In Chicago, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson will be running for re-election against…Jesse L. Jackson, a political novice. Why is he–that is, Jesse #2—running? Obviously, he hopes to confuse enough voters to steal an election, and I do mean steal. When a candidate intentionally seeks to capitalize on voter apathy and ignorance, that is dishonest, unfair and cynical. The Chicago Congressional election is a blatant example, but not the only one, or even the most egregious. For in Massachusetts, the critical special election for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy may well be decided by a block of civic slackers and fools who think that Independent candidate Joseph Kennedy is from the same family that gave us Jack, Bobby, Ted, Abraham, Martin and John…wait a minute, I got carried away there. Just the first three. Continue reading
History
Ethics Hero Emeritus: Miep Gies, 1909-2010
Miep Gies, the last surviving participant in the inspiring story of Anne Frank, died last week, a month short of her 101st birthday.
One of the most important objectives of thinking about ethics, and challenging ourselves to find the most ethical courses in the dilemmas and conflicts we read and hear about every day, is to be ready if and when a time comes when lives depend on our ability to determine the right thing to do, and to have the courage do it. I have no idea how much or how often Miep Gies thought about ethics. But when her time came, she was ready. Continue reading
Steele, Reid, and “Tit-for-Tat” Ethics
Nobody will believe it on Capitol Hill, but the fact that someone did something unfair to you doesn’t make it right for you to do the same thing to them. Is it possible all of none of our elected leaders were taught that two wrongs don’t make a right? Continue reading
The Titanic Principle and the Ethics of Helping the Desperate
A disturbing aspect of the Titanic disaster was that most of the lifeboats refused to pick up survivors in the water, the boat leaders fearing that the desperate swimmers would swamp the boats. I look on this sad incident as illustrating the problem of helping people in desperate need. How much risk and hardship should a potential rescuer be ready and willing to endure? Continue reading
F.D.R.’s Irresponsible Deception
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reputation is at an all-time high these days, thanks to reflections on his handling of The Great Depression prompted by our current financial mess. But looking at F.D.R.’s record risks ethics whiplash, as a new book again reminds us. Continue reading
Reverse the Curse of Norman Mineta
The aftermath of the failed underwear bomber has profiling up for debate again, with all the predictable participants taking their predictable stances. Meanwhile, the U.S. has finally crossed the divide into a form of profiling, designating travelers from specific hotbeds of terrorist activity as subject to a “full-body pat down.” Over on the “Newt Gingrich Letter at Human Events.com, Newt Gingrich proclaims that “it’s time to profile.”
Gingrich is wrong. It has been time to profile for nine years. Continue reading
Ethics Hero Emeritus: Lester Rodney (1911-2009)
There are so many people who escape our notice despite great deeds and remarkable lives. One of those who had escaped mine was Lester Rodney, who died this week. He was an Ethics Hero. He was also an American Communist. Continue reading
JFK the Philanderer: What Does It Mean?
Honest, I’m not picking on the Kennedy’s. That this surfaced today is a coincidence. But if you cross Ted Kennedy and Tiger Woods, you get Jack Kennedy, and what should appear on the web this morning but a surprising photograph:
TMZ, the celebrity trash website that likes to publish paparazzi photos of supermodels with spinach between their teeth, has a genuine scoop: it has gotten its cyber-hands on a photograph that appears to show a bevy of naked women frolicking on a yacht as a young Senator Jack Kennedy lounges nearby. [UPDATE: As explained by The Smoking Gun here, and discussed in a later Ethics Alarms post here, the photo was a hoax. The ethical issues raised by it and discussed below are still valid, however.] Continue reading
The Wrong Lesson from Tiger’s Fall
So that’s the lesson, is it?
As the year end lists almost unanimously “award” Tiger Woods the distinction of engineering the Scandal of the Year, pundits also seem to be nearing consensus on the lesson we should take from the golfer’s fall, which is: “Don’t make athletes and celebrities your role models or heroes. They are human beings like everyone else, and are guaranteed to disappoint you.”
Oh, I see…it’s all our fault. Continue reading
Remembering Ted Kennedy Fairly
Today, on the Sunday before the new year, the New York Times Magazine has its annual issue of brief profiles of famous, important, and not-so-famous-but-still-important people who breathed their last in the past twelve months. It is always a fascinating collection; for me, the exercise is a slap in the face, focusing my wandering attention upon how many remarkable lives and achievements have escaped my awareness and proper appreciation—and this is only a small, random collection. The last of the profiles, however, was about a life I knew a lot about: Ted Kennedy. In my view, the piece fails an ethical imperative. It doesn’t mention Mary-Jo Kopechne. Continue reading
Ethics Alarms 