U.S. Society

Ethics Quiz: Positive Devlopment Or Slippery Slope?

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

This ad will run on the NBC Golden Globes Award broadcast:

A similar commercial had previously been rejected by ABC.

Cowabunga! Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day:.

Is presenting this commercial on a prime time broadcast network a positive development for society?

Or, in the alternative, is it feminist grandstanding by NBC? Will it inevitably lead to graphic male enhancement ads?  If women can be topless in this commercial, on what basis will anyone be able to argue that breast-bearing shouldn’t be routine in entertainment programming?

Friday Free-For-All: Open Forum

/ Jack Marshall / 52 Comments

battle-marvel

Boy, that seven days went fast.

I would be having an open forum now even if we didn’t do this every Friday, because I’m Zooming and ethics seminar to New Jersey lawyers this morning.

Other Bill, esteemed commenter, wrote earlier this week:

“So many people in the commentariat so well versed on so many topics. Impressive and enjoyable. Graduate level discussions of all sorts of things.“

That’s very true, and I’m proud of it. I may even stop worrying about the fall-off in traffic here this month. When the quality of participation is this high, it doesn’t matter.

Tuesday Ethics Torture, 2/23/21: Stevey’s Going, Peter Suprises, Ian Shrugs, And California Dictates…

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

Torture of Brinvilliers, 17th Century

I spent a half-hour searching for ethics stories that made me feel good. All I found was more sources of gloom and depression. I have a headache, and no matter how many times I play, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart!,” it doesn’t male me want to laugh, gambol and frolic….

1. Normally the baseball season’s impending approach would cheer me up, as it has for more than 50 years (and that’s another damn thing—I can’t possibly be that old), and this time, nothing. It’s like I’m dead inside. The twin curses of the Boston Red Sox pandering to Black Lives Matter and the team’s rehiring of a proven, and as far as I can see, unrepentant cheater as manager have apparent sucked all of the joy out of what has been a lifetime passion. Now I’m bothered more by the flaws that once I would have shrugged off, like this one: Ian Desmond, a 35-year-old outfielder with the Colorado Rockies, has “opted out” of playing for the second straight season.

“For now, I’ve decided to opt out of the 2021 season,” Desmond wrote on Instagram. “My desire to be with my family is greater than my desire to go back and play baseball under these circumstances. I’m going to continue to train and watch how things unfold.” Between the two seasons, the player has now walked away from a combined $13.56 million. He was owed $8 million this year and was set to make $5.56 million of his prorated $15 million salary last season, though the Rockies have a $2 million buyout for 2022.

Desmond, 35, hit .255 with 20 homers in 140 games in 2019. He’s not special. Yet he has made so much money in a slightly above average career that he can afford to toss away millions of dollars. An industry that pays its workers so much that they have no financial incentive to work makes no sense, and any team that would keep a player like Desmond, whose attitude is, “Eh, I don’t feel like playing baseball…maybe later,” is foolish. He’s healthy, relatively young, and his risks of serious health problems from the Wuhan virus are slim: my grocery store clerks face greater risks by far. Yechhh.

2. Slippery Slope Warning! The slippery slope is both a phenomenon and a fallacy, as when someone objects to something benign by arguing that it creates a theoretical slippery slope that is not benign. Of late however, the assault of the Woke has made slippery sloping a national pastime, particularly involving slopes that lead governments to dictate all manner of conduct that should be none of its damn business.

For example, in California, good little brain-washers Evan Low and Cristina Garcia introduced Assembly Bill 1084 to require gender neutral retail departments. The bill would add Part 2.57 (commencing with Section 55.7) to Division 1 of the Civil Code, to be titled “Gender Neutral Retail Departments.” The bill would enact a regulation based on “legislative findings” that there are unjustified differences in similar products traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys. Thus the bill, on the theory that it will be easier on the consumer if similar items are displayed closer to one another in one, undivided area of the retail sales floor, mandates eliminating gender distinctions in clothing sales. In addition, keeping similar items that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys separated incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate, the bill claims/

Ah! Illegal implication. Can’t have that!

I would assume that even an idiot could see that this is government indoctrination and has zero to do with serving consumers. If a retail company chooses to market clothing as unisex, they should go for it, but it is not the role of government to dictate how merchandise is displayed.

California is a contagious carrier of terrible and infectious ideas. The other states should be wearing big masks…

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From The “If You Judge Donald Trump By The Character Of His Enemies, He Looks Surprisingly Good!” Files: Mayor De Blasio’s Ice Follies

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

ice rinks

How did this utter jerk get elected mayor twice? How did he have the gall to run for President?

It was announced that two popular ice skating rinks in New York City’s Central Park, both managed by the Trump Organization,were being closed this week by New York City. The reason was widely understood to be in order to give a metaphorical middle finger to the ex-President. The rink contracts had been set to expire in April, but de Blasio decided to end the contracts on February 26. Previously, the New York Post had revealed that on January 31, when announcing the concession terminations for Wollman Rink, Lasker Rink, the Central Park Carousel and Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx, a de Blasio spokesman said, “Trump has been impeached from operating the ice rink.”

