Tag: business ethics

AI Weaponized.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

As technology moves forward with often amazing speed, the law struggles to keep up. New offenses never even thought of before are happening every day. One tragic trend is the posting of fake nudes of high school students and there are many others. The internet is a massive information super highway of fraud, deception and filth. I don’t need to tell you in any detail because you see and experience yourself the horror of what the internet has become.

This case detailed in the links below alleges that Dazhon Darien used AI technology to imitate the Pikesville high school’s principal. The fake recording had the principal disparaging minority students and teachers. It was spread about on the internet. Darien was under accusation of having billed the school illegally for about $2000. It seems the motive was revenge.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/25/maryland-teacher-ai-principal

A quote from the article above:

Using cloning technology, Darien forged an audio clip in which it sounded as if the principal was frustrated with Black students and their test-taking abilities, police wrote. The recording also purported to capture the principal disparaging Jewish individuals and two teachers who “should never have been hired”.

The AI attack was very successful. The principal was temporarily replaced as complaints flooded in. This was a truly vicious unprincipled attack. There are many disturbing elements, the main one being this is a first use case. There will be others and the results are likely to be at least as tragic and probably much, much worse.

We must as a society find ways of dealing with these issues of technological criminal innovation much more quickly. AI is a revolutionary technology. To say that it could be used to kill is not an exaggeration. And I while I am seeing a great deal of concern and discussion, I’m not seeing much legislative and administrative action.

Our legislatures, our Governors, our federal system are all creatures of the past with long and storied histories. But they were developed in the age of the horse as the main instrument of travel and the written letter, the primary medium of communication. Let me just give you an example, in the great majority of states, Corporate law requires the Board of Directors to meet annually and keep records of that event. This is directly from an era in which they traveled by train and horse. Isn’t it obvious that the corporate board be regularly involved, meeting often and having some kind of regular contact with the company? Yet the law requires no more than that single meeting a year. And we’ve had the internet, automobiles and telephones for quite some time now and we have not adapted the the statutory law to mandate more contact in an ongoing business. And that is the story across the board in the United States. The laws are based on circumstances that have become obsolete.

I suggest that the Justice Department create a division devoted to technological innovation and crime. This will give the government a slim chance of getting ahead of the curve of these new kinds of crime. We really don’t want to wake up one morning and find that AI had killed, destroyed reputations, collapsed companies and crashed infrastructures without legal recourse for the victims or the government.

We need to act. We must act now. Because the wicked actors both here at home and overseas are not resting. They are actively plotting and will given any opportunity take advantage of these new technologies.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-school-principal-faced-threats-after-being-accused-of-offensive-language-on-a-recording-now-police-say-it-was-a-deepfake/ar-AA1nJhWo

From the article above.

On January 16, a Gmail user known as TJFOUST9 sent an email to three teachers, including Darien, at their school email addresses. The subject line said, “Pikesville Principal — Disturbing Recording.” A sound file was attached. A man could be heard speaking. Among other disparaging comments, including one about two teachers and another about Jewish people, the man said Black students couldn’t “test their way out of a paper bag.” The recording proliferated. A teacher who didn’t get along well with Eiswert admitted to sharing it with a student “who she knew would rapidly spread the message around various social media outlets and throughout the school,” the report said. The teacher also sent the recording to media outlets and the NAACP.

A Borderline Tragedy

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I’m sure most of my kind readers are of the law abiding type. I would like you to imagine what it would feel like to be surrounded by heavily armed policemen who believe that you are a dangerous felon right in the middle of committing a crime. Watch the film below to get the details of what happened to Jamie Rodgers in that same situation. God forbid anything like this should ever happen to you!

Rodgers’ car was in the shop at the dealership. He was given a loaner car so he could drive to work. The dealership mislaid his paperwork and reported the car as stolen. The police stopped him on the highway, surrounded his car with heavily armed officers. He was finally released when the situation was clarified. It is only a matter of chance and luck that he wasn’t killed or seriously injured.

