Everyday Ethics

The big question that caught my eye in the news recently regards Facebook’s ethical obligations.

13 countries have made Holocaust denial a crime. Personally, no matter how abhorrent I find the blatant dismissal of the Holocaust, I can’t stand behind the idea of outlawing a person’s right to believe in these thoughts.

While attorney Brian Cuban seems to be steering clear of First Amendment issues, he is up in arms about the fact that Facebook, as a private company which does have the right to restrict speech, hasn’t removed Holocaust Denial groups such as “Holocaust: A Series of Lies,” and “Holocaust is a Holohoax”.

So the question isn’t if Facebook has a legal obligation to remove these groups, but if they have an ethical obligation.

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Every day, it seems there’s another Carrie Prejean story in the news. For those who haven’t been paying attention (and I kinda wish I was one of you), she’s the Miss USA pageant contestant from California whose answer to a question about her opinion on gay marriage (she opposes it on religious grounds) may have cost her the title. Amid much hoopla and debate, her name has been bandied about in the media and all over the Internet. She’s been the subject of both scorn and worship, depending on which side of the aisle you favor, even becoming a ‘defender of marriage’ for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a conservative organization. Honestly, I thought her 15 minutes were over.

Then it came out that she not only has breast implants, but that the pageant paid for them. That really blew my mind.  (Wasn’t there a time when they wouldn’t even let you compete in a beauty pageant if you so much as dyed your hair?)

Then, a day later, topless photos of her surfaced on the internet.

Strangely enough, I am not a Carrie Prejean hater. Though I disagree vehemently with her views on gay marriage (full disclosure: flaming liberal here) I think she’s as entitled to her opinion as I am to mine. (Sort of.) Besides, she was asked the question–by Perez Hilton no less.

I guess what’s bugging me about this ongoing story is not Miss Prejean’s arguable hypocrisy in promoting a ‘clean, Christian’ lifestyle if she’s been secretly snapping racy pictures or getting her breasts enhanced. It’s more the moral ambiguity of pageants proffering young women up as ‘role models’ for others, provided they first meet certain societal standards. This begs the question: Why are we publicly judging women at all? Especially, primarily, on their appearance? Why do we, as a society, enjoy putting young women in the spotlight and then delight in tearing them down?

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By way of introduction, I’d like to share a little about myself. (I’d promise not to do it again, but I undoubtedly will.) I was raised by a family who assumed I’d always instinctively understand the difference between right and wrong. Though I’m of Jewish descent, we didn’t subscribe to a particular belief system, so as a child, in place of religious rules and regulations, I was instead shamed with a frown of disapproval or dished up a helping of residual Jewish guilt when I did something inappropriate. Good behavior was modeled for me in the little things, like showing up on time and following through on promises we made. There were few actual conversations in our house about how to behave or what to do in case of an ethical dilemma. In fact, growing up in the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, mom’s best advice was usually about how to make sure no one took advantage of us. For instance, I vividly remember an incident that happened when I was only perhaps five or six and my brother three years older:

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Standing in an especially long line at my bank yesterday, my wandering mind intersected at two points: my poor, beleaguered bank account (sob, tear) and the summer bank heist movie, Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Where did these thoughts intersect? Well, not to give away any of my more nefarious “get rich quick” schemes, but I started wondering exactly how far I really would go to make a little extra cash.

I came up with this little checklist of would’s and would-not’s: 

• I would not take part in a bank heist, even with Johnny Depp as my partner in crime.
• I would climb the Space Needle, a la new MTV show, The Phone. (Quick summary for those who haven’t seen the show: four strangers are given the chance to pair up and win $50,000, as long as they survive daring missions.) 
• I would not refuse to split the reward for climbing the Space Needle with my partner on the ground. Well, I say this with near certainty; I had trouble sharing as a child and have been trying to make up for it ever since.
• I would not steal from a friend.
• I would donate my eggs. 
• I would consider an Office Space-esque scheme of filching pennies (consider, people, just consider!)
• I would not become a stripper.

That’s about as far as I got during my 5 minutes in line. How far would you wander into murky territory to make these tough times just a little bit easier?