Reality is a funny thing. I look at three year old children and think of what they might grow up to be, you know, that sort of thing. But some people apparently view migrant toddlers as criminals or a national security threat. The distance between these two points of view is breathtaking. The Grand Canyon is minor puddle by comparison. These tiny individuals seeking asylum in the United States are being separated from their families and kept in despicable conditions on the grounds that somehow they pose a threat to the nation.

One of the things about ethics and morality is that they really require a good strong grasp of reality. And if you’re seeing a three year old child as a prospective security threat, your imagination has run away with you in truly Olympic class style.

The United States is a wealthy country by any standard and at the very least we should be able to treat children with kindness, and kindness means regular showers, soap and gentle supervision. And if the government doesn’t want to do this, there are many charitable services willing to help.

Now, I am not a young man and I understand what’s going on here. We have a deliberate policy of cruelty and public nastiness against these small children to make the President’s backers feel that action is being taken against what they consider a horde of invaders.

The cruelty is the point.

Back in the 1930’s this nation closed its doors to those fleeing tyranny. Many were killed, tortured and imprisoned. And now we are beset by immigrants desperately fleeing horrifying conditions in central and south America. Morally and ethically we should be providing asylum to these sufferers. It is doing what is right.

And that is what we should be doing.

Because Great Nations do what’s right.

James Pilant

Top CBP Officer Testifies He’s Unsure if 3-Year-Old Is “a Criminal or a National Security Threat”

Jon Stewart is an American hero. His continuous efforts on behalf of those rescuers who suffered injury have finally resulted in funding for their medical bills. I am in awe and I admire him for his work. 

Now, to the troubling part. Why did such obviously deserving American heroes need an advocate like Jon Stewart? What is wrong with a political system that can’t do simple justice for the brave and self sacrificing among us? 

Rewarding heroism and self sacrifice is an ethical and moral duty. It’s how you build the fabric of a nation. It’s why we have benefits for veterans and honor our dead. From the most ancient times, celebrating bravery and a devotion to patriotism and honor have been part of government functions.

There is no way these people would have gotten a dime without Jon Stewart’s public shaming of the Senate. And to add insult to injury, he had to shame them twice! 

It appears to me that the 9/11 responders lacked the most basic element necessary for action on the part of our government, the ability to contribute large sums of money to their political campaigns. Our leadership in this nation could not bring itself to spend money unless there was a direct political benefit. The system is rotten to its very base. 

Jon Stewart imposed a political cost on these people. Otherwise they would never have acted. And right now, these venal politicians are patting themselves on the back for doing what simple justice demanded as if they were statesmen. 

We Americans deserve a better government than this. 

James Pilant

One of my favorite things in the world is to watch pre-code films. Before the Hays Code was adopted to stave off congressional censorship of films, there was an era of adult talk and intelligent plotting in motion pictures. I like both those things. The Pre-Code era ended in 1934 and we all suffered for it.

The effect of the Hays Code was felt on television far longer than in the motion picture industry. That’s why two single beds in a married couple’s home were the rule until “The New Dick Van Dyke Show.” That’s why we were flooded with widowers like Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show) because people aren’t supposed to divorce or separate so it was easier just to kill off the woman.

You could argue that profanity and sex – and many other things should be censored. I disagree. Many awful things are part of our lives and can be discussed. There are things that should be censored like reality shows. I don’t mean specific lines. Reality shows should not exist. Putting television cameras on real people who are exorted to act out is detrimental to the viewers, the victims and everyone else. Watching an episode of “Survivor” was one of the worst experiences of my life. The people were placed on an island to plot, connive, cheat and lie for the amusement of the viewer. It was pathetically degrading.

The ethics of censorship in films and television are an enormously complex area of analysis. I’d like to talk about it some more in the future. Gene Roddenberry used to write about executives constantly interfering with his science fiction programming and his comments were the beginning of my interest in television censorship.

I’ve got a link below to a young gentleman who has made a film about the Hays Code and its effect on four motion pictures. In my opinion, he did a great job and I found his ideas compelling. So please give it a watch. I hope to see more of his work.

