“No Questions Asked” Ethics

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

Kwame Anthony Appiah, the long-running most recent occupant of the NYT’s “Ethicist” throne, received what I initially thought was one of the dumbest inquiries ever last week. After thinking about it, I decided that it was a good ethics quiz after all.

A man’s son had his mountain bike stolen, and the father issued a notice that there would be a $500 reward for its return, “No questions asked.” The tale continued,

“To my surprise, I got a response from someone, and we set a time to meet. Then I became worried that I was being set up to be robbed. So I called my son. Next thing I knew there were six hulking 20-somethings tagging along with me in my minivan. At the agreed-upon meeting spot, the guy appeared with my bike in hand. …while I’m looking the bike over, they said, in no uncertain terms, that it was not necessary for me to pay for the bike. The guy looked scared, and I wanted things to end safely, so I peeled off half the stack. “How about $250?” The guy took the money and ran off.” 

The inquirer asked the Ethicist whether he did the right thing, since it was obvious to all present that the guy was the thief. Should the father have instead paid the whole promised amount, or nothing at all?

Continue reading →

Two Schadenfreude Treats!

/ Jack Marshall / 37 Comments

1. The deified U.S. women’s soccer team lost to Sweden and exited the World Cup in the round of 16, its worst performance ever. Megan Rapinoe, the ostensible leader of the squad who made the team’s image at least as political as it was athletic, was substantially responsible for the loss, shanking a penalty kick that could have secured a victory.

Good.

U.S. soccer fans shouldn’t mourn the team’s defeat because this team never represented the United States honorably or respectfully. It has “taken a knee” during the National Anthem’s playing on foreign soil; this time, its members slouched, looked down, and behaved like 10-year-old jerks before a baseball game (“Take off your cap, Billy!“) while a few of the women mouthed the words. They compete in international tournaments as our representatives, and don’t have the option of wokey, anti-American self-indulgence. When asked about potentially accepting an invitation to be honored by at the White House when Trump was in residence, Rapinoe spoke for her team, spitting out, “I’m not going to the fucking White House!”

Continue reading →

The Union Square Park Riot: Ethics Takeaways

/ Jack Marshall / 39 Comments

Last week, Kai Carlo Cenat III and a fellow social media “influencer” informed their millions (!) of followers that they would be giving away free PlayStation 5 consoles in Manhattan’s Union Square Park on Friday at 4 p.m. They did this without bothering to obtain a permit for what was likely to be a massive event. By 3 p.m. the crowd at the park, made up almost exclusively of young black men and teens, began to spill onto the nearby streets, blocking pedestrians and cars. As PlayStation giveaway time approached, many in the crowd began to throw rocks, bottles and other objects at each another. Some set off fireworks. Members of the mob stormed a construction site; others attacked cars, storefronts and food carts for no discernible reason. Eventually the event turned into a fully-blown riot. Police arrested 65 people, about half of whom are juveniles.

Here is the message from Kai that attracted the crowd:

“We’re making sure to have good like protection and shit. You already know, we’re trying to chill and shit. All my New York niggers, I fucking love you niggers to death. ‘But ya’ll niggers are wild. Ya’ll niggers are animals, bro. Let’s be real, bro. When you niggers get too lit, when there’s too much going on, like, niggers start violating shit. That shit might end really quick depending on how rowdy you get and shit like that. Now, look – it is a public area. So anything can happen, bro. Anything can happen. Make sure you pull up with somebody. Just make sure you pull up with a friend to make sure ya’ll are good and shit like that. New York is fucking insane, nigger. But I need all my New York niggers out there. We’re gonna go crazy, bro.”

Kai Carlo Cenat III was arrested an charged with inciting a riot.

Ethics Observations:

Continue reading →

Porsche’s Woke “Mistake”

/ Jack Marshall / 22 Comments

How did censorship, airbrushing history and “it isn’t what it is” become hallmarks of progressivism? A discussion for another time…

For the nonce, consider Porsche, which airbrushed away the famous Portuguese statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the capital of Lisbon in a promotional video celebrating 60 years of its iconic 911 model. For some reason, many people had a problem with that.

Continue reading →

Ethics Quote of the Week: Benjamin Franklin

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

“Thinking aloud is a habit which is responsible for most of mankind’s misery.”

Benjamin Franklin, quoted in the 2008 series “John Adams,” spoken by Franklin (Tom Wilkerson) as advice to Adams (Paul Giamatti)

I wasn’t looking for more perspective on Donald Trump’s most recent disqualifying outburst when I revisited the first two episodes of HBO’s 2008 series “John Adams” after many years. My wife and I were just seeking something intellectually stimulating, inspiring and real to watch after completing the bizarre fictional entanglements of “The Affair.” By pure happenstance, however, a dramatized conversation between John Adams and Benjamin Franklin following a session of the Continental Congress in 1775 had immediate relevance both to the post and several of the comment threads following it in which Trump defenders praised his apparently unbreakable habit of blurting out or typing every thought that jumps into his head.

