The first post today already has me dreading what is to come, and, believe it or not, the next one is even more stupid than that one.
Help me out here by adding some challenging, enlightening, erudite discussions on the finer points of ethics while I stand over here wondering what the world is coming to, and trying to avoid the most likely answer…
Ethics Alarms 
A minute ago, a previous employer said to me “whatever is legal, ethical and moral”.
Like a mathematical fractal, all three of these seem to me to suffer from the same question – when do we stop, or where is the bottom?
With legality though there is always a clever way around the law with re-definiton and we can always make more laws allowing something someone disagrees with, existing laws which mostly regulate some form of property rights at least provide some sense of concrete boundary.
With moral, we can never achieve the purity of idealism.
Ethics seems to be this foggy subjective purgatory between the two. “Love your neighbor as your self” depends on a sense of self-care. “Treat others as you want to be treated” depends on agreed rules of the game that we are playing… Ethical in the U.S. might be unethical in Canadia given differing social contracts. For example, Trump vs Carney, trade imbalance and the threat of tariffs vs retaliatory tariffs until the U.S shows respect.
I believe that Jack has an explanation somewhere at Ethics Alarms about the difference between ethics and morals. As I am terrible at searching, I hope that somebody can enlighten me.
I looked up at the Internet, and the results are confusing me a bit.
The “Encyclopaedia Brittanica” claims that the terms ethics and morals are often used interchangeably. Then it makes the statement: “Both morality and ethics loosely have to do with distinguishing the difference between “good and bad” or “right and wrong.” Many people think of morality as something that’s personal and normative, whereas ethics is the standards of “good and bad” distinguished by a certain community or social setting. ” So somebody may personally have no issues with sex outside of marriage (morality), however in some community this is frowned upon (ethics).
Another distinction morals refer to codes of behavior based on divine revelation or tradition, and ethics refers to reflection on right and wrong based on reason and empirical fact; this is a more philosophical approach. So the Ten Commandments are considered to be morals.
Context is important: in the context of a church we often talk about morals, so we can talk about Christian morality. So in this context sex outside of marriage sex outside of marriage is considered immoral. The term ethics is often used in conjunction with business, laws and medicine, e.g. lawyers and doctors have ethics codes.
The takeaway is that when somebody invokes ethics and morals we may need to have to ask what that person or organization means by these terms.
Ethical in the U.S. might be unethical in Canada given differing social contracts.
So here we have another interesting philosophical topic: are ethical rules absolute, or are they in some way relative, e.g. dependent on a cultural context? Do they have an absolute basis, e.g. divine revelation, or pure reason? Or is ethics based on consensus, e.g. because of shared interests and preferences? What is the true basis of prohibitions against murder, theft, and adultery. Is it because God said so? Or it is because nobody wants to be murdered, and people therefore quickly reached consensus on this matter, and decided that murder is wrong?
Another issue arises whether the existing consensus or social contract can be wrong. E.g. three centuries ago there was consensus about witchcraft being wrong, and slavery being right. Horrible things were done under that consensus, and it took great courage to go against the grain. So this raises epistemological issues: how do we know what is wright or wrong? How much authority should an existing ethical consensus have?
I will conclude my ramblings here for others to comment upon.
Jonathan Turley has posted on why Mrs. OB and I are glad we only stayed in Massachusetts a year or so after child No. 1 was born. Selected passages from his post today are below:
The Red Scarf Girl: The Fight Over Parental Rights Just Got Primal – JONATHAN TURLEY
In Foote v. Feliciano, Marissa Silvestri and Stephen Foote sued Baird Middle School in Ludlow, Massachusetts, after they learned that school administrators did not inform them that their 11-year-old child had self-declared as “genderqueer” and that teachers and staff were using a new name and new pronouns for the student.
The district court in Massachusetts denied the parents a trial and granted a summary dismissal in favor of the schools.
A panel of three federal judges agreed and rejected any due process claim of parents to be informed, let alone to control, such decisions for an 11-year-old child.
In a truly Orwellian line, the judges declared, “As per our understanding of Supreme Court precedent, our pluralistic society assigns those curricular and administrative decisions to the expertise of school officials, charged with the responsibility of educating children.”
Most of us must have missed that memo.
My question, again: What is wrong with these people?
I respected Alan Simpson and wanted to note his passing. Rest in Peace sir.
https://apnews.com/article/senator-alan-simpson-dies-faf4826aba710283e4f4e6581082a41f
A minister was caught in an affair. He was removed from is position and remained quiet for quite awhile about it (he and others claimed he was told to do so). He released his apology. Where does it fall on the apology scale?
