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
I didn’t watch Al Gore when he appeared on the Tonight Show a couple weeks ago. What he said then while hobnobbing with Conan should be old news, but in fact it was no news at all, because virtually no news media gave it more than a passing mention. Then, by purest accident, I heard a talk-radio host ranting about a shocking statement Gore had made on the show, and I checked to see if he could possibly be quoting the former Vice-President correctly.
He was. Here is the exchange: Continue reading
Those who oppose the death penalty on moral grounds, fervently believing that the taking of human life is always wrong, also believe, it seems, that lesser sins are legitimate tools if they can save even one condemned prisoner. The misconduct of choice seems to be intellectual dishonesty, and there have recently been some obvious displays of it. Whether you believe such tactics are justifiable or not, there is no question that they muddle the capital punishment debate. Continue reading
The AP reports that there is a computer virus that causes one’s computer to independently visit child pornography sites and download material. This has caused innocent people to be prosecuted, fired from their jobs, humiliated and ruined.
I would like the conduct of a person who would create and release such a virus explained to me. I would like the explainers to be those who will describe any bad act , no matter how heinous, as “one mistake,” and who resolutely maintain that engaging in wrongful conduct, no matter how destructive and cruel, doesn’t mean an individual is personally rotten to the core. “Hate the sin, never the sinner,” Clarence Darrow said. Darrow was one of the most persuasive and articulate people who ever lived. I wonder if he could have reconciled this with his convictions.
Now I’m going to check my computer.
And my faith in human nature.
Ethics Alarms 