James Pilant

4 Cinematic Victims of Hays Code Era Censorship

When I was a little boy about the time they were using high power on peaceful black marchers in the south, I remember watching on television people saying that all though they opposed black people voting and using the same schools and sidewalks as whites that they weren’t racist.
This has continued to the present day. Apparently virtually no act and nothing said can define one as a racist according to these people. 
Werner Horn, a legislator from New Hampshire, says that owning slaves doesn’t make you racist. 
Much like a Salvador Dali painting, we have arrived at a point at which all reality is simply melting like so many clocks. 
Horn says that it was an economic decision. No, it is a crime against man and God. It is a savage act that defines one for all time as a depraved monster and, yes, a racist. 
That slavery was legal means nothing morally and ethically. That many people did it is no more a justification than it is for anything else. That those that held slaves were once important members of the government and did great things does not excuse their behavior. Slavery is wrong and the very definition of racism. 
That in the beginning of the 21st Century, that I feel it necessary to reiterate the basic moral rules around racism is a pitiful statement concerning our public discourse. This is a difficult time in America but I believe there will be better times in the future where Americans will realize their purpose and better heritage. 
James Pilant

What does business ethics have to do with broken heart syndrome? Quite a lot. You see we live in a world where there are many who want to tell you that we are individual atoms, or self interest seeking enlightened or patrons of choice – or some other nonsense. The actual facts are very simple. We are a cooperative species and our love, our kindness and empathy are major factors in the quality of our lives. That self seeking greed is an empty life of callous destruction and that we can see this every day in the lives of our ruling class.

Here we have a study showing a likely relationship between a broken heart and cancer. Well, of course, there is. We are not make of stone except in Randian fantasies and “kick them in the teeth” diatribes about getting ahead.

I want you to understand that many of the best things in life are about family and nation and togetherness and cooperation and faith in each other. I know these values are often hard to hold on to in the face of the public evils indulged by our current leadership. Having faith in American and its people in spite of what has been happening may seem foolish. But it is a foolishness I intent to practice and I urge you to do the same.

James Pilant

Broken heart syndrome and cancer are connected, scientists say

Catch Up
The ability to hit a person with thousands, perhaps, hundreds of thousands, of social media attacks is a new phenomenon in law and we haven’t adapted to it yet. 
The appalling mistreatment of Sandy Hook parents by conspiracy theorists and various cranks have resulted in little action so far. 
But that will change. 
The law is in process in dealing with the problem. It takes time but we are starting to see the first successful libel actions and this decision. 
Remember that scandal magazines were once a thing in Hollywood but changes in the law made that kind of operation almost impossible to maintain. 
Be a participant in this. As the law develops let your voice be heard to defend free speech but also to demand accountability to lies and libel. 
James Pilant

Federal magistrate says Jewish woman should get $14 million from neo-Nazi who orchestrated troll-storm

Italy’s Competition Authority has fined both Apple and Samsung the maximum amounts possible for deliberately slowing the performance of their phones with the apparent intent of motivating the owners to replace them with newer, pricier phones. 
Both firms provided updates to phones that caused malfunctions and lowered the speed. Neither firm provided any means by which the phones could be restored to their previous capabilities. 
Planned Obsolescence is where you deliberately design a product to only last a limited amount of time. Common with automobiles and similar products, it has been far less practiced in consumer electronics since the products’ capabilities have developed so quickly. 
However, when money is involved, what is unnecessary may still be profitable. They took their own products and handicapped their capabilities so they would reap greater profits when they were replaced. 
Simply put, this is not good business ethics. It is the direct opposite – manipulating customers to buy under the pretence that their phones were too slow – when the update provided by the manufacturer created the problem in the first place. This is stealing and certainly causes one to have serious doubts about the trustworthiness of the companies involved. 
James Pilant

 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-were-sharing-3-million-russian-troll-tweets/

“FiveThirtyEight has obtained nearly 3 million tweets from accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency. To our knowledge, it’s the fullest empirical record to date of Russian trolls’ actions on social media, showing a relentless and systematic onslaught. In concert with the researchers who first pulled the tweets, FiveThirtyEight is uploading them to GitHub so that others can explore the data for themselves.”

This is fascinating. Here you can see how the Russian Troll Tweets were targeted and used. You get to look at the data yourself and see what you think. I have to tell you “three million tweets are a lot of tweets.”
This was an endeavor set up by the Russian government to cause discord.
So, why am I, Mr. Business Ethics, talking about it and asking you to think about it.
Because spreading outrage and lies is an Internet business model, and a very successful one. People are building little information empires based on making stuff up. Even worse are those designed to cause discord.
I’m a Methodist. Part of the Methodist doctrine is respect for thing called “the ties that bind.” These are the unifying elements in the church, the family and the larger society.
Societies, towns, states and nations are actually fragile collections of people attempting to share resources, maintain order and accomplish some larger goal like living long lives with some security.
There are people who like to mess that up. Shock jocks on radio and ranting conspiracy theorists are often simply trying to get you mad. Angry people don’t think but they do listen to a lot of radio and watch talking heads on television – both of which I strongly recommend against.
The brain is stimulated and developed by reading and thought. Television is more like a sustained diet of high fructose corn syrup and is better left alone.
Anyway, learn more about trolling, particularly how to spot it. Become aware that what you feed your brain is critical to its well being and that we live in societies that need constant maintenance and care to function.
James Pilant