I live in a cabin on a lake in the forest. You’d think that whenever the power goes out, there would be silence. Lovely silence. And lovely dark. And there is. For all of thirty seconds. Then everyone’s backup generator goes on. And for the next five, ten, twenty, or forty-eight hours, I hear engine …
Category: ethics
Dec 01 2017
Why don’t we have professional jurors?
A while ago I received a summons to appear for jury selection. So I dutifully drove to the courthouse on the day in question ready to establish my fitness to serve. No, that’s not true. I drove to the courthouse on the day in question ready to answer their questions – and curious as to …
Nov 11 2017
I can do whatever I want on my own property!
I am so very sick and tired of hearing ‘I can do whatever I want on my own property!’ The latest instance concerns a neighbour who has stuck some of those new solar lights in front of her cottage, lakeside of course. Thing is, they don’t have an on/off switch. So what she’s done on …
Jun 05 2017
Business in Denial
‘We’re just providing what the market, what people, demand.’ ‘The customer is squarely in the driver’s seat.’ Yeah right. Gosh, shucks, don’t-look-at-me. One, I doubt that’s true. I mean, if people really wanted your product, you wouldn’t (have to) spend millions on advertising, advertising to persuade them to buy it. Supply isn’t (just) following demand; …
May 02 2017
Visionary?
Reading about Nipissing University’s Students in Free Enterprise (NUSIFE), which is a group of students who undertake projects “intended to increase the public’s awareness of entrepreneurship and business-related subjects,” it occurs to me to wonder why such an endeavour is undertaken only by business students. Consider the projects listed below – and imagine… – “Global …
Nov 08 2014
Men Need to Reclaim the Moral
Something I noticed when I taught Business Ethics, primarily to male students, is that men seem to think ethics is ‘a girl thing’. What? What?! (My god, that can explain everything!) Men routinely insult other men who express concern about doing the right thing—“What are you, a fucking boy scout?” Note that boy scouts are …
Jun 23 2014
No Advertising in Public Space
I once read a sci fi novel in which holographic ads suddenly appeared in front of you, ‘blocking’ your way, almost continuously, as you made your way down a city street. It made me imagine people paid by perfume companies wandering through the streets assailing me with sample sprays… I am a strong advocate of …
Mar 16 2014
Cellphone Syndrome
Originally written when cellphones first appeared. Don’t think I’d change a thing. Has there been a more transparent advertisement of insecurity? Look at me, I’m so popular! Everyone’s calling me! I have so many friends! Answer that thing one more time when I’m with you, you’ll have one less. Look at me, I’m so busy! …
Dec 02 2013
The Provocation Defence – Condoning Testosterone Tantrums (and other masculinities)
According to the Canadian Criminal Code (and probably a lot of other criminal codes), murder can be reduced to manslaughter if the person was provoked. Provocation is defined as “a wrongful act or an insult that is of such a nature as to be sufficient to deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control …
Oct 25 2013
The Right to Life – a given?
What if the right to life was a natural, inalienable human right to age 18, but after that it was an acquired, alienable right? So you had to deserve it somehow, you had to deserve to be alive. And you could lose it, by doing any of a number of things…
fiction
