No Constitutional Duty to Protect??

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/news/city-police-had-no-constitutional-205433640.html

I challenge you to read this case and not become angry. The police repeatedly refused to take action and eventually the woman who relied on them for protection was murdered.

Here is a single incident from the article above:

Court records show that on Sept. 15, 2022, Christopher Prichard spent one night in jail for violating the order, then failed to show up for a series of court hearings, then failed to turn himself in to serve a six-day jail sentence. As a result, a warrant was issued for his arrest. The lawsuit alleges that police “flat-out refused to enforce the warrant and arrest Christopher Prichard.”

I have to admit a little confusion here. The actions listed in the paragraph above would seem to require as a matter of law police to act.

You can argue that I shouldn’t even be discussing this since I write about business ethics. But if the police simply treat their duties as inconveniences to be avoided, are we really talking about public servants any more or just employees who aren’t very good at their job?

James Pilant

Using sleep patches on small students

On By southwerkIn business ethics
They Drugged Their Students!

They Drugged Their Students!

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-teachers-yanked-texas-classroom-160046076.html

It seems based on the evidence of the press reports and interviewed witnesses that teachers at an elementary school put “sleeping” patches on the children in the classroom regularly in large numbers. These are small children as young as four years old. I am outraged. You just don’t give other people’s children drugs. That they didn’t actually kill anybody is just dumb luck.

Here’s a quote from the article:

Najla Abdullah asked her four-year-old son if he too had received a sticker. “He said, ‘Yes, mommy. I get a special sticker,’” Abdullah told ABC. “I said, ‘What does it look like?’ He said, ‘I get it right here on my hand, and it has the storms with the clouds and the star and the moon.’”

My son is entering his thirties so I didn’t even know these things existed (sleeping stickers). So, I went over and opened my Amazon account and there they were in large numbers and variety of colors and various capabilities. I’m sure many parents whose children have sleep problems find them to be of some benefit.

However, drugging entire classrooms of tiny tots to make your job easier is wrong! (to put it mildly) Since, I assume there will be firings and criminal charges, hopefully the idea of drugging small children will not catch on as a teaching aid.

As an expert on business ethics, my analytic abilities are wasted here. What analysis can you do? Is there a moral argument about giving other people’s children drugs? I think not. There is no way the teachers or teacher’s aides had any idea of what medications the children were already taking or the existence of an medical conditions the children might have had so administering any drug on a large scale is highly dangerous. These acts endangered children. End of moral analysis.

If I may quote from a legendary source of moral support: In the New Testament, Jesus Christ issues a stern warning against harming children. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

This is a catastrophic failure of business ethics. The school is hunkered down. There is no listing of classes involved, number of students or if this was the only set of violations. We can expect this story to develop.

If I were advising the school. I would recommend an outside investigator be hired and as early as possible personnel decisions. They need to share as much information as is possible under the circumstances and new rules specifically banning these actions put in place.

James Pilant

Sometimes, Humor is More Effective!!

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I have written about Boeing and I have been very critical. But sometimes, humor is just more effective. I give you, my kind readers and viewers, this little gem I found on You Tube (with enormous gratitude) and I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

James Alan Pilant

Kris Kristofferson

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kris-kristofferson-singer-songwriter-actor-223141066.html

One of the good things about American society is that often talent succeeds. One of the talents of my generation was this man. A great singer and a wonderful actor he brought quality and depth to everything he was in. It is with great sadness that I must report that he has died.

He will be missed.

This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1978 and March 1, 1989 without a copyright notice, and its copyright was not subsequently registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within 5 years. (according to wikipedia where I found it – JP)

the golden age of scams

On By southwerkIn business ethics
The Golden Age of Scams

The Golden Age of Scams

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://www.yahoo.com/news/age-scams-184034965.html

Alana Semuels wrote an essay called “The Age of Scams” for “Time.” It makes me genuinely envious to see this quality and content in writing. Not only is the writing lively and clever, she is absolutely right about our generation unfortunate arrival at the peak of a world of scams. Here is a paragraph from her work:

Cotelingham’s experience is increasingly common. We are living in the golden age of scams. U.S. consumers lost a record $10 billion to fraud in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission, a 14% increase over 2022. That tally is almost certainly an undercount. More than three-­quarters of victims, including Cotelingham, don’t report to authorities that they’ve been defrauded. We are constantly baited by scammers—by text, by email, by phone. The average smartphone owner in the U.S. gets an estimated 42 spam texts and 28 spam calls per month, according to RoboKiller, an app for screening calls.

We all suffer living in this golden age of scams. I can take a quick glance at my e-mail spam folder which is many times in size the contents of legitimate e-mails and get an immediate grasp of the giant growth industry that scamming is.