“It is with a shattered heart that I write this letter. I have sinned grievously against the Lord, against my wife, my family, and against countless numbers of you by having a sinful relationship with a woman not my wife. I am deeply broken that I have betrayed and deceived my wife, devastated my children, brought shame to the name of Christ, reproach upon His church, and harm to many ministries.
You may wonder why I have been silent and largely invisible since the news of my sin became known. I have needed the time to search my own soul to determine that my repentance is real.
I alone am responsible for my sin. I have confessed my sin to the Lord, to my wife, and my family, and have repented of it. I have spent the past months searching my heart to discover the roots of my sin and mortifying them by the grace of God. I hate my sin, weep over my sin, and have turned from it.
My sin carries enormous consequences, and I will be living with those for the rest of my life. Over the years, many have looked to me for spiritual guidance, and I have failed you. I beg for your forgiveness.
I have been undergoing extensive counseling for the last five months to face the hard questions I need to address. I have dealt with sin issues that have been painfully exposed in my heart. I have submitted myself in weekly accountability to two pastors and to the elders of a local congregation, who have shepherded my soul. I am also under the oversight of an accountability team who monitor my progress and give me wise counsel in the decisions I have to make.
I am growing in grace, reading and absorbing the Word of God, putting it into practice, praying, and meeting with other believers. I am involved in the life of the church, attending and participating in prayer meetings, Sunday school, the worship service, and taking communion weekly. I am being fed the Word in the mid-week Bible study. Please pray for my spiritual growth into Christlikeness as I follow Him moment by moment during this recovery season.
I am grateful for the unmerited grace of God in the gospel to extend His full forgiveness to me. Again, I ask for your forgiveness as well.
While I continue to do the hard work of soul-searching repentance, I do not intend to make further public comments for the foreseeable future.
Please pray for the Lord’s mercy and grace as I seek to make right the deeply wrong sins I have committed against my wife and family, and that in His time and way He will bring about redemption and restoration in our marriage, for His glory.
Steven Lawson”
I think this is a 2 or a 7. I am uneasy with the ‘accountability team’. If this is a thing that church does, this is fine, but it suggests that we should feel good that he has a whole ‘team’ of people to keep him on the straight and narrow. I don’t know which of the two is true. As pointed out, he does not apologize to his affair partner or her family. That person was a Master’s student at the school where he was a professor.
Others have stated that he realizes that he is permanently disqualified for church leadership and teaching and is looking for secular employment. That is going to me my indication as to whether this is a 2 or 7. He didn’t state that he is permanently disqualified for church leadership and teaching, but if he does, I will assume it is 2. If he tries to regain a position in the church or in teaching, I will assume 7.
Michael,
I wondered if this particular issue would reach these pages. I have followed Lawson’s teaching for years, was generally impressed with his messages, and was deeply saddened to hear about this last fall.
I approve of the accountability group. James 5:16 in the Bible immediately comes to mind as a reference that seems to endorse the practice. The verse in Proverbs that reads (not an exact quote) “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” also seems to lend support.
I think his apology is pretty solid, though I might have a bias because of my familiarity with him.
Joel, my issue wasn’t having a group of people to help you to stay the path, it was that it was phrased in such a way that it sounded like “I hired a bunch of people to keep me from sinning”. That is why I said if the ‘accountability group’ is something their church regularly did, I didn’t have a problem with it. I just didn’t know.
I hope his apology is sincere. I think the pull of ministry and church leadership will be a more potent snare for him than that of women. If he is still married, I think his wife will make sure of it.
It’s too long! WAY too long.
My apologies. I read your thoughts a little too quickly, so I missed that vital piece. Our church sets up accountability partners (groups) for those that want them. And I agree…the desire to preach/lead a congregation will be strong. That should probably be prevented, but I’m curious about leading a future small group/Bible study. Do you think he’s disqualified from that role?
If I were him, I would stay away from any roles except service. He is high-profile enough that he is actually a leader in whatever he chooses now. He will set the tone for what is appropriate in many people’s eyes. He should find a secular job and become a good servant in his church. A lower-profile minister maybe could go to another church and lead a Sunday school or small group (or a support group), but I think he is too high-profile. I think he can best ‘lead’ by serving. I agree that he has so much knowledge and experience that this may seem a waste, but he is the one that wasted it for, as he said, ’20 seconds of gratification’.
I think that’s a great response. Thanks!
Reads like it was 95% written by Chat GPT.
