I am a 53 year old teacher. I have double major in Speech and Criminal Justice resulting in a Bachelor's degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and a law degree.
I have long noted that the one of the major changes in our society over the last decade has been the incredible empowerment of the stupid, the ill informed and the mentally disturbed. And these often crazed individuals have been weaponized to terrorize and troll the enemies of various right wing figures including one former President.
And here is a good example. This single individual using an ID blocker so he could call repeatedly, called various members of Congress more than twelve thousand times with dire threats and apparently in an obvious rage. What concerns me and concerns me a lot is “Did it take that many calls for him to be arrested?” Do misbehaving loons get a couple of hundred of these harassing phone calls with no action being taken?
But there are other implications. How do you expect people to work in congressional offices, to run for office or even participate in a public forum with these kinds of depraved loons running about. How many other phone calls did he make? And how many of his brethren are out there busy dialing up new people to make miserable? It is not every human being who has a thick enough skin to take phone calls from crazy people. And these harassing phone calls are crimes but how seriously does law enforcement take them?
This is where technology has brought us?? To make stupid people powerful?? To take the demented fools out of the bars and the institutions and give them an electronic tool kit to pervert the course of government??
We as a society need to think about this. We cannot have a functioning society with a large number of people devoted to making sure things don’t work – and there are a lot of them out there right now.
Democracy depends on participation by a learned and intelligent citizenry. But those voices can be drowned out by the deranged and the conspiracy minded. The most basic adherence to morality and ethics demands that we place limits on how much harassment and just plain lunacy interferes with the process of our lives.
We were promised an electronic paradise and what we got was a dystopian nightmare where the most pitiful crazed among us rule. We can and must do better. For when those who are unwilling to subject themselves to the misery and pain of our current public life flee, who will remain to govern us?
The American Civil War was fought over the evil that was slavery. The assassination of Lincoln prevented the necessary prosecution of the Confederate leadership and the old guard, the former slave owners, rose up in power to continue the oppression and pain inflicted on the poor Whites and Blacks. They tried to rewrite history with “The Lost Cause” nonsense and during the Jim Crow era put up statues as signposts that clearly indicating that minority rights did not exist in the South. More crudely put, these monuments were a direct threat of murder and pain to those who stepped across the color line.
Tyrell County has one of these “monuments.” Erected in 1902, its connection to the Civil War is barely arguable but its public demonstration of the power of the white aristocracy and their willingness to murder and punish is plain for all to see. It is dedicated to faithful slaves, a calculated insult.
History is important. But history shorn of its truth is an abomination. These monuments to Jim Crow are an attempt which for many years was successful to intimidate Blacks and rewrite history. It has failed. And these nonsensical pieces of stone should be consigned to the scrap heap. It doesn’t take a deep grasp of morality or ethics to see that preserving the Southern way of life, an idea the included the practice of slavery and many other discriminations, was not a worthy goal but in fact an abomination. Societies based on slavery had long passed in large part into the failed systems of history.
At the end of the Civil War, there were more Black soldiers in the Union Army than the entire strength of the Confederates. I don’t see any monuments to the fact that freed Black men were willing to risk their lives to end the barbarous practice of slavery. That would be real history.
Why don’t we build some real monuments to celebrate the heroism and sacrifice of Americans who fought for the right?
I was looking at a poll the other day that found that 12% of the members of the Republican Party thought climate change was an important issue.
This is fascinating. I live in the middle of the United States. It is hotter than it has ever been and the weather more dramatic and powerful than it has ever been. You can literally feel climate change in the middle United States.
And yet, the great majority of one of the major political parties in the United States look at the thermostat and mutter, “Oh, no big deal.”
Looking at the news over the last few days, one sees that in the Philippines, it has gotten so hot that schools have been closed and classes moved online. India is in the grip of a huge heatwave.
And just today, now, here is a lead news article that indicates that thirty states are in the midst of record breaking heat wave.
“My Goodness” That looks surprisingly like objective evidence of climate change and maybe even a looming emergency.
So, surely Republicans will notice, right?
That would be nice. It would be part of the duty of a citizen in participative democracy to pay attention to facts and adjust their views accordingly but they will not change their minds. They live in a world where “owning the libs” is much of the meaning in their lives. And you can say, “James, that can’t be much of a life?” Well, yes, it is not much of a life. Thus there is just a ton of hysterical anger.
