Padmini Mangunta: July 2009 Archives

One of the fundamentals of ethics is honesty, I'd say. Yet, I'm kind of a dishonest person. I consider myself to be basically morally sound, so why do I say this? Well, I tend to tell people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
 
 A couple of years ago I gave into a friend's blind date scheme. I exchanged a few emails with this "friend of a friend" and eventually set a date to meet for drinks. Read on; then tell me, is this not the best worst-date story or what?

Some backstory: A few days before our date, I decided to go chasing after a New York City bus on an icy night and had a very intimate face-to-asphalt encounter with 2nd Avenue.  Strangers behaved quite ethically and picked my unconscious self off the busy street, laid me down on the sidewalk and called an ambulance. One emergency room visit later, I was missing most of my front teeth, had had the shards of those teeth suctioned out of my lips - which, might I add, had ballooned into a grotesque version of Angelina's--and had a nice pattern of stitches decorating my mouth.

Trust me, I didn't look so hot by the time the date rolled around (I mean, who looks hot with a broken face?) so I tried to give the mystery man a pass; he didn't take it.

Professional sports and I do not go together like peanut butter and jelly - my eyes take on a lovely shade of "glazed" when my male friends start down the road of player stats, fantasy leagues and rankings.  But Michael Vick? Well, he's an interesting subject.

On Monday, Vick was conditionally reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after spending 18 months in jail for dogfighting.

In the interests of justice, I do believe that Vick has paid the dues allotted him and should now be allowed to venture into society and attempt become a productive member (who does not murder animals).

Does that mean, however, that he should be welcomed back into professional football with open arms? Nope, says I (indeed, we have yet to see if he will be welcomed back at all).

This issue has generated countless questions of a varied nature that I am not prepared to answer - questions about race, cruelty, justice, brutality and a few about football. But I think it comes down to sportsmanship.

This will perhaps sound a bit too "girly" for die-hard lovers of professional sports, but I want to see professional sports leagues rise above profit and greed and trading players. I want to see athletes who are, if not actual heroes, capable of fulfilling the fantasy of being a hero. And this means not killing dogs, beating women or owning a brothel.

In the end, it comes down to the NFL, NBA, MLB,  and so on. Who are their players? Who do they want their players to be? They are the only ones who can set and maintain a higher standard and so they should.

Perhaps they could even take the Olympics creed and tweak it a bit: Faster, Higher, Stronger, and Morally Sound.

What do you think? Should Michael Vick be welcomed back? Are all sins forgiven when it comes to sports?

When Hillary wrote her post about Obama speaking out on Skip Gates' arrest, I mentally applauded her for tackling the topic- from beginning to hopeful end, the whole fiasco gives me a headache.

However, many of the responses to the story - not necessarily on this blog, but on all the various media coverage - surprised me. Many people seemed to think that racism is no longer an important problem in the United States. Now, I'm not saying that the Gates' incident was a racial issue; I have my opinions on the matter but like most of us, I wasn't there.

I am, however, surprised by comments such as Andrea's on this blog, who said, "I want him to get something done about health care and he just derailed that by giving people this race-based story to shout about for the next two weeks. It isn't all that important."

"When you become a public figure you are held to a different level of scrutiny and ethics."

This was the response by Fort Myers' councilman, Tom Babcock, when questioned about the firing of town manager Scott Janke -- fired because his wife is a porn star.

Well, fair enough, Mr. Babcock, I agree with that statement. Except...what exactly was unethical about Janke's marriage and how did it figure into the quality of his work?

Pornography is a diverse form of entertainment, and like other forms of entertainment, can be done in an ethical manner or unethical manner. Simplified: Consensual sex portrayed on-screen = ethical. Abusive, non-consensual sex = unethical.  From what I understand, Anabela Janke's career choice is completely consensual, on and off the camera.

The mayor of Fort Myers, Larry Kiker, makes the argument that Janke's career detracted and distracted from Scott Janke's job as town manager. Personally, I think it is Kiker who is inappropriately distracted from his job.

What do you think? I've posted a CNN video on the topic below (sidenote: be warned, the attorney they have as an expert is headache-inducing).