I’m flabbergasted at this error. Is it just routine to report cars as stolen? I did some internet searches looking for dealerships who had reported loaners as stolen but all I got were references to the current case. So, apparently this is far outside the norm.

In my opinion the dealership is liable for pain and suffering. It was a very serious error and they have to be responsible for what they did.

The more I thought about the case, the more I saw the similarities to “swatting.” A bad actor can use the police to harm enemies with this kind of report. Fortunately, there was none of that here. But the strategy of “lets you and him fight” has been a regular ploy throughout all recorded history. Of course, I’m just a cynic. Let’s hope that nothing like this every happens again.

https://hoodline.com/2024/04/orange-county-man-sues-huntington-beach-dealership-after-mistakenly-held-at-gunpoint-by-deputies-over-stolen-car-report

Rodgers, who was on his way to his job as an athletic trainer, told KTLA, “I’m thinking I’m going to get shot. I’m a Black man being pulled over in Orange County. … I’ve heard too many stories of this happening.” A fleet of sheriff’s patrol cars had tailed him, leading to suddenly being stopped and faced with about a dozen officers aiming their guns at him, as they had been mistakenly informed that Rodgers was armed and dangerous.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-sues-dealership-loaner-car-130202906.html

Royal Nonsense.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

By Jr JL – This file was derived from: Duchy of Lancaster-coa.png:, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39911069 —- This was found on wikipedia and I gratefully acknowledge their kindness in letting me borrow the image. As you can see I have quoted in full the attribution they wished attached. JP

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68882308

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/royals-william-kate-camilla-honours-monarchy-archaic

Recently, the King of England has decided in his infinite wisdom to hand out honors. Awarding honors to the deserving is an important function of all mature and intelligent societies. We wish to encourage and recognize acts of bravery, benevolence and sacrifice.

In the course of human events, many are called to heroic deeds. An examination of the news over a period of a few days will disclose people who selflessly risked their lives. For instance, just last week a teacher, Darrell Campbell, at Amman Valley School in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, responded to a stabbing in which three people were injured and wrestled the knife away from the attacker and then subdued the attacker. That is courage worthy of recognition and honor. (The news story is linked to below.)

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/12540784/major-incident-ammanford-school-police

But the King’s ceremony and the award of honors wasn’t for him. You see, the King realized that he knew very well who was deserving of honor and recognition in the name of all that is royal in the realm of Great Britain. The honors were awarded to his wife, Camilla; his son, William; and his son’s wife, Kate.

(From the article:)

Prince William becomes Great Master of the Order of the Bath. Catherine is now a Companion of Honour, which recognises achievement in arts, medicine, sciences and public service. And the Queen becomes the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, once held by the King’s father, Prince Philip, and grandfather George VI.

So, the King decided that while there were undoubtedly thousands of people who deserved honors for the great deeds, it was his wife, son and daughter in law, who merited these attentions. As Mel Brooks announced with great joy in “History of the World, Part One,” — “It is good to be the King.”

Apparently it is also very good to be married to or be an offspring of the King, because the money, the property and honors never stop flowing like an endless stream of benefits paid for by someone else.

Great Britain is similar to the United States in some ways, a semi-common language and some customs. However, the founding fathers directly placed in the Constitution a prohibition against this kind of thing. To quote from the United States Constitution:

Clause 8 Titles of Nobility and Foreign Emoluments No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

And so we don’t in general have this kind of nonsense. And God be praised that we don’t.

We now live in the 21st Century and the idea that there are Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses is a relic of an illiterate, ignorant and moronic age, an age where people actually believed that God had ordained some people to be rulers, not on the basis of any moral or mental quality but simply by accident of birth.