If you think I’m wrong. Look at the other stuff they are denying. They deny there is any significant racism in the United States (except against white people). Simply, reading the daily new should thoroughly prove that racism continues in America. It seems they don’t read. They deny the evidence of poverty and hunger in the United States to the point of refusing to supplement school lunch programs to feed children during the summer. And I could go on.
Florida has passed legislation removing climate change from consideration when making policy and abandoning a variety of green initiatives while also forbidding the construction of wind turbines on the coast.
To quote the governor of Florida:
“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.
The level of irony in the words of the governor are difficult to approach. Florida is in the middle of very serious heat wave, there are coral die offs all along the coast, and insurance companies are fleeing the state like so many rats from an overheated and perhaps burning ship.
I am concerned. Not about the Republicans, their current fantasies are really just silly. Saving them from nonsense is not something I can do. When you surrender your judgment to a cult, an online posting, the rants of hate radio or some weird conspiracy theory, the death of judgment and intelligence follows. What concerns me is that this nation where I make my home will probably be unable to deal intelligently and effectively with climate change. And because of our enormous economic power, we may doom much of the world with us.
It is the greed enshrined in our society’s goals and the way our corporations are set up solely to take money as their sole goal that will probably doom us and our future generations. It is very sad. We live in a nation developed in the ideas of the Enlightenment. We have the words of Lincoln and Thomas Paine to guide us – and all of that history or righteousness and glory is being denied, diminished and attacked.
Oh well, if I am to die of heat stroke or flooding or some other interesting element of climate change, I will die here in the United States. It is my home and I consider myself a patriot.
It is unfortunate that the limitations, foolishness and greed of a some Americans are going to do so much damage to so many.
I was about 16 when I first watched Doctor Who. The idea that someday it would become a home for gay and crossdressing themes would have surprised me. But here we are.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a gay character if the writing and the science fiction is good. But this show is no longer about good writing or science fiction, the focus is clearly on convincing you the viewer that alternate sexuality is utterly, completely, without any question normal and very, very important.
I started Doctor Who with Tom Baker back in the mid-1970’s. In classic Doctor Who, the stories take place all across space and time and are adventures in which a space alien of enormous age and experience protects the earth and its inhabitants from various dangers. It has run for many years. During that period it has generated high viewership numbers some of them record breakers.
Not any more.
I’ m one of that most hated species of all in the world of “woke” entertainment, I’m a fan. Our insistence on good writing, sensible plots and perhaps even a willingness to watch white men act heroically makes us incredibly obsolete in a media world where all character for some reason need to be reimagined as different sexes and races while often behaving as psychopaths. And it’s all our fault when feminist themed superheroes and science fiction fail — every single time. It’s not bad writing, nonsensical characters and pitiful marketing choices, it is because people like me are racist, sexist and intolerant. At least, that’s what the producers, directors and actors say after each multimillion bomb. So, obviously it must be true.
It is time for me to give up. It is time for all of us fans to give up. The good writing and science fiction themes we valued as basic parts of the franchise are gone forever. The Disney Company is providing financing. They are dictating a multi-sexual cast propagating a political agenda in each and every episode. They have billions and billions of dollars and if no one watches it, they don’t care. They will simply claim that the BBC viewership numbers are just small part of the picture and it is doing fine on other venues —- all of which they control and keep totally, completely secret. They could run 90 minutes of static and claim success and who know, at some point in the future they just might.
This isn’t good business ethics. If you’ve been watching a show for forty some years plus and it is good science fiction while having some of the finest writers in television, you get used to that. It is poor ethics to provide a bad product that no longer resembles the basic themes that made it successful. Poor writing, blatant preaching and silly characters are bad for any series and they are bad, bad business ethics. Let’s be blunt – you don’t market watered down bleach as fine wine. People can tell.
Don’t despair. There is fan fiction and we have years of past wonderful episodes to watch. None of which has been in anyway touched by the Walt Disney Company! That world where people traveled with the Doctor on behalf of humanity in a continued adventure still exists in the past episodes and continuing radio shows and novels. There is still a lot of Doctor Who left.
Business ethics demands that a human being behave as a person of reason not subject to outbursts of rage or radical responses. This act caught on camera, a very foolish act, is a failure of behavior and judgment. It is also a moral and ethical failure for which there must be penalties. As of the current date I am writing this, charges have been filed and I suspect there will be a civil suit as well.
