THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2009
 Is It Ethical to Grant Hero Status to a Mass Killer? No
Lockerbie bomber freed, returns to cheers in Libya
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, Associated Press Writer Tarek El-tablawy, Associated Press Writer
TRIPOLI,
Libya – The only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing returned home
Thursday to a cheering crowd after his release from a Scottish prison —
an outrage to many relatives of the 270 people who perished when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded.
President Barack Obama
said the Scottish decision to free terminally ill Abdel Baset
al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was a mistake and said he should be
under house arrest. Obama warned Libya not to give him a hero's welcome.
Despite the warning, thousands of young men were on hand at a Tripoli airport
where al-Megrahi's plane touched down. Some threw flower petals as he
stepped from the plane. He wore a a dark suit and a burgundy tie and
appeared visibly tired.
He was accompanied ...
posted by CHRIS REICH, THE ETHICS PROJECT August 20, 2009 21:23
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I think it’s sad that this “martyr for the faith” returned home to cheers. Non-Muslims see this and think “I told you so, they are all murderers.” I didn’t follow the trial in the news at the time but trust that if an international court found the man guilty, they likely proved the point. If Islam is truly peaceful, then why don’t we see other men of that faith speaking out against the violence? I’ll grant the Christian church has a history of violence in the dark/middle ages and that it was wrong. Why can’t the Islamic leaders see a path forward with Christians and Jews that’s peaceful? I see what’s happened with Israel and wonder why the Palestinian people can’t be happy until they get all of Israel. They already have half of what was established in 1948 and most of where they lived before is in modern-day Jordon. Why not ask Jordon to contribute land too?
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2009
Business Question
Ok, I'll admit it. The first couple posts were somewhat political. But they are still questions of ethics, not politics. I hope you will enter into discussion on those topics---from an ethical viewpoint because those issues are important. They are important enough to spark division.
Now it's time for a business question.
You are the manager of a medium sized company which produces a food product. Because of the economy, business has been very, very slow. So slow, the business might not make it through the recession.
One day you are out checking the plant and make a terrible discovery. One of the machines is leaking oil into the vat where your food product is mixed before baking. It's not just a drop, it's a steady drip of machine oil. You taste some finished product but are unable to detect any flavor difference in the product. You have no idea how long ...
posted by CHRIS REICH, THE ETHICS PROJECT August 16, 2009 16:24
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Seems to me that this was a humanitarian gesture. I understand why you don't agree with the decision, but calling it unethical? I think it was ethical to let him return to his homeland to die.
Al
Do we report the oil leak and take the consequences, yes.
First, order the line down to repair the problem and get rid of the product know or suspected to be tainted. Then be honest with the proper agencies that come calling. Even on a good day, people dream up lawsuits, so it’s a reasonable fear that someone will file a suit, be ready for it. Take a page from the Tylenol problems from some years ago. They didn’t know how things got contaminated or where, but they took immediate steps which cost a large amount of money. Next they changed the packaging to prevent future problems and spawned a major change in the industry (for the benefit of everyone, though I’ll grant some extra expense along the way.) You can’t assume that it’s not hurting anyone just because you haven’t seen a complaint. Would you want to eat the hamburger that just fell on the floor when you were not looking? Naturally you’re thinking “no.” The floor was recently mopped so it’s relatively clean, is that a justification to serve it?
I’d also be up front with the 26 employees. Here’s what happened and what we’re doing about it. The very real risks of economic failure are in front of us, but it’s the right thing to do. What if the employees are also customers of the tainted product? How would they feel? I’m confident that some will grumble and say they wished everyone kept quiet, but they are the same ones that would holler if their child was made ill by the tainted product.
If we stop doing the right thing, the whole society suffers. Not only that, poor ethical choices have a way of catching up to you. It might get by for a while like Enron or WorldCom, but they eventually got cought.
Mark,
That was a brilliant essay on exactly what I believe would be the proper handling---I especially like that you would gather the employees and be very upfront with them.
OK, now what do you do with the employee who runs to the media with "I have more stories about the company that clearly show this recent event is a pattern---and always covered up"
Though the employee is only trying to gain a moment of fame, still it makes it very hard to disprove a cover-up---after all, it's all covered up, right?
So what do you do with the employee?
Chris
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009
Gay Marriage
Question: Is opposing gay marriage ethical?
Prop. 8 Keep Them Damn Gays From Ruining Marriage!
I wish I'd taken a picture of the sign put up by a self-righteous neighbor. It was done crudely in red paint to simulate blood I suppose. Maybe he already had red paint and poor painting skills. His sign had something to do with him teaching values to his kin not the government. No gay marriage! Let them gays get married and marriage won't mean a thing. It's against God's way. Slippery slope. Next thing ya know, people will marry sheep.
It's wrong to oppose civil rights. My neighbor is Mormon. The Mormon 'Church' was the leading force behind the opposition to gay marriage. Isn't that odd for a group that was once persecuted for having too many wives? Now they want to prevent some people from having one spouse.
Not to pick on Mormons, but that organization ...
posted by CHRIS REICH, THE ETHICS PROJECT August 15, 2009 21:33
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009
War!
September 11, 2001 approximately 2,974 people were killed by 19 militant middle-eastern Islamists most of whom came from Saudi Arabia. In response, rather than immediately working to secure our borders and bringing discipline to our visa system, Bush and his gang manipulated us into sacrificing our sons and daughters as well a big piece of the national treasure to launch his "War on Terror". We've wasted more than $1 Trillion on this fiasco. More than 4,000 members of the military have been killed. Many thousands more suffer from life-devastating injuries. Here are the actual statistics: Take a look at these statistics. If you don't feel ashamed, there's something deeply wrong with you. For some reason, the "religious" seem to have no ethical misgivings about killing civilians as long we're paying back those dirty A-rabs. Ragheads! If they get in the way of us killing terrorists, too damn bad. If we don't kill them ...
posted by CHRIS REICH, THE ETHICS PROJECT August 15, 2009 20:54
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I see the point your trying to make. Still, it sounds more like you are just anti-war. Sometimes it has to be done.
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