Here is a news article about another influencer.
https://soc.culture.israel.narkive.com/kXHhfPqL/extreme-eater-famed-for-mukbang-videos-showing-himself-gorging-on-food-dies-aged-24-after-weeks-in
A morbidly obese TikToker known for sharing videos of himself
binge-eating has died aged 24 of weight-related health problems.
Efecan Kultur, who boasted 155,000 followers on TikTok, was well known
in his native Turkey as a ‘mukbang’ streamer.
Mukbang is a type of online broadcast where a content creator will
consume varying amounts of food while chatting to the audience. It has
become a global trend since the mid-2010s.
Efecan, who died on Friday March 7, had been hospitalised since December
2024 due to health problems as a result of being overweight.
He could no longer stand up and suffered breathing problems as well as
constant bruising due to his size, which triggered mobility issues.
Bedridden and unable to breathe without a machine, he was even unable to
visit his mother’s grave after she reportedly died one year ago.
Efecan was allowed to continue his treatment at home, where he
ultimately passed away.
His funeral was held at the Celaliye Mosque in the Buyukcekmece Celaliye
Neighbourhood, in Istanbul province, before his body was buried in the
Silivri Gumusyaka Cemetery.
Medical Ethics!
I decided to lose weight. I’ve been taking Ozyempic for three months, and lost 40 pounds, from 320 to 280. My blood pressure normalized for like… The first time in my adult life. Ozyempic is technically a diabetes medication, but it’s being prescribed off-label as an appetite suppressant. Unfortunately, because it’s being prescribed off-label, most insurers won’t cover it, and depending on doses, it can be pricey. $250/month in Canada, and $1000/month in America. These are… Amazingly effective. Semiglutides have been around for decades. We know the side-effects of them. There are no serious ones. People shed literal people’s-worth of weight on them. It’s probably, legitimately, one of the best things on the market. If you’re obese, you should probably be on it, ask your doctor.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the FDA has deemed that there was a shortage of semiglutides (of which Ozyempic is one) and that meant that compounding pharmacies could make their own by buying cheap peptides out of China and mixing them in house, lowering the price to $200/month for Americans. But now that there are literal millions of people on Semiglutides, the FDA has announced that as of April, production caught up and there is no longer a shortage, meaning that the price of the drug for the average patient is going to increase 500% in America.
ACX did a great write up on this, here.
Two choice quotes:
“Some people are stocking up. GLP-1 drugs keep pretty well in a fridge for at least a year. If you sign up for four GLP-1 telehealth compounding companies simultaneously and order three months from each, then you can get twelve months of medication. Maybe in twelve months the FDA will change their mind, or the pharmacies’ insane legal strategies will pay off, or Trump will invade Denmark over Greenland and seize the Novo Nordisk patents as spoils of war, or someone will finally figure out a diet that works.
Others are turning amateur chemist. You can order GLP-1 peptides from China for cheap. Once you have the peptide, all you have to do is put it in the right amount of bacteriostatic water. In theory this is no harder than any other mix-powder-with-water task. But this time if you do anything wrong, or are insufficiently clean, you can give yourself a horrible infection, or inactivate the drug, or accidentally take 100x too much of the drug and end up with negative weight and float up into the sky and be lost forever. ACX cannot in good conscience recommend this cheap, common, and awesome solution.”
And:
“But overall, I think the past two years have been a fun experiment in semi-free-market medicine. I don’t mean the patent violations – it’s no surprise that you can sell drugs cheap if you violate the patent – I mean everything else. For the past three years, ~2 million people have taken complex peptides provided direct-to-consumer by a less-regulated supply chain, with barely a fig leaf of medical oversight, and it went great. There were no more side effects than any other medication. People who wanted to lose weight lost weight. And patients had a more convenient time than if they’d had to wait for the official supply chain to meet demand, get a real doctor, spend thousands of dollars on doctors’ visits, apply for insurance coverage, and go to a pharmacy every few weeks to pick up their next prescription. Now pharma companies have noticed and are working on patent-compliant versions of the same idea. Hopefully there will be more creative business models like this one in the future.”
So… Issues.
(1 and 2) This is a result of our regulatory bodies working as intended, not a failure. They are charging $1000/month here because they have no competition, which is largely the result of our incredibly expensive and extensive regulations. This should be off-patent and suitable for generic production, but I am guessing no one is doing that due to the regulatory issues?
(3) I really don’t feel good about people doing this. These drugs have serious side effects and just because you successfully synthesized the compound doesn’t mean that you removed a sufficient amount of the toxic by-products. Remember, the problem with Agent Orange wasn’t the 2,4 D, it was the undetectable (at the time) amount of a by-product that caused cancer.