We live in a civil society. We have an opportunity every day to reject the law of the jungle and live as brothers and sisters, joint citizens of a nation and a community.
Disputes don’t have to escalate to violence or the destruction of property. I taught for many years. One of my subjects was business law. I told a story of a very large company. They had a minor dispute over the boundary line between a huge factory and a home owner. The leadership of the company handed the problem off to the legal department who filed a lawsuit. I explained that was probably going to happen every single time you handed the problem off to legal. Let me explain.
“What should you have done in the CEO’s position?” I asked. And then I had to explain because they thought what was done was okay. “How about simply asking the neighbor, the home owner, if the problem could be settled by an agreement?” Now, maybe it couldn’t and we wind up in court anyway. But I believe most of the time that minor property disputes should remain minor disputes and not major legal cases that can last for years and cost a lot of money. Besides, why not act as a good neighbor and in fact, be a good neighbor. We don’t have to go to war over every dispute.
The man above did not act as a good neighbor. The acts we see on camera are those of a pathetic fool. I bet he thinks of himself as an “alpha” male and had a lot of laughs with his buddies over the thousands of dollars worth of damages he did to the neighbor’s car. Just another bully. They are a dime a dozen, strutting their pretend machismo. We see a lot of them these days.
There is a better way. Be a good neighbor. Behave as a good member of your religion if you have one. But above all remember you have a duty to act as a lady or a gentleman is all circumstances.
An example of a man admitting committing a crime. Most unusual.
Recently some Republicans have been making news by denying children food benefits, rolling back child labor laws, killing their pet (more on this later) and just general cruelty. Apparently in the strange world of Republican politics the more mean and cruel an act is – the more political points it is worth.
Today’s example of cruelty just for points come from a fellow named John McEntee, who has posted a video of himself bragging about his acts of cruelty. Let me quote from the first article referenced above:
“So I always keep this fake Hollywood money in my car so when a homeless person asks for money, then I give him like a fake $5 bill, so I feel good about myself, they feel good,” said McEntee in a clip with the caption “Just a joke. Everyone calm down #fyp.” “And then, when they go to use it, they get arrested so I’m actually like helping clean up the community. You know, getting them off the street.”
You may note that Mr. McEntee says this is just a joke, and everyone should calm down. I write about ethics and morality and I am not calming down. Apparently he thinks that passing counterfeit money is funny, that homelessness is funny, that abusing homeless people is funny and that jailing homeless people is funny. Based on this video, I do not believe that the world of comedy has found any talent here.
Generally awful people doing awful things keep their acts to themselves and wisely so. Back when I was teaching college I warned my students the people broadcast who they were all the time, and that when someone admits or even worse brags about their evil or foolish acts, you should believe them. McEntee says it is just a joke. Really?
From the second article above:
Under federal statute 18 section 471, it is a federal crime to intently “defraud, falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, or alters any obligation or other security of the United States”. That includes currency, treasury notes, reserve notes and more.
So, what do you think? Is this crime funny? Did you laugh or are you like me appalled at this pitiful disgusting conduct?
I don’t generally feature an opinion piece as the center of my approach on writing about business ethics or the larger questions of morality and ethics in American society. But this one caught my attention as it focuses on some issues that have been bothering me.
Robert Reich has written an opinion piece which appeared in the Guardian. It’s called “The Trump hush-money trial reveals a seedy world shot through with moral rot.” (The link is at top.)
Let me quote a little piece so you can get a flavor of it. Referring to Trump and his associates he writes:
It’s a sell-or-tell society, a catch-and-kill society, a just-take-care-of-it society. A society where money and power are the only considerations. Where honor and integrity count for nothing.
I strongly agree. The trial has not surprised me. I knew about Donald Trump long before his Presidential aspirations. I don’t mind telling you how I became interested. It was Trump University. People paid large sums of money for a product advertised with the Trump name and got virtually nothing in return. That conduct has been consistent throughout Trump’s career.
But he has millions of followers who seem to believe that his moral and criminal failings amount to nothing or are made up charges, a product of the deep state — or one of their other many fantasies.
Reich’s clear eyed and direct condemnation is important because so few people especially Republicans seem to have any moral qualms these days. Sometimes I thing that a complete lack of moral or ethical qualities is necessary for participation in the inner workings of the Republican party.