Darrell Campbell, an actual hero, is far more representative of the greatness embodied in the British people than any of these bejeweled fops lauded daily in the press and possessed of incredible wealth and influence taken from the people of the empire. In any society with a shred of dignity or intelligence or judgment, it is he who should stand before the nation and be given honors for his deeds.

It is time for us, all of us, to stop paying attention to these silly royals who have stuff just because of who their parents were.

We should be valued by our own merits as demonstrated in our own lives because that is what is just, and true — and, indeed, worthy of honor.

Ethics Roundup, Week of April 14 to 20

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This last week was crowded with business ethics disasters and issues. Let’s get started. Above you’ll see a short You-Tube video that I liked and included.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/21/louisiana-state-university-oil-firms-influence

Louisiana State University is offering corporations the ability to influence research. The University has, it seems, offered up its intellectual integrity for a price, a very good price. In their defense I have to point out they aren’t selling themselves cheap (maybe it’s more of a rental?). Let me quote from the article above:

For $5m, Louisiana’s flagship university will let an oil company weigh in on faculty research activities. Or, for $100,000, a corporation can participate in a research study, with “robust” reviewing powers and access to all resulting intellectual property. Those are the conditions outlined in a boilerplate document that Louisiana State University’s fundraising arm circulated to oil majors and chemical companies affiliated with the Louisiana Chemical Association, an industry lobbying group, according to emails disclosed in response to a public records request by the Lens.

This is a pivotal moment in the history of the energy industries. I believe they are in the midst of a almost revolutionary pivot. My perception of what is currently happening is that they are attempting to build a huge infrastructure of “carbon capture” industry. The companies ability to limit and influence research would be invaluable when you are an organization that created in large part the global warming crisis and now intend to profit like bandits from that same crisis.

That is just what I think.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/18/splenda-diabetes-lawsuit

A quote from the article linked to above.

(Elizabeth) Hanna, a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes care and education specialist with “16 years of experience in the field of medical nutrition therapy”, according to the lawsuit, says the ADA and in particular Nicole Johnson, the ADA’s vice-president of operations for the science and healthcare division – “a former Miss America who has traded upon the dreams and aspirations of people with diabetes to reach fame and fortune” – pressured her to endorse what she believed were unhealthy and unethical claims.

If you’re teaching ethics or business ethics or any of a number of business courses, this is a lengthy article laden with serious business ethics issues, you should use this. “How much deference should an organization pay to its donors?” is a recurring issue we constantly see over and over again.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/nestle-adds-sugar-to-infant-milk-sold-in-poorer-countries-report-finds

(A quote from the article above.)

Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.

This is the latest in a number of controversies regarding the products international corporations sold in developing countries. Stay tuned. I will probably get to return to this issues again.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/17/canada-elephant-seal-relocation-attempt-failed

I have heard economics described as the “dismal” science. Well, that is not true, it is business ethics. Greed, death and human stupidity are big parts of the field.

So, from time to time, I take a break. This is a fun story.

Here we have an elephant seal who declined to accept relocation.

Last week, gun-wielding conservation officers stuffed a 500lb elephant seal in the back of a van, drove him along a winding highway in western Canada and left him on a remote beach “far from human habitation”.

That beach was 126 miles away. The elephant seal known as Emerson declined to accept relocation and came right back. I side with the seal but I very much want the public to give the fellow a safe distance. He’s got a lot of muscle on him and he’s not in anyway tame.

It wouldn’t be standard week in 2024 without Boeing getting a headline or two. And for Boeing while the headline isn’t friendly, at least parts didn’t fall off of plane or bunch of people die.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/decisions-making-going-end-smoking-182931894.html

I have addressed the Boeing issues before and no doubt will return to the topic in the future. Good article though.

In the United States, politics is something of a business but according to some including our former President, not as much a business as it should be. Trump is asking for five percent of all donations received from candidates who use his likeness in fund raising.

