middle of the room with the solar panel lecture. This goes on for 15 minutes, as I stand near the door watching the pitch for something holding no interest for me. Solar panels are a Cinco de Mayo thing, I surmise. Good to know. My hostess left me shortly after letting me in the door and got involved in the solar panel-fest. Spuds was waiting for a walk, the baseball game has started, and I was hungry.
The neighbor’s young son came in the door from playing outside, and I went out of it. I walked back home.
Was that wrong?
Fat-Shaming Ethics
An issue that arose on this post, about the Governor and First Lady of Illinois releasing what has been described as a “cringey” “Star Wars” Day photo of the two dressed as Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia. I knew someone would accuse me of “fat-shaming” when I wrote that they looked like Luke and Leia has been attacked by the Empire’s “fat ray.” I know what fat-shaming is, and that’s not it. Since there seems to be some confusion on the issue, however, I will take this opportunity to clarify.
Fat-shaming, properly used, refers to the criticism of an individual’s weight and appearance to no other end for no other reason than to attack the individual. Ethics Alarms has consistently condemned this practice regardless of who the targets have been: Al Gore, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Rush Limbaugh are some I remember without checking. There may be others. I have a lot of posts here and have my weak moments: I might have made fun of someone based on their weight, but I don’t think so.
The first time I remember being aware of criticism being leveled at a public figure for his or her weight was when the film “Cleopatra” was released in the midst of all the stories about the on-set romance between Richard Burton and Eddie Fisher’s then wife Elizabeth Taylor. Movie critics hated the film as well as Taylor’s performance, and she was especially singled out as being overweight for the role of Cleopatra. (Today she would be criticized for being too white.)
Progressives Have Settled On the Defenses For Their Indoctrinated College Students Supporting Terrorism and Acting Like Nazis…[Bad Link Fixed]
They are not persuasive. In fact, both are desperate, dishonest and predictable.
Defense #1 is, of course, “It isn’t what it is,” Rationalization #64 and the mantra of the 21st century Left when their delusions, plans, policies and plots blow up in their faces likeone of the Coyote’s bombs intended for the Road Runner. There’s nothing anti-Semitic about supporting Hamas after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians! There’s no reason for Jewish students to feel threatened and unwelcome on their own campus when masked protesters wearing the garb of a group that has pledged to eliminate Israel march and chant “From the river to the sea..” And heck, that ditty is completely innocent, like “Mary had a little lamb…” It doesn’t necessary mean “we’re going to wipe you Jews off the map.” You know, just like “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon” was just epicurean commentary. Besides, calling out lies about Jews (there is and has been no genocide; there is no apartheid, and there is no such thing as a “disproportional response” when a neighboring region starts a war with a surprise attack on a nation’s citizens and children) and verbally threatening them is just free speech. After all, these aren’t “true threats”—it’s not like anyone would ever actually try to do anything harmful to someone just because they are Jewish. That’s never happened. These demonstrations are just like all those campus marches with students wearing hoods and sheets, chanting “Back to Africa!” and carrying burning…okay, okay, those haven’t happened. And they would be different.
Defense #2 is “Conservatives made them do it.”
I could devote this whole website to featuring and debunking the increasingly hysterical, wildly dishonest, furiously contrived arguments of progressive pundits as they feel the metaphorical walls closing in this year. It’s tempting: I’ve written about a few, but their efforts to somehow separate themselves and their fellow travelers from the outbreak of antisemitism on campuses while simultaneously avoiding the simple statement: “This is wrong” along with the more difficult “And we’re substantially responsible” should be self-indicting.
Ethics Quiz: Elected Officials Acting In An Undignified Manner
I had to post an ethics quiz on this, especially after beginning the day writing, “I’d say anyone celebrating Star Wars Day today (“May the Fourth be with you!”) on this May 4 needs to get out more. In addition to being a day that promises further depressing developments on college campuses as the decades of progressive, anti-American, and Marxist indoctrination have their predictable (and probably intentional) consequences—though somehow the ivory tower revolutionaries in charge of those campuses were oddly unprepared for them!—this date has an ominous history.”