(Extra) Using this for weight loss worries me greatly. It was never studied for that and the reports I have seen suggest the weight-loss effect is due to the drug causing the thyroid gland to become hyperactive. There is also the blindness side-effect.
Aren’t there instances of damage to the large intestine over time? I use Miralax as an appetite suppressant.
I don’t think so… If you have something to read, I’d do it. My understanding is that most of the serious problems relate to low-blood sugar over extended periods of time, which isn’t often a problem for people with a functioning pancreas…. But I’m not a doctor.
I just remember reading something about how it constricts the large intestine (thereby making people feel full), but the constriction can become permanent and detrimental.
Glad it’s working for you. That’s great.
I suspect a lot of people with significant weight problems also have high blood sugar, and wouldn’t have issues with side effects if that’s the primary cause of them. I can forsee issues with obsessive dieters though.
I was prescribed Ozempic (diabetic), but can’t afford it even with partial insurance coverage. I was starting to look into the compounding pharmacy route, but the price there was still more than I can easily swing each month ($200 a month is still a little much for me, but better than the 300/month I’d get with insurance) and it looks like it’s going to be moot shortly.
I wish we had an actual free market medical system, instead of the worst of both worlds option the USA currently has. Highly regulated with artificially restricted supply and boosted demand, but the patient ultimately has to pay with horrendous billing practices. When the hospital takes me down the hall to get an xray, I should NOT receive a separate bill from a radiology company that happens to operate out of the hospital. The surgery center of oklahoma has demonstrated that actual market based reforms can be far cheaper than what we have now.
Also, what’s the long game? Is the plan for people to just stay on semiglutides for the rest of their lives? I know that losing a lot of weight can go a LONG way toward allowing people to make lifestyle changes (eye-opener for me was doing my first run with a weighted vest and feeling the difference on my knees with just another 25 lbs on my shoulders) but it obviously won’t change their lifestyles for them. I’d imagine a majority of people would quickly gain the weight back when they stop taking their medications.
Results vary. Most people get heavier with age and getting to their current weight has been a years-long journey. If they drop 80 pounds, it’d probably take them those same years to build it back up.
But why bother? People take all kinds of medication for the rest of their lives. Why not this?
“They are charging $1000/month here because they have no competition, which is largely the result of our incredibly expensive and extensive regulations.”
I don’t see how this could be true, again, compounding pharmacies in America were able to import peptides and mix their own at a fifth the cost, and it retails for a quarter the cost in Canada.
The reality here is that the only reason they can charge as much as they do it because they have the patent. And I think it’s irresponsible to simultaneously give someone a monopoly via patent and not regulate price at all… Why not $10,000 a month? Why not a hundred million dollars? It’s not about providing value, or competing, it’s about squeezing as much money as they can out of the market while the patents are valid.
“This should be off-patent and suitable for generic production, but I am guessing no one is doing that due to the regulatory issues?”
Nope, patent is good until 2036.
“just because you successfully synthesized the compound doesn’t mean that you removed a sufficient amount of the toxic by-products. Remember, the problem with Agent Orange wasn’t the 2,4 D, it was the undetectable (at the time) amount of a by-product that caused cancer.”
There are no toxic by-products… There are no by-products You’re mixing a peptide with a bacteriostatic (sterile) fluid so they can be injected. I don’t think comparing a Pesticide/Herbicide to a Semiglutide is a serious commentary. Again… Semiglutides have been approved by the FDA and prescribed at current doses for literally longer than I’ve been alive.
“Using this for weight loss worries me greatly. It was never studied for that and the reports I have seen suggest the weight-loss effect is due to the drug causing the thyroid gland to become hyperactive. There is also the blindness side-effect.”
That’s…. Novel. Could you cite that? Because while there’s discussions about a possible link to thyroid tumors (in extremely marginal numbers) the function of semiglutides isn’t a mystery: They mimic a naturally occurring hormone that assists with insulin production, which reduces the amount of sugar released by the liver, which slows down digestion and acts as an appetite suppressant. This makes you less hungry, and you eat less.
People are addicts to carbohydrates. If you simply spend 3 months gritting your teeth and eating 80/20 ground beef with the fat, your body will fat adapt and you will be free from carb addiction…. and bonus your body will melt the fat away… no need to be a carb addict dependent on predatory big pharma…. though YMMV but not by much.
The fundamental ethics guilt is on the addict and the culture at large that believes in big pharma.
“Are we willing to admit that American pharmaceutical companies are gouging the living bejesus out of people yet?” It’s not gouging if there are much less and more effective ways to solve the problem which dont’ cause bone and muscle loss but the exact opposite… better bones, better muscle, less fat and better arteries. MAHA!