That is a very solid transformation of political relationships into purely business relationships. Every down ballot candidate becomes something of a financial subsidiary. It’s in a real way revolutionary. Here is a link.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-strategist-reacts-trump-unconventional-142447663.html

From the link, one gets the impression, that this “request” is not going over well. Imagine my surprise at this!

Elon Musk has been in the news but he is always in the news much like bad weather and air accidents he figures in our national consciousness. But this is a special occasion. He’s not saying anything stupid or bizarre. Have a look at the link below:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tesla-ask-shareholders-reinstate-pay-112125798.html

From the article:

Tesla is asking shareholders to restore a $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a Delaware judge this year, and to shift the company’s corporate home to Texas. The changes, to be voted on by stockholders at a June 13 annual meeting, could be a tougher sell than when it was first approved in 2018. The Austin, Texas, electric vehicle maker is struggling with falling global sales, slowing electric vehicle demand, an aging model lineup and a stock price that has tumbled 37% so far this year.

So, all Tesla wants is to reward Elon Musk for what some might call leadership by restoring his 56,000,000,000 dollar pay package voided by that meany of a Delaware Judge. They also want the company headquarters moved from Delaware to Texas to escape the aforementioned judge.

You know I was really going to pound Elon Musk for his many missteps but do I really need to? He does not deserve the money. He has acted foolishly and every company and cause associated with him has suffered. Enough said. For another good read on the subject, go to the link below:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-clock-has-struck-midnight-for-tesla-and-elon-musk-145446735.html

Needless, Pointless, Cruelty

On By southwerkIn business ethics

In Great Britain, austerity was imposed on the public and lasted for many years. The decline in the quality and quantity of the infrastructure, schools, public facilities like libraries and medical care has been very hard on the population and is considered a major factor in British economic decline. . It also was cruel and it seems both in fore and hind sight to be unnecessary. But the Tories basked in their “get tough” attitude toward the public. They has showed themselves to be “manly” men, willing to put hard limits on the disorganized mob of citizenry always “looking for a handout.”

The Tories in Britain are watched closely by their American counterparts and the Americans bounce ideas between themselves and as far as I can tell, almost all right wing think tanks and a good number of right leaning politicians find these ideas compelling.

So, all over the United States, Republicans are doing cruel, obnoxious and borderline evil acts to prove that they too have the cojones to deprive the public of important things. So, we have cuts in food to school children, laws against giving water to waiting voters, regular attempts to gut child labor laws and finally — and our topic for today, denying municipalities the right to require water and shade for workers.

Florida under the “leadership” of Gov. DeSantis have a adopted a law banning municipalities from requiring heat protections for worker beyond those provided by state and federal law. This follows adoption of a similar law in Texas. You would think that heat isn’t much of a problem if two legislatures feel that nothing needs to be done locally but people do die: (link below)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heat-killed-florida-sugar-farm-175931833.html

A sugar cane worker on a work visa from Mexico died just the other day. Is that the only death? I very much doubt it but I don’t know of any data base I can find more extensive data from. The sugar cane worker death made the news because they’re contesting the OSHA fine. I suspect that foreign worker deaths rarely make the news.

A study from the University of Florida shows that heat deaths in the stare are on the rise with the changes caused by global warming. (Link Below)

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE558

What do Republicans say about these cruel measures. Well, let me quote:

Republican Rep. Tiffany Esposito of Fort Myers, who sponsored the House version of the bill, told reporters that her husband has worked in South Florida’s construction sector for two decades and that she knows the industry takes worker safety seriously. “This is very much a people-centric bill,” Esposito said. “If we want to talk about Floridians thriving, they do that by having good job opportunities. And if you want to talk about health and wellness, and you want to talk about how we can make sure that all Floridians are healthy, you do that by making sure that they have a good job. And in order to provide good jobs, we need to not put businesses out of business.” (This quote is from the link below.)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-joins-texas-in-banning-local-heat-protections-for-outdoor-workers/ar-BB1lGzFk

“People-centric.” Sometimes you get the impression that the Republican Party is actually some sort of satirical variation on an actual political party. Dead workers are not a demonstration of people centered legislature. And the idea that companies will go out of business if they have to follow heat rules is nonsense.