It is obvious that the pathways we use to communicate, e-mail, the internet and the phone have all become corrupted. Surely as a larger society something can be done to curb these disgraceful practices.

I recommend you read the original essay and like me contemplate what can be done about this moral and ethical disaster.

James Alan Pilant

Gate Lice?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/m-flight-attendant-passengers-annoying-141610163.html

Apparently the term, gate lice has been around a long time. Let me quote from the article referenced at the top of the page:

Allegedly coined in a 2005 FlyerTalk discussion thread, “gate lice” refers to passengers who hover around the gate like insects before it’s their turn to board so they can ostensibly secure overhead storage space.

The article goes on and while discussing the pros and cons of the practice, it is generally critical.

My job as a writer in business ethics is not to simply accept what I am told. And I’m not happy about what I’m being told here.

Airline travel has transformed over the years into a difficult and often miserable experience with the principal and only defense of this decline is that it is cheaper. That doesn’t make what the airlines have been doing to cut cots ethical or right.

Why isn’t there enough storage? Do the policies concerning baggage make any sense or are they just a way of generating a new revenue stream?

My general impression isn’t that people are acting badly but are acting in response to how badly the airlines are being run.

You can call them gate lice all you want but what you really have our customers being treated badly.

James Alan Pilant

Lies, Damned Lies and J.D. Vance

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jd-vance-appears-admit-tale-151656091.html

Let me lead with a quote from the article listed above:

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” said the senator.

Kind readers, perhaps I am misunderstanding the quote. My impression, perhaps foolish, is that he is saying that he can make up any story no matter how outlandish if it furthers his political narrative.

So, if a story of, oh say, a Bigfoot sighting, plays well in drawing attention to, say, interest rates,, no doubt an important issue — the Bigfoot story will be told with great passion. The fact that it is just a story is irrelevant if the story is effective.

Wow, generally speaking when we talk about the Big Lie, (not the 2020 election big lie, the one before that), the one in “Mein Kamp” that if you repeated a lie often enough many will believe it, this is a whole new take. If you have a “higher” purpose making up stories is okay.

That, of course, is nonsense. It is also a direct contradiction of morality and ethics.

Is it not written that lies are wrong? For instance: Proverbs 13, Verse 5: The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.

When someone admits that they will make up stories to get media attention, we get what we have now, a series of cruelties and nonsense perpetrated on an American community, which apparently is okay with J.D. Vance. I suppose all that suffering, the bomb threats and the demonizing of Haitians is also useful in furthering the narrative. So, it’s a twofer, you get the benefits of a made up story and the havoc that the false story brought.

This may be considered a success by some in the political game but not by me. I can’t help but think that real stories of real people with a strong factual basis are superior and call attention to actual issues of importance to all Americans. I am sure to some this appears naïve. But no matter what people say and think I continue to believe that truth is better than lies. I also believe that knowingly using lies as a part of your narrative is a dramatic indication of a lack of a moral character.

There is still right and wrong even in divided America.

James Alan Pilant

Why Isn’t This a Crime??

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-depot-pay-2-million-133019838.html

Home Depot is paying a settlement of around two million dollars for “scanner violations.”

Here is a direct quote from the article referenced at the top:

The complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court said that when people at Home Depot brought an item to checkout, they would be charged more money than was written on the shelf tag or on the item itself. Such violations are called “scanner violations,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said in a press release Thursday.

Why isn’t this a crime? These customers were charged more than the listed price. Is there anyone, anywhere who believes this was just a mistake?

And missing from the article is the most important piece of information of all — how much did Home Depot profit from this nefarious scheme? I suspect that the two million dollars penalty is but a tiny fraction of the amount taken from consumers.

Apparently living as we do in the declining and predatory phase of capitalism this is regarded as a success ful business decision. It is also, evil, morally bankrupt, and a profound insult to the duty of honesty and fair dealing. Jack Welch and Milton Friedman would undoubtedly be impressed by the business skills here displayed by Home Depot.

Do we want morality and ethics in our business dealings in the United States? Apparently not very much or hardly at all. A fine which appears to be but a small fraction of the amount stolen by scanner violations is not going to discourage the company from stealing again.

What are we becoming as a nation, as a people and as a civilization where we routinize simple theft as just part of doing business? It is not too much to demand that businesses abide by the listed prices. It is not too much to demand that businesses abstain from theft. It is not too much to expect that businesses treat their customers as guests and assets rather than easy marks.

We do what is right because it is right, not because it is profitable, or that people might like us. We have duties as Americans to our fellow citizens and the nation as a whole. And if I may speak frankly, a duty to Almighty God to live as just human beings.

James Pilant