Continue reading →

KABOOM! The Progressive Propaganda Media Is This Desperate To Stop RFK, Jr.

/ Jack Marshall / 28 Comments

This is pretty funny, actually, or would be, if we hadn’t seen similar tactics used repeatedly against the previous President of the United States.

Here’s what Robert Kennedy, Jr. tweeted in its entirety:

Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me. Typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests from presidential candidates is 14-days. After 88-days of no response and after several follow-ups by our campaign, the Biden Administration just denied our request.  Secretary Mayorkas: “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr. is not warranted at this time.” Our campaign’s request included a 67-page report from the world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats.

Got that? Okay, now what about that tweet seems sinister to you, other than what RFK Jr. is alleging?

Here, let me give you some time…

Continue reading →

From The Res Ipsa Loquitur Files…Ethics Hero: Elon Musk (Again)

/ Jack Marshall / 1 Comment

(See: “It’s Come To This: “Liking” A Politically Incorrect, Bad Taste Joke On Social Media Can Get You Suspended In The United States Of America”)

Bravo.

The Puppeteering Of Sen. Feinstein

/ Jack Marshall / 13 Comments

“Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?‘

With those deft, live-televised and well-timed (and planned in advance) words, lawyer Joseph Welch set off ethics alarms around the country that stripped the mask from Sen. Joe McCarthy and signaled the end of one of the ugliest episodes of political misconduct in American history. The Democratic Party is in the midst of another such episode of its own construction, but it’s doubtful that a Welch-like question would have any effect today. Nonetheless, the Democratic Party’s cynical and desperate manipulation of the brain-damaged (John Fetterman) and the elderly and senile (President Biden) to maintain its tenuous hold on power is an abandonment of decency arguably as disgusting and anti-Democratic as McCarthy’s smearing of political foes as Communists.

The party’s reduction of Senator Diane Feinstein, 90, once a sharp and professional Senator from California, but now a sick, mentally-diminished shell, to its marionette is particularly ugly. Last week, Feinstein relinquished the power of attorney to her daughter, a tacit admission that she was no longer competent to handle her own affairs. Yet she remains in a position that requires her to participate in decisions regarding the affairs of the United States, and its many millions of citizens. How could she be incapable of acting in her own interest but still qualified to do the job her constituents (foolishly) elected her to do? Obviously, she can’t.

Continue reading →

Comment Of The Day: “First Open Forum Of August!”

/ Jack Marshall / 35 Comments

Michael West, who used to weigh in here far more frequently than he has been able to in recent years, issued a well-timed commentary in last week’s Friday open forum. It’s a perfect intro, if a bit ironic, to a post I’ll get up today if climate change doesn’t kill us all about the intractable reaction some have had to yesterday’s heresy that Donald Trump has officially jumped the legitimate Presidential candidate shark. The recent ban-ee actually sounded like Trump, warning me of dire consequences should I not succumb to his arguments and dance to his off-key tune.

Here is Michael West’s Comment of the Day on the most recent open forum:

***

On the widening worldview dichotomy, objectivity and debate:

Can a progressive commenter ever last here anymore?

The complaints that this is a conservative echo chamber have some practical merit – in that most of the commenters here have a libertarian or conservative lean. The progressives all left, mostly of their own accord, many because their own assertions painted themselves into logic corners from which all they had left was the vitriol that eventually got them banned.

Therein lies the question – can a progressive commenter last here without admitting that their entire train of thought has gone off the rails? And once a progressive commenter does have that realization – can they honestly remain progressive anymore?

Continue reading →

It’s Come To This: “Liking” A Politically Incorrect, Bad Taste Joke On Social Media Can Get You Suspended In The United States Of America

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

Madness.

Rising NASCAR driver Noah Gragson was suspended indefinitely for liking a meme on Instagram. The meme was a pun evoking the “Little Mermaid” song “Under the Sea,” sung in all versions by Sebastian the Crab. It showed the crab with George Floyd’s head superimposed with a reference to his demise, like this:

Too soon? Once his politically incorrect sense of humor was brought to its attention, Gregson was suspended indefinitely by his team, the Legacy Motor Club, and by NASCAR as well. “NASCAR fully supports Legacy Motor Club’s decision to suspend Noah Gragson,” the racing association stated. “Following his actions on social media, NASCAR has determined that Gragson has violated the Member Conduct section of the 2023 NASCAR Rule Book and has placed him under indefinite suspension.”

Continue reading →