So, in conclusion, the cruelty is the point. Although there is a certain element of corporate boot licking and servile obedience to the construction industry, inflicting pain on workers is a considered a mark of virtue in the current Republican Party and I am appalled by this pseudo-masculine nonsense.

It is better to feed children, protect the weak and maintain worker protections from danger than to aspire to some kind keyboard machismo.

James Alan Pilant

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-baffles-experts-banning-local-215200502.html

A good comment comparing student athlete protections to worker protections.

Let the Valedictorian Speak Her Mind!

On By southwerkIn business ethics

The University of Southern California has canceled a brief remark (3-5 minutes) scheduled to be given at the graduation this year by the class Valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, on “public safety” grounds.

I may be getting old and cynical but the University’s concern over public safety strikes me as nonsensical. This is the United States of America. From time to time, people have differences of opinion. I promise you Americans are not going to melt like a chocolate bar in hot summer sun if Ms. Tabassum says something many people disagree with in her 3-5 minute remarks.

I also might point out that Ms. Tabassum stated that she had planned to talk about hope although I don’t think after this pitiful controversy that I or anybody else can expect her to continue with that topic.  

In terms of business ethics, if USC is a private business, they have every right to cancel any part of the ceremony for any reason whatever. But they are a public university. If recollection serves, they are one of the land grant universities, one of President Lincoln’s ideas. Public institutions are supposed to respect the rights of Americans, particularly the right to political speech, the most protected form of speech under American Constitutional Law.

What the University should be saying loud and clear is that our new Valedictorian has the right to speak her opinion. We may not agree with that opinion but it is better to live in a nation where people have a right to express their thoughts than one where thought, opinion and speech are proscribed in case they offend the public or the government.

Now, I suppose some readers will accuse me of being Pro-Palestinian. To be honest, I don’t side much with anybody in this Middle Eastern mess. The Palestinians deserve the right to live, work and exercise voting rights. Their property must be protected. The Israeli’s have the right to exist and to be free from attack. Lots and lots of people have died and suffered sexual assaults. Hamas has done a bunch of killing and Israel with its indiscriminate use of firepower has done an even bigger bunch of killing. Do you see why I find both sides problematic?

But while elements of this dispute have traveled to the United States, we are neither Israel or Palestine. Most of us are neither Muslims or Jews. We can hear both sides strident as the voices may be and make up our own minds as Americans are supposed to do.

James Alan Pilant

https://www.yahoo.com/news/let-her-speak-usc-campus-100043988.html

University officials chose Tabassum, a biomedical engineering major with a minor in resistance to genocide, as valedictorian from a pool of nearly 100 applicants with GPAs of 3.98 or above. The title comes with an invitation to deliver a 3-to-5-minute speech to an audience of about 65,000 at the campuswide commencement ceremony on May 10.

Three Moral Codes

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

If you had never had read a book on business ethics published in the United States, you might assume that the first thing they would discuss would be American codes of Conduct or at the very least our informal codes of conduct. The fact is they don’t discuss it at all, and I think they should.

Our teaching of business ethics would be more effective if we didn’t imply that all moral beliefs are basically relative to time and place – and spend so much time implying that the moral minimum is all that is necessary. Most human beings believe in higher values and have a strong sense of morality.

If we start with a baseline of common American morality, our teaching will be more effective.

American do have some common beliefs about morality. Our informal codes are things like you shouldn’t overcharge or be rude to customer or damage the environment. I believe using some polling data you could with a little research generate a generalized American sense of morality.

That would be a nice start but there are two more codes common in this nation. Many Americans belong to one religion or another. Current data says that — 43% of the Americans polled identify themselves as Protestants and 20% identify themselves as Catholic. These religions have highly developed moral codes.