Robert Reich speaks while so many are silent. Here is some more of what he had to say:
I sometimes worry that the daily dismal drone of Trump world – the continuous lies and vindictiveness that issue from Trump and his campaign, the dismissive and derogatory ways he deals with and talks about others, the people who testify at his criminal trial about what they have done for him and what he has done for or to them – has a subtly corrosive effect on our own world. I think it is important to remind ourselves that most of the people we know are not like this. That honor and integrity do count. That standards of decency guide most behavior. That relationships matter.
I am sure that Donald Trump has damaged the moral fiber of the United States. I believe that the unleashed anger of the Internet trolls will continue and that we will be dealing with Trump pretenders for decades to come. He and his demented followers have made politics and discourse distasteful and crude. They have made conducting the governing of this nation difficult and often demeaning.
It is a tragic time for the United States and the nation may yet not survive it. The dramatic attacks on our justice system are just one part of a hideous proto-fascist approach to governance that we may see more of in the coming years.
Sometimes reading and watching our various media, you get the impression that economic success is the ultimate determination of a nation’s success. This is the popular view in many circles. But if true at all, it is only partially true. The fact of the matter is – nations have value based not just on economic value but on art, culture and their civic life. It is better to live with a vibrant culture, movies, plays and books, – and better still to live in a society where the citizens can participate in the decisions that effect their lives.
Many participate in art. Some draw, some play an instrument, some participate in little theatre. But once in a while a person rises to the level of director, a professional artist. Successful societies run by the wise, experienced and based on a civilized tradition honor the great artists among us. But primitive and repressive societies do not.
There is no clearer indication of a society in decline than its attempt to destroy a human being for making art.
Rasoulof condemned the Iranian government in an Instagram post on Monday, calling it a tyrannical and oppressive regime, and posting a video that showed him crossing the country’s mountainous border. “If geographical Iran suffers beneath the boots of your religious tyranny, cultural Iran is alive in the common minds of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran due to your brutality and no power can impose its will on it. From today, I am a resident of cultural Iran,” he said.
Something is terribly wrong here when two winners resign angrily and publicly. I did a simple internet search on the phrase “beauty pageant corruption” and got more than a hundred thousand hits. These contests disturb me. My ethical instincts perk up and I have to wonder about all the possibilities of cheating, manipulation, sharp practice and the dark influence of our monied elites.
One of the things that concerns me is that the pageants required the winners to sign non-disclosure agreements. If this is such a great honor and this is supposed to be bringing out the best and the greatest of our young women, why do you need an NDA? What’s going on here?
From the article above from Yahoo News:
“There is a toxic work environment within the Miss USA organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment,” Noelia Voigt wrote in the letter. “This started soon after winning the title of Miss USA 2023.” Voigt announced Monday on Instagram that she was relinquishing her crown, citing her mental health. Two days later, Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava, 17, announced she was also stepping down in a statement that said her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” Fans who were shocked by the unprecedented resignations noticed that the first letter in every sentence of Voigt’s online statement spelled out “I am silenced.”
With the non-disclosure agreements in place, it will be difficult to find out any details. I think the federal government and the states need to step up oversight. I want you to know that NDA’s are a serious impediment to constructive change and the processes of democracy. They offer large organizations and individuals the “right” to mistreat employees and clients. I do not believe they should be legal in our society or any other society.
How do we as a society, as a nation, as a people, solve problems when we can’t find out what is happening or has happened because of NDA’s?
My impression based on the little information provided is that these pageants exploit women probably cruelly. There should be an investigation and there should be legal consequences for wrong doing.
I have been exploring the concept of social capital recently and find it fascinating. During the dark days of the candidacy of Trump, the ties that bind together as the American people are becoming increasingly frayed.
Rasking is talking about the oil and gas industry. They were aware of the dangers of global warming for decades and not only concealed this knowledge but made it difficult for the general public to understand the issue and actively prevented action to remedy the situation. He is, of course, right. We owe the oil and gas industry a lot for their use of lead, their propaganda to encourage our use of natural gas, and their willingness to cut corners and costs while letting the public bear the burdens of these decisions.
