revenge

Celebrity Jerk in Training: Justin Bieber

/ Jack Marshall / 9 Comments

It’s good to know teenie-bopper idol Justin Bieber is already practicing for the day when he will be a full-fledged, arrogant, self-absorbed, celebrity jerk, assuming his career survives puberty.

Apparently a kid tried to hack the Facebook page of one of Bieber’s pals, in a failed attempt to get tickets to a concert or something—it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the pop star took his revenge by tweeting to his 4.5 million Twitter followers, “Everyone call me or text,” and included the would-be hacker’s phone number. Continue reading →

Ethics, Ethics, Everywhere…

/ Jack Marshall / Leave a comment

Stories with ethical implications are popping up everywhere, in many fields. I’m running hard to keep up; if you want to join the race, here are some recent developments and notes:

  • A prominent Harvard professor and respected researcher just retracted a major paper and has been put on leave, as an investigation showed irregularities in his methods and results. “This retraction creates a quandary for those of us in the field about whether other results are to be trusted as well, especially since there are other papers currently being reconsidered by other journals as well,’’ wrote one scientist. “If scientists can’t trust published papers, the whole process breaks down.’’
  • A Wisconsin lawyer bought a farm from his own client in a bankruptcy matter, a classic conflict of interest. The lawyer’s defense was amusing: since his license had been suspended, he no longer had a fiduciary duty to his now former client. The court canceled the sale. The story is on the Legal Profession Blog.

Unethical Website of the Month:charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com

/ Jack Marshall / 1 Comment

It seems to be down now, but the odor lingers on. And there is the matter of the billboards..

Let us stipulate, without really knowing, that YaVaughnie Wilkins has legitimate grievances with  her married former boyfriend, the distinguished Charles E. Phillips, who is president of tech conglomerate Oracle and a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Let us assume that she was legitimately heartbroken and angry when he returned to his wife recently after engaging in an eight year affair with Wilkens, and that YaVaughnie (YaVaughnie??)  was taken by surprise, since Phillips’ wife had filed for divorce two years ago.

Never mind. Creating and publicizing a website, http://www.charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com, designed to expose the intimate details of a dead affair is indefensible. Setting out to publically humiliate Phillips is revenge, pure and simple. Revenge is unethical. Always. Continue reading →

Steele, Reid, and “Tit-for-Tat” Ethics

/ Jack Marshall / 3 Comments

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 →

Proof of Dead Ethics: Attacking Your Adversary’s Family

/ Jack Marshall / 4 Comments

It is a standard threat in movies about the Mob and TV dramas about thugs: “Do what I tell you, or your family’s dead.” The tactic of going after loved ones as a particularly awful form of revenge is a calling card of the truly despicable. That is why the Valerie Plame scandal so damaged the Bush Administration’s popularity, even though it was never clear (and still isn’t) that anyone there really did try to “out” Plame’s CIA status to get even with her obnoxious husband’s fueling opposition to the Iraq invasion. Just the plausible suggestion that Vice President Cheney’s gang may have committed such an ethical outrage was too much to bear.

You would think, then, that those who most revile Cheney’s no-holds-barred approach to political combat would be the least likely to emulate him. You would be wrong. Continue reading →