This sounds like you get medical information from magazines that advertise healing crystals.
Not only do high-protein, low carb diets not work for everyone, they have no long term staying power the moment you go off them, and they’re not all they’re crack out to be healthwise… Constantly being in a state of ketosis deprives you of a base level of necessary carbs, which literally kills braincells.
More, if it were as simple as you say it is, people would… y’know…. do it. Right now, millions of Americans are shelling out thousands of dollars to stab themselves weekly with peptide shots, because those are *actually* simple and effective.
Ethical Issue: Responsibility for Aging Parents.
Yes, I’ve been riveted by the awful circumstances surrounding the death of Gene Hackman which now appears to have been somewhat preventable…if anyone around him had thought about the possibility that his caregiver might die first.
Just as before the revelations confirming that Hackman died of severe heart disease a week after his wife died of hantavirus, I have more questions than answers.
To recap: Legendary 95-year old actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their home on 2/27. Their bodies were in separate rooms, there was no sign of foul play, they showed evidence of having been dead for some time and one of their dogs – shut in a crate – was dead, as well.
At first, it was thought that a gas leak might have caused the deaths of all three due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Hackman’s daughter appeared to believe that. It seemed a reasonable assumption when two adults are found dead, along with an animal. And, after all, she maintained her father was in very good health.
But carbon monoxide was ruled out. Then came the news that, although she considered her relationship with her father to be a close one, Hackman’s daughter hadn’t spoken to him in two months. This was surprising as Hackman’s birthday was 1/30. A daughter close to her father doesn’t call him on his birthday?
She is only one of Hackman’s three children. There is also at least one granddaughter.
The police finally announced the following a week ago: Hackman’s wife, Betsey, was out and about on 2/9. She was seen on security cameras at stores. She used the remote to get into the gated community. She sent a message to her massage therapist.
Then nothing.
What appears to have happened is this. Betsey had hantavirus – a serious illness with a 38-50% fatality rate – which is typified by flu-like symptoms. I would bet that she thought she had the flu or one of any number of conditions common this time of year and which have been floating all over the place for a couple of months now. She also appears to have been Gene’s primary, if not sole, caregiver. So, she may have decided she could handle this with OTC medications and keep looking after Gene.
But she died instead. The dog, having just had a procedure at the vet, was in the crate to recover. The poor thing either died of lack of medication or lack of food/water.
But Gene didn’t call 911.
It turns out that the autopsy showed advanced Alzheimer’s Disease. I repeat…the autopsy showed it.
Did Hackman’s children not know he had Alzheimer’s? Why would that have to have been revealed by the autopsy? Wouldn’t they tell the police? Is this why he hadn’t heard from his kids in a couple of months? Because he couldn’t remember them? Did his wife hide this frailty from them, thinking she could handle his care herself? Did she keep the kids from having much contact with him?
It now appears that Hackman may have puttered around the house for a week after his wife’s death, possibly having no idea she was dead. He may not have been cognitively capable of calling for help. With no one to give him his medication or food, his already fragile health deteriorated rapidly before he died on or around 2/18.
So very preventable.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/theres-1-thing-no-one-120043517.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
I’ve actually been thinking exactly what this writer had for the last week.
“I don’t say this lightly, but if Gene Hackman had a shared emergency plan or even something as simple as an automated weekly check-in system, he might have been found much sooner. Someone could have stepped in.”
Why was there seemingly no contingency plan to help Hackman if something were to happen to his wife? I know they couldn’t have predicted hantavirus, but anyone of any age can be killed in an accident. It couldn’t possibly be for lack of money. Was there no housekeeper? No Life Alert? No regular contact with someone on the outside of the house? The vet admitted this week that Betsey’s failure to pick up medication for the dog was a red flag to them that something was wrong. Yet, they did nothing? Did no one call or try to get ahold of her or Gene for two weeks?
My grandmother will be 95 in September. The same age as Gene Hackman, she has congestive heart failure (she uses an oxygen tank at night) and kidney problems. Otherwise, she has a full life. She lives alone. She goes to church – a couple picks her up. My Dad takes her to the hair stylist and does other things around the house. My aunt stays one night a week at her place. She calls my other aunt once a week. I call her every other week. There is someone in contact with her several times per week. She has a life alert device.
You see, that’s what families do for their loved ones. It’s what will keep my Grandma from dying after wandering around her house for days without food or medication only for her body to be found a week later.
Great post, and something a lot of us have been thinking about. (Why I just found it stuck in spam, I do not know.)
Probably because of the link.
Right.