“Whistleblowing allows people to align their actions with their moral compass by exposing wrongdoing”, says Nick Oberheiden from Federal-Lawyer.com. “It fosters transparency and accountability, potentially leading to organizational reforms and societal protection against corrupt practices. Whistleblowers can take solace in knowing there are laws designed to shield them from retaliation and, in some cases, they may even be rewarded for their courage.”
They polled a thousand individuals and found that slightly more than half would become whistleblowers if the circumstances merited it. I am delighted with those numbers. It is good to see so many Americans with an ethical backbone in this time of political turmoil.
Stiglitz explains why we should be using a broader definition of freedom rather than the commonly stated simplistic ideas around individual freedom.
From the article:
Freedom is about what you can do. It’s freedom to do and freedom from harm by others including government, but also corporations or anybody. It’s about freedom from fear—the very idea that children in kindergarten have to be prepared for gunmen coming in and shooting them, they totally lost their freedom from fear. We need a broader conceptual framework for freedom. When we think about taxes a lot of people at the top say, “you’re taking away my freedom.” But they wouldn’t have that income without the government having made the investments in basic R&D, technology, infrastructure, an educated labor force, and the rule of law. If they were born in some poor, disorganized country with a civil war, they wouldn’t have that money. In the U.S., 20% of our children grow up in poverty. We’re taking away those kids’ freedom to live up to their potential and it’s hurting us as a society.
I think that this is a better, deeper and more compelling definition of freedom. I intend to return to it in later writing.
I think these recommendations are probably wise but whether they can be enacted or enforced is another matter. I know that many parents believe that having ready contact with their children at all times is very important. And the individual harm to the psychology of young people may be that evident to their guardians but still we should probably as a society try to give our children an opportunity to have an actual “childhood” rather than a debased form of adult conflict.
From the article referenced above:
The report, “Children and Screens: In Search of Lost Time,” said that children should not be allowed to have cellphones before the age of 11, should be barred from social media before they turn 13, and that between 15 and 18, social media access should be “limited” to those with “ethical thinking.” As for toddlers, it recommended against exposing those under 3 and advised to move toward moderate, controlled exposure only after age 6.
It is odd that in this very same week there were two online news pieces about what is meant by freedom. I have quoted Alfred Stiglitz above and here we have another discussion about freedom and capitalism.
From the article above:
Capitalism is a system under which the means of production can be bought and sold by private individuals, and anyone who can’t afford to start a business of their own has to submit themselves to the domination of those who can if they want to make a living. Workers spend eight out of every sixteen waking hours most days of the week in workplaces that are run like totalitarian dictatorships — and it’s only eight hours, and only most days of the week, because of victories won over generations of workers’ struggles. If the comparison to totalitarian dictatorships seems hyperbolic, it shouldn’t. In fact, capitalists often regulate far more intimate aspects of workers’ behavior — especially for relatively “unskilled” workers without much bargaining power — than do the laws of a typical totalitarian dictatorship. Employers frequently tell workers, for example, when they have to smile, when they’re allowed to talk to each other, and when they’re allowed to go to the bathroom.
We need to start having a real discussion about our right to dignity and autonomy. We discovered that working from home was efficient and successful yet businesses are truly desperate to end the practice. Why? I think they fear the loss of social control. What is the point of being the big boss if you can’t strut around at work as a sort of martinet demi-god? I have had some wonderful bosses and some of them were little more than well paid crooks. One the great tragedies of American life is how minimum wage workers are treated. Long ago before law school and college, I worked in a factory. They treated the cockroaches on the floor better than we workers.
As a writer who takes as his main topics, morality and ethics, it would be wrong and cowardly of me to dodge the great moral issue of the coming election. Fascism in on the march in American and the polling numbers referenced in the article show that the great mass is gradually awakening to the danger. With this election we could very well seen the end of the last vestiges of American democracy.
From the article:
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National poll released Wednesday found that 31 percent of surveyed Americans, when asked about their greatest fears for the country’s future, mention a rise of fascism and extremism. There is also a notable partisan split in the findings, with almost half of surveyed Democrats, 47 percent, reporting that a rise of fascism and extremism was their biggest concern. Republicans in the survey, comparatively, were far less concerned. Only 15 percent of Republicans said they were worried about growing fascism. For surveyed GOP voters, the No. 1 concern was a lack of values at 36 percent and the U.S. becoming a “weak” country at 30 percent.
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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