And there he is, J.B. Pritzker, the Governor of Illinois, posing with his wife on social media to celebrate “Star Wars” in a pose apparently evoking a yet-to-be released “Star Wars” sequel in which Luke and Leia are victims of the Empire’s diabolical fat ray.
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Is it responsible for high-ranking elected officials to present themselves to the public looking and acting ridiculous?
From the Babylon Bee: Ignorant Misinformation That Will Get Dogs Killed Even If Kristi Noem Isn’t Around…
Ugh. More ignorant pit bull hysteria, as usual spread by someone who knows little or nothing about dogs.
“Not the Bee” is supposed to be a site the highlights bizarre events from a conservative perspective, so how its concluded that advocating a “pit bull ban” was a legitimate topic escapes me. However, people using false and misleading statistics to stampede lawmakers happens to be a topic of great interest to an ethicist. I’ve written about this annoying and recurring phenomenon before, many times. The primary post about the pit bull breed-deranged website Dogsbite.org, an Unethical Website of the Month back in 2015, and one of the all-time Ethics Alarms comment champions with 354 comments so far.
Ian Haworth wrote the irresponsible Not The Bee piece today, “Is it time to ban pit bulls?” I should title this post, “Is it time for people who write about pit bulls to learn what a pit bull is?” As soon as this article began, I knew readers were in the grip of someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about:
“Why Did No President Think of Doing This Before?” Because It’s Desperate, Transparent, and Stupid, That’s Why…And It HAS Been Done Before
President Biden yesterday bestowed the once meaningful Presidential Medal of Freedom honor to a dog’s breakfast—and not even a relatively tasty dog’s breakfast—of 19 individuals. A few of them could be viewed as justifiable honorees, but most were obviously chosen to pander to various voting blocks that Biden desperately needs to be re-elected. A white female Olympic swimmer was chosen to try to woo female athletes and their allies who don’t want to have women’s sports undermined by having to compete against biological men, for example. Catholics are abandoning Biden, as they should considering the “devout Catholic” fondmess for fetus-cide, so a Jesuit priest got a medal. To fake non-partisanship, Biden gave Liddy Dole a medal. Naturally there was the obligatory pandering to the African-American voting block, with race-baiting, former Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) getting his fee for saving Biden’s Presidential nomination in 2020. Clyburn’s disgraceful Ethics Alarms dossier is here. Ellen Ochoa got a medal purely because of her Hispanic heritage and lady parts—there have been a lot of astronauts. Biden sucked up to unions and Hispanics by honoring Teresa Romero, the president of the United Farm Workers and “historic,” as the first Latina to lead a national union in the United States, which, of course, makes her more deserving than all the other union leaders. Even more blatant was the medal given to Michelle Yeoh. Who, you well may ask? She became the first Asian to win the Oscar for best actress this year. She was the most distinguished Asian-American Biden’s staff could come up with for these DEI awards? What an insult to Asian-Americans! Most of the rest were Presidential slobbers over partisan ethics villains like Al Gore, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi.
But those selection, however cynical and undeserved, aren’t the reasons for this post. This is: among Biden’s flagrant pandering were Presidential Medals of Freedom awarded to long-dead legendary athlete Jim Thorpe (had to get a Native American into this DEI orgy) and Medgar Evers, the civil rights worker who was assassinated 61 years ago, just to remind everyone what a racist nation we are.
Morning Ethics Wake-Up Call, May 4, 2024: Campus Anti-Semitism Edition
I’d say anyone celebrating Star Wars Day today (“May the Fourth be with you!”) on this May 4 needs to get out more.
In addition to being a day that promises further depressing developments on college campuses as the decades of progressive, anti-American, and Marxist indoctrination have their predictable (and probably intentional) consequences—though somehow the ivory tower revolutionaries in charge of those campuses were oddly unprepared for them!—this date has an ominous history.