Ha ha ha! What assholes.

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A Culture That Regards “The Muppet Show” As Offensive Is A Culture Without Humor, Nuance, Or Proportion. Thanks, Disney!

/ Jack Marshall / 30 Comments

Muppets

Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, made episodes of “The Muppet Show” available to subscribers last week, and attached the disclaimer:

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”

This alone will prevent me from ever considering a subscription to Disney+. How many negative descriptions apply to that disclaimer, in addition to the obvious “stupid”? Shameless woke virtue-signaling? Cowardly betrayal of a genius’s art? Grandstanding to curry favor with our new censorious and fascist Masters of the Left? Utter crapola?

Let’s see:

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George Washington’s Birthday Ethics Warm-Up, 2/22/21: Happy Birthday, George! We’re Sorry Your Country Has Become Populated With So Many Ignorant, Ungrateful Fools…

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

portrait_of_george_washington

If there is any American whose birthday should be a national holiday, it is George Washington, born this day in 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. If I have to tell you the reasons he was “the essential man” in American history, well, I guess you’re the product of our current public school system, a recent college graduate, a Democrat, a Black Lives Matter enthusiast, or something. There is no rational excuse for every American, yes, even African-Americans, to not be grateful for this day. Martin Luther King is now the only individual to have a national holiday dedicated to his honor, while Washington’s memory was dumped into a hodge-podge of lesser figures including Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and now, Donald Trump. King is worthy of his day, but to honor King over Washington is as good an example of “putting the cart before the horse” as one could find. Shame on us. True, George is not lacking honors, with the capital city named for him, a towering monument, cities and towns in many states, Mt. Rushmore, and his image on both the most-used bill and coin. Nonetheless he earned all of it, and this date should be a holiday.

On The Ethics Alarms home page, you will see to your right a link to the list of ethical habits some historians believe made Washington the remarkably trustworthy and ethical man he was, ultimately leading his fellow Founders to choose him, and not one the many more brilliant, learned and accomplished among them, to take on the crucial challenge of creating the American Presidency. Directed to do so by his father, young Washington copied out by hand and committed to memory a list called “110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.”  It was  based on a document compiled by French Jesuits in 1595; neither the authors nor the English translator and adapter are known today. The elder Washington was following the teachings of Aristotle—another Dead White Man whom most Americans alive today couldn’t tell you Jack S-word about— who held that principles and values began as being externally imposed by authority (morals) and eventually became internalized as character. As I wrote when I first posted them here,

The theory certainly worked with George Washington. Those ethics alarms installed by his father stayed in working order throughout his life. It was said that Washington was known to quote the rules when appropriate, and never forgot them. They did not teach him to be a gifted leader he became, but they helped to make him a trustworthy one.

Would that readers would access that list more often. And politicians. And lawyers. And educators…

1. How ignorant and ungrateful? THIS ignorant and ungrateful…

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Ethics Hero: Jodi Shaw

/ Jack Marshall / 13 Comments

Jody Shaw

Instead of apologizing, instead of prostrating herself and her principles to remains in good graces within an oppressive culture, Jodi Shaw sounded an alarm instead. Now she needs our support, but more than that, she must be seen as a role model for anyone else, of any political stripe or ideological tilt, who believes in the values the United States was founded to nurture.

Shaw has courage. Courage is what is desperately needed, and as has been written here too often already, it is what has so far been lacking.

I first wrote about Shaw, then a Smith College administrator, last December. Shaw, had criticized the college’s critical race theory-based “sensitivity training” required of all staff members and posted her own YouTube videos on the issue. The president of Smith College, Kathleen McCartney, issued a formal statement against Shaw that said in part:

This past week, an employee of the college posted a personal video to express their concerns about the college’s programming to promote racial justice….This employee does not speak for the college or any part of the college. Further, we believe the video mischaracterizes the college’s important, ongoing efforts to build a more equitable and inclusive living, learning and working environment.

You should know that the employee has not violated any college policies by sharing their personal views on a personal channel. The National Labor Relations Act protects employees who engage in concerted activities, including speech, with respect to workplace conditions. All members of any workplace, including Smith College, have the freedom to criticize the policies and practices of their employer.

Nevertheless, I am writing to affirm that the President’s Cabinet and I believe we have a moral responsibility to promote racial justice, equity and inclusion at Smith College. To the people of color in our community, please know our commitment is steadfast. And especially to our students of color, please know we are here for you always.

I learned about the latest chapter in Shaw’s ordeal from another Ethics Hero, Bari Weiss. who resigned as the staff editor for the opinion section of the The New York Times with a searing letter revealing the cultural oppression faced by anyone on that staff who did not conform to the mandatory progressive cant. I wrote at the time, in July of last year, “Maybe Weiss’s bold and unquestionably true letter is the metaphorical slap in the face of the mainstream media that will make journalists realize that they have squandered their credibility.” Boy, I’m a gullible Pollyanna sometimes! The Times has, if anything, gotten worse, and the Left’s institutions have become, if anything, more brazen in their efforts to punish and crush dissenters. But Weiss, like other refugees from the ideological purges like Glenn Greenwald, now has a platform at substack, where you can subscribe to support the rebels. I think of it as the metaphorical hills of Greece, where my relatives waged guerilla war on the invading Nazis in WWII while trying to protect the cradle of Western thought and philosophy.