To follow-up on my post last week about the punishment for those convicted of genocide in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria recently spoke with CNN about how Rwanda is actually Africa's success story. I've posted part of the interview below.

Most of the responses to my original post dealt with the question of punishment; Rwandan president Paul Kagame found himself with a country where killers lived side by side with their victims. His solution? Forgiveness.

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Zakraia: Rwanda is very unique in its post-conflict makeup. As the New Yorker writer, Phillip Gourevitch, points out, in Germany, the Jews left for America and Israel. In the Balkans the warring groups spilt up geographically. In Cambodia, the class that perpetrated the violence was easily identifiable and separated. In Rwanda, however, the killers and the victims live side-by-side, in every village and community. Can you imagine Nazis and Jews living next door to one another?

CNN: So what did President Kagame do?

Zakraia: The only way President Kagame could see to make peace was to reintegrate these communities. He came up with a specially crafted solution -- using local courts called Gacacas.

In each village, the killers stood before their neighbors and confessed, and in turn were offered forgiveness -- part court, and part community council. It has made for a fascinating historical experiment that seems to be working.

More from CNN.

Normal 0 As a single girl, I must admit breastfeeding stories don't often catch my eye. So, please forgive me for being a little late on the "let's lynch the drunken breastfeeding mother" bandwagon.Honestly, I'm reluctant to lynch the...

Not.On Tuesday, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced a former governor of Rwanda to life imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide. This is the third such ruling this year; previous convictions by the U.N. court include 25...

Back in 2006, Maria del Carmen Bousada gave birth to a set of twins - at the ripe old age of 66. Three years later, she's passed away, leaving behind two young children. After Bousada became pregnant using in...

I love a good conspiracy theory. U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook is refusing to deploy to Afghanistan because he doesn't acknowledge President Obama as the rightful president of the United States. Cook is being represented by Orly Taitz, who...

Normal 0 Should a legal brothel be allowed to fund a man's bid for the 2012 Olympics? New Zealand's Logan Campbell says yes. The Taekwondo athlete needs $300,000 to train his way to London, and by golly, he'll do...

Normal 0 Normal 0 One of the many things I love about my friends is their unflagging enthusiasm - since I started writing for this blog, countless dinner conversations and happy hour chatter have ended with the refrain, "Hey!...

A Boston orphanage may shut down due to lack of funding, and officials estimate 20% of the children will not be placed in new homes and could be euthanized.Shocking? Yep. True? Well, no. However, substitute "orphanage" for "zoo" and "children"...

More from the "Everyone Knows This Is Unethical But Let's Enjoy a Rare Moment of Unanimity" file. Or perhaps the "Who Does That?" file.  Apparently authorities in Chicago have been conducting an investigation into graverobbers at Burr Oak Cemetery over...

Hillary and I were catching up yesterday and found ourselves chatting about the recent Burger King ad controversy. We yammered on in complete agreement for a few minutes before realizing we were referring to completely different ads, both in...

Whoa now. A church in Florida is not mincing words on a sign posted on its grounds, "Islam is of the Devil". The church's pastor, Terry Jones, has no qualms about the sign, saying he plans on adding other signs to...

Last night I wrote a post relaying my discomfort and chagrin at what I considered to be an unethical gut reaction to the homage paid to Michael Jackson after his death. A few days earlier, Hillary referenced an article...

I scared myself a bit today - while I've always prided myself for being independent enough to see past the ol' Republican/Democrat divide, I've never actually experienced a time in which my gut (as opposed to my head) agreed...

Warning: This post is based on a series of assumptions. Yesterday, Sarah Palin resigned from her position as governor of Alaska. Her supporters are left reeling in confusion, and her critics are chalking this up to more bizarre behavior...

Ah love. Love with the capital L. It's great, isn't it --the natural high, the bliss, the warmth that comes from finding someone to love. Until you experience the lows - the breakups, the heartbreak, trusting your happiness in...

An editing background + ethical blogging = geeky enjoyment over this Banana Republic typo. Apparently ethics are in style this season!...