If you wanted to talk about Protestant codes of conduct you could use the one advocated by the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran World Federation publishes these basic premises:

Dignity and justice

Each and every person is created in God’s image, is gifted with talents and capacities, and has dignity, irrespective of social status, gender, ethnicity, age, ability, or other differences.

Compassion and commitment

Inspired by God’s love for humanity, we seek to show care and compassion toward people who are suffering—the poor, the vulnerable and marginalized, and minority populations and faiths, who experience discrimination, violence, and hardship in different contexts.

Respect for diversity

Differences among us express the richness of God’s creation.

As a global communion of churches we value and seek to understand our differences in culture, history, and context.  

We also cherish the way in which these have shaped our theological understandings, our perspectives on moral and ethical questions, and our practice of ministry, mission, and service.

Inclusion and participation

We are committed to being inclusive and enabling the full and equitable participation of women, men, people of all ages and people with disabilities.

Our commitment to inclusion encompasses church life and society, and the decision-making processes, activities, and programs of the LWF itself.

We understand that power dynamics, cultural norms, access to resources, and other factors create barriers to participation and we work to overcome these.

Transparency and accountability

We are a responsible steward of the resources and responsibilities that God has entrusted to us.

We are committed to transparency in our aims, processes, decisions, and use of resources. We strive to being accountable to the people we serve, including our member churches, partners, and donors. 

If you wanted to start with a code of ethics this would be a good one.

Now, the Catholic Church has a huge set of teachings on business ethics clearly implied from their voluminous teaching on social issues. From time to time Popes issue encyclicals on social issues. They are not small documents and the first dates to 1891 and the most current one was published in 2015.

To summarize very, very briefly, there are four core elements:

  1. The Dignity of the Human Person
  2. The Common Good
  3. Subsidiarity (there is a lot on this)
  4. Solidarity

So we have informal poll driven moral rules, that we can derive from general behavior and beliefs. We have a culture with a code of ethics associated with Protestantism and we have Catholic Social Doctrine.

None of these are hiding but you seldom (never) see them in business ethics text books.

Maybe it is time that changed and we start discussing some basic rules of morality before we get into our examples and case studies?

If we are going to talk about business ethics, let’s start with rules of ethical behavior.

James Pilant

—- The Lutheran World Federation’s web site contains a good deal more information – and is generally a good read.

—- The Faith Initiative Home Page has voluminous amounts of data on Catholic Social Teaching and I heartily recommend it.

The Piper Cub

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

The Piper Cub

A program I often watch on YouTube is “The History Guy.” His theme is exploration of little known historical stories. The one that I link to below is about The Piper Cub.


Generally writing about business ethics is similar in a way to policing, that is, police very often see people at their worst. I, writing about business ethics, often see businesses, corporations and owners at their very worst.

 
Policeman have to be careful not to become jaded believing that every human being is a crook and a scoundrel. After reading thousands of articles about misbehaving companies, it is difficult at times to give companies the benefit of the doubt. One can begin to believe that every business owner is a crook and a knave. 


Here is a story of a product and a company that did much good. I’m sure there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of stores like these. But here is a company that made an innovative and successful product which was an enormous benefit to consumers, the public at large, the American military and a nation at war. 


So, once in a while, I like to talk about positive business ethics and the importance of not just doing what’s right but going beyond the needs of just the moral minimum, not breaking the law. This is a good example. 


Piper Aircraft built an inexpensive airplane that was suitable for training new pilots and an inexpensive new plane for those new pilots. When the war started, the plane became part of the war effort and a little less than half a million pilots were trained on the aircraft over four years. So, it is known in some circles as “The plane that taught America to fly.” 

A company made an innovative product that helped American win a war. That is a business ethics success.


James Pilant

The History Guy tells the story of the Piper Cub.