Weiss introduces Jodi and her moment of truth by writing in part,

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End Of Week Ethics, 12/19/21

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

jackheadexplosion

Much thanks and admiration to reader and commenter Steve Witherspoon, who created the Jack Kaboom! GIF above from my “Simpson’s” self-portrait. I promise not to over-use it, though the temptation will be great.

1. Some more thoughts on Rush Limbaugh...A. Upon reflection, I have been persuaded by readers Humble Talent and others that I was too dismissive of Limbaugh’s calculated cruelty. In particular, his infamous mocking of Chelsea Clinton’s appearance was signature significance, and the product of pure anti-Clinton hate. People with functioning ethics alarms don’t do that, not even once.

He was still a transformative figure, and on balance a positive one, except for those who think the United States would be better off having all of its news and commentary filtered through progressive biases, and for the public to be unaware of that was happening. Rush fixed the second problem, and reduced the power of mainstream media. The first problem’s solution is a work in progress. B. Another example of Rush’s “cruelty,” cited often yesterday, was his mockery of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Disease spasms and tics while he testified before Congress in support of research for the disease. He was roundly condemned for implying that Fox exaggerated the symptoms of the disease for dramatic effect. Fox, however, eventually explained that he hadn’t taken his medication before testifying. The symptoms weren’t faked, he said, but the extreme exhibition of them were deliberate, for obvious reasons. Rush was correct. It was just considered politically incorrect to call attention to Fox’s (reasonable and smart) tactic. B. I just saw yesterday’s print version of the Times. I’s headline on Rush: “Agitator Who Made Talk Radio A Right-Wing Attack Machine.” No, mainstream media coverage was not “mostly positive.” The first sentence: “Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing radio megastar whose slashing, divisive style of mockery and grievance reshaped American conservatism, denigrating Democrats, environmentalists, “feminazis” (his term) and other liberals while presaging the rise of Donald J. Trump, died on Wednesday at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 70.”

C. Ah yes, “feminazis.” They’ll never forgive him for that. It was catchier than “feminist fascists,” which was and is a real group, and an influential one. It is also a group, like the Nazis, that has targeted a group of human beings that they think should be exterminated without justice or compassion. The Left will never forgive Limbaugh for that label, because it rings true, and it burns. And should.

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Snow Day Ethics Warm-Up, 2/18/21: Dissing Shakespeare, Limbaugh, And Merit

/ Jack Marshall / 22 Comments

statue-of-william-shakespeare-central-park-new-york-city

I like snow. I like looking at it and driving in it. My dog likes eating it (so did my sister). In Washington, D.C., they think it’s radioactive, or something. Poor, deluded fools!

1. Well, you just lost THAT subscription, Craig. As the baseball season approaches, I’ve been considering subscribing to the baseball newsletter of former NBC Sports baseball writer (and recovering lawyer) Craig Calcaterra, who is approximately 4X smarter and funnier than the average sportswriter, and more astute than all but the very best. Craig quit, or was fired or something from his job at NBC and is now with the rest of the exiles at substack. My willingness to forgive and forget baseball’s revolting pandering to Black Lives Matter last season is still in doubt, so Craig’s newsletter, which he sends out free now and then to those who have expressed an interest in subscribing, was a luxury whose viability was hanging by a thread already. Then today I got one of his free editions, and Craig indulged his worst instincts (he is social justice warrior of the smuggest sort) were given free reign. In a missive that is supposed to be about baseball, I had to read a screed like this (I’ll spare you most of it):

For the past couple of days I’ve written about how right wing media has poisoned political discourse, mainstreamed fringe beliefs, laundered lies, and radicalized a large swath of Americans. The man who is arguably most responsible for that died yesterday. Good fucking riddance to Rush fucking Limbaugh.Limbaugh was a berserker of hate, spinning off vile, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and xenophobic attacks faster than could be chronicled… He reveled in spreading lies, punching down, directing cruelty at the most vulnerable targets, and voicing support for criminals and conspiracy theorists. He elevated and normalized bigotry and ignorance and gave others license to do the same….To the extent you have parents, grandparents, neighbors, college buddies, or coworkers hopelessly lost in that malignant vortex of idiocy, to the extent you know people who believe in harmful and violence-inspiring conspiracy theories and who remain beyond the reach of fact or reason, and to the extent anyone you know takes pride in offensive and obnoxious behavior because, to them, it’s all about triggering the libs, Limbaugh and everything he stood for is very much to blame….

And so on. I don’t really care about the political views of sports writers and pundits who stick to their areas of expertise: one of the best and most enjoyable baseball analysts was Keith Olbermann. But Craig here displays poor judgment and out-of-control bias: that’s essentially 100% Left-wing anti-Rush propaganda by someone who obviously didn’t listen to him enough to make those kinds of pronouncements. Nor does it have anything to do with baseball.

I’ll defend to the death his right to write junk like that, but I’m sure not going to pay for it.

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