The Vietnam protests reached their violent zenith with the National Guard shooting four Kent State students on May 4, 1970, a tragedy eerily reminiscent of the Boston Massacre. I’ve been surprised that there hasn’t been a student fatality in the current unrest yet: as always, the protest organizers are hoping for one to “radicalize” the campuses. Another development that seems inevitable is a terrorist attack in support of Gaza and Hamas. Today is a date that portends that, too: during a huge labor protest at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 1886, a someone threw a bomb among the 200 police officers attempting to break up the demonstration. Police then started shooting at the pro-labor crowd, killing more than a dozen protestors and wounding nearly a hundred, several people in the crowd and injuring dozens more. The protest had been organized by pro-labor activists to protest (and exploit) of the killing of a striker by the Chicago police the day before, and about 1,500 workers participated. That episode galvanized both the labor movement and the progressive movement that produced Teddy Roosevelt, Eugene V. Debs, Clarence Darrow, and Woodrow Wilson.
The anti-war rioting at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 also took place in Chicago, and where do you suppose the Democrats are holding their nominating convention this year? If nothing else, you can accuse the party of being superstitious. That call is the equivalent of naming a new cruise ship “Titanic.”
But wait! There’s more! On May 4, 1994, then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat reached an agreement in Cairo on Palestinian self-rule, following the Oslo Accords signed in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 1993. The agreement acknowledged Israel’s right to exist! Israeli agreed to withdraw from most of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, all land won by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 when the Arab nations collectively tried to wipe Israel off the map. The Palestinians agreed to avoid terrorism and maintain peace. and prevent violence in the famous “land for peace” bargain. The agreement transferred authority from the Israeli Civil Administration to the newly created Palestinian Authority, its jurisdiction and legislative powers, a Palestinian police force and relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Sounds promising, no? Almost immediately after the Israeli military withdrawal, the Palestinians began attacking Israel and its civilians. The periodic terrorism continued: there was never real “peace.” The promise to accept Israel’s right to exist was just words. Seven years later came the “Second Intifada” in 2000, a violent Palestinian uprising against Israel that left over a thousand Israelis dead and thousands injured. The schism was complete when the Palestinians elected the openly terrorist organization Hamas to lead Gaza in 2006. The fable of “The Scorpion and the Frog” comes to mind.
I wonder how many of the campus protesters are conversant in this history?
From Webster, NY., a “Do You Know Who I Am?” and a “Laws Are For the Little People” Classic!
Sandra Doorley, the Monroe County district attorney, was going 20 miles over the speed limit in her SUV when a Webster, N.Y. cop put on his lights and siren to signal her to pull over. She didn’t, however. Ignoring the police car, she drove about a half mile before pulling into her home’s garage. “Sorry, I’m the D.A.,” Doorly snapped at the officer as they both got out of their vehicles. “I was going 55 coming home from work.” But the speed limit on the road she was just driving on is 35 m.p.h, the officer replied. “I don’t really care,” was the D.A’s response. She proceeded to insult the officer and refuse to cooperate with the legal traffic stop, while obviously lying that she didn’t see his lights or hear the siren.
The encounter was recorded on the cop’s body camera, and now everybody knows that the Monroe County district attorney is an asshole. That conduct was signature significance, wasn’t it? “I’m an important person and I don’t care if I broke the law”? I think so. I can’t imagine anyone behaving like Doorley does in that jaw-dropping video above even once who isn’t an asshole.
On the False Equivilency of Anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia Invoked By President Biden and Others
“But let’s be clear about this as well. There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong. There is no place for racism in America. It’s all wrong. It’s un-American.”
That’s President Biden in his long delayed statement regarding the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic demonstrations breaking out in college campuses and in cities across the country. As usual, he isn’t clear at all. There have been no demonstrations against Muslims or Arab Americans. What does Islamophobia have to do with the price of bacon, as my father used to say?
The problem at hand is mobs calling for the eradication of Israel, the sole bastion of democracy in the Middle East, and the death of Jews. Those involved are actively declaring their support for Hamas and Palestinian terrorism, meaning, again, advocating the eradication of Israel and the death of Jews.
Throwing this unique and particularly horrible outbreak of ethic and religious hate, discrimination and persecution under the huge progressive abused-minority tent with Arabs and Muslims deliberately dilutes accountability. Americans are justly wary of Islam, with its declared determination to wipe out infidels, and nobody ever set out to exterminate six million Arabs. Nobody murdered an Arab or Palestinian Olympic team, either. Anti-Semitism is different in kind, in great part because it is centuries old lingers in cultures and societies like the shingles virus, ready to break out without warning.
Ethics Alarms 