The United Airlines Edition

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics19 Comments

The United Airlines Edition

United Airlines has acted outside the norms of business ethics. They have done so in a manner the requires the guilty be punished.

Let me list some links so you can get a grasp of the actions of what calls itself an airline:

United Airlines passenger forcibly removed from overbooked flight

Passenger dragged off overbooked United flight

Man Violently Dragged Off Plane After United Airlines Overbooks Flight

Or my favorite –

Video shows man forcibly removed from United flight from Chicago to Louisville

I’ve thought about this since I first saw the headlines and I gone from rage to lamenting the sorry spectacle of human stupidity.

The Fire Everyone Edition

Here we have what purports to be a business overbooking flights and using the way the contract is worded to get rid of the unwanted passengers. You notice I don’t call them customers. It’s obvious that the “airline” doesn’t consider them to be that big a deal. Maybe the words, victims, suppliants or some other word the implies a human being considered as nothing more than temporary way to turn some coin might be found to fit.

I suppose the company might have been within its contractual rights to drag everyone off the plane using whatever force it considered reasonable. Maybe the passengers are lucky that didn’t occur to the leadership at United. It’s possible the the company would have considered the unhappy publicity a small price to pay for compliant and obedient passengers in the future. I don’t know.

What I do know is this – somebody has to be fired. In fact, a lot of people need to be fired. This sorry spectacle shows what happens to people when corporations can use the law to enforce their whims. The company took a simple civil dispute and converted into a tragedy. It appears they dragged a doctor off a plane and injured him for not giving up his seat and attempting to assert his rights under the law of this nation.

What we see here is raw power on display.

Did they intend to explain to us who really matters and who doesn’t? It doesn’t matter. The lesson is clear. If you fly United, be obedient and servile or they can drag you from your seat and throw you off the plane like garbage.

Fire everyone. That’s one it is going to take for the lesson to take hold. And what lesson it that, you might ask.

We’re Americans, a proud people and we don’t have to obedient to any company’s whims, and they shouldn’t be able to harm us for standing up for our rights.

I think that’s important. Don’t you?

James Pilant

The Emily Yoffe Edition

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics

The Emily Yoffe Edition

i_00i_248_tnWhat’s good business ethics? There are a lot of ways to talk about business ethics but let’s simplify. When you buy something, take it home and it works perfectly right out of the box, you are experiencing a form of good business ethics. Unfortunately not all products come in neat boxes or can be unpackaged in a physical way.

Such is writing. We absorb a lot of writing every day. I read at least two hours every day and on most days a lot more.

This morning there was a lot of amazing things on the web. I spent close to thirty minutes reading about the Guardian’s expose on the John Doe investigation in Wisconsin. And there was a lot more. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume and power of the business ethics issues presented today.

And then I came across an article in the online magazine, Slate, “The Woman Who Taught Me Prudence.” 

Here’s a paragraph –

There’s another thing, too. As we were becoming friends, I had just become a mother and was still trying to figure out how to put that together with the vagaries of freelance journalism. One of Marjorie’s great subjects was the intersection for women of family and work—she was writing brilliantly about the dilemma I felt I was figuring out badly. One day, stuck at the veterinarian’s office trying to corral my miscreant beagle and my 3-year-old daughter, a Washington talk show appeared on the waiting-room TV, and there was Marjorie. She looked glamorous and was dropping bon mots, and I felt the sharp sting of jealousy. I hated myself for it, especially since I knew that Marjorie’s success was earned. How well I knew this was demonstrated by the fact that before I undertook any writing of my own, I would read something by Marjorie. Not to copy her voice, but to help me find my own, to be inspired by her tart precision.

This is good writing, very good. Follow my advice and go read the whole thing.

So today, instead of or in addition too, writing about various horrors perpetrated on the American people and this is important. I’m going to let it take a back seat to writing about the glory and wonder of doing it right.

Emily Yoffe wrote well today.

James Pilant