Grappling with the Gray

About five years ago, I was driving home from Dallas, Texas, when I pulled up to a toll booth in Oklahoma. Being somewhat directionally challenged, I told the attendant that I was turning west, thereby exempting myself from the toll of $2.50. When I reached the turnoff, however, I realized that I needed to go east, but there was no way of getting back to correct my error without a complicated and...

Recently, Republican NY Congressman George Santos was indicted on 13 federal criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the House.  He may be better known for the many lies he allegedly told about his record leading into his successful election bid. Prior to his indictment, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia introduced a resolut...

Recently, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been under fire for accepting lavish gifts from a wealthy friend. It’s worth noting that neither Moses nor the prophet Samuel ever asked to borrow a donkey on the slim chance that it might be perceived as leveraging their authority and prestige for personal gain. That being said, even the esteemed Yale Law Professor Stephen L. Carter, writing for...

If you get your work done in half the time, is the other half of your time really yours? Last week, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced that she would resign from her position amidst charges of chronic mismanagement and neglect of duty. Among other allegations, local reporters discovered that Ms. Gardner had been taking classes in a full time nursing program during a staffing crisis i...

Are we setting ourselves up for failure... or worse? In the wake of Jack Teixeira allegedly leaking classified information damaging to American security and embarrassing to American prestige, columnist Rob Henderson wonders if the lower standards and increasing incentives for military recruits has contributed to a less committed class of soldiers. It’s concerning, if not surprising, that patriotis...

Whose side are the media on? In what appears to be a coincidence, news anchors Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon were fired over the weekend by Fox News and CNN respectively, despite both having huge followings. The reasons are not entirely clear, but are presumed to be a response to questions about journalistic ethics and combative style, especially coming in the wake of the huge settlement negotiated...

What happens when we sabotage our own efforts to promote values by sending contradictory messages? That's the ethics challenge the panel takes up when Natalia Alvarez, Ph. D., JC Glick, and Lovelda Vincenzi join me to Grapple with the Gray. A teacher at the private Girls’ Day School Trust in the UK was recently ordered to apologize and subsequently told her contract would not be renewed after...

A close friend shares with you her hurt and outrage. When the subject of the Holocaust came up in social studies class, a teacher told your friend’s teenage son that he should go back to Auschwitz. The boy, who had previously been proud and open about his Jewish identity, has now abandoned all outward signs of being Jewish. Your friend reported the incident to both the principal and to the school...

"I can do what I want." That's true. But what do I really want? And what should I really want? Charity is a foundational value of civil society. The Bible mandates a tithe, which the sages interpret to mean between 10 and 20 percent of one’s income. The government gives tax breaks to encourage charitable donations; and wealthy philanthropists are known to give away billions of dolla...

Should we expect objective truth in art, or does creative license allow ignoring facts in order to tell a more compelling story? Few things in life are black and white. That’s why we have to learn to Grapple with the Gray. This episode's ethics challenge: Popular movies are often introduced with the message, “Based on true events,” implying a reasonably accurate depiction of reality. We take...

If no good deed goes unpunished, should we still risk doing the right thing? Few things in life are black and white.  That’s why we have to learn to Grapple with the Gray. This episode's ethics challenge: True story: Susan was working in the back office of a neighborhood clinic one morning.  A patient arrived and was admitted for consultation.  Susan heard raised voices, after which the patie...

How can we raise authentic concerns without being accused of political motivation or politically correctness? That's our topic when the ethics panel convenes to Grapple with the Gray. During his presidency, Ronald Reagan was often criticized for inaccuracies and misstatements. Sometime after he left the White House at age 77, it was revealed that he had been showing the first symptoms of Alzh...

When do you cross the line from marketing to manipulating? When do you become complicit in other people's unethical behavior? How far do you have to go to correct other people's moral missteps? These are some of the questions the ethics panel takes up on this archive episode of Grappling with the Gray. This episode's ethics challenge: Benny was widely recognized as a whiz kid by his...

True story: A couple went out to dinner together. They ordered a variety of appetizers and shared them. A couple of hours after returning home, the wife became extremely ill, vomiting so violently that the husband felt compelled to call 911. An ambulance arrived (together with a fire truck), and took them to the emergency room, where they spent six hours as the doctors attempted to treat the wife...

A recent article on Substack by Gurwinder outlines in horrifying detail how TikTok is intentionally designed in a way that promotes addiction, encourages irresponsible and antisocial behavior, erodes fundamental human values, accelerates mental impairment, and contributes to mass psychological illness. The China-based platform is now the most downloaded app on the web. At the same time, the Chines...

To how much collateral damage can we subject others in order to save ourselves? That's this week's topic on Grappling with the Gray. In the movie Passengers, a computer malfunction wakes up Chris Pratt out of hibernation too early, 90 years before his spaceship is going to reach its destination. He now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life alone, with no one for company exc...

Can we trust the whistleblowers? A video released last week by Project Veritas appears to show a Pfizer executive admitting that the company has at least considered producing mutations of the Covid virus in order to perpetuate its lucrative vaccine manufacturing business. If true, the video provides damning evidence of highly unethical and predatory practices. A columnist in Forbes claims to have...

Does taking responsibility require micromanaging? Is it ever possible to expect too much oversight? Can due diligence erode the foundations of trust? These are some of the issues the ethics panel takes up in this week's ethics challenge: Recently, Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the accidental death of Halyna Hutchins by a prop gun that tur...

Are the ethics between human beings different from the ethics between Man and Machine? That's what we'll be investigating in this week's episode of Grappling with the Gray. Here is our ethics challenge: In 1955, Walter M. Miller won the first ever Hugo Award for his science fiction novelette, The Darfsteller, the story of a former actor who had refused to let his persona be digitali...

If there's a time for every season, how do we determine which season we're currently in? Join this week's panelists on LinkedIn Live as they grapple with this ethical challenge: The entire country has followed the story of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, his dramatic collapse during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, his suspension between life and death, and his remarkable p...

Is misrepresentation ever justified if it motivates beneficial action? Can the greater good or a higher truth provide an excuse for lying? What are the unintended consequences of the ends justifying the means? These are some of the topics addressed when the panelists grapple with the gray. This week's ethics challenge: In February, 2017, Dr. John Bates made headlines by claiming that his form...

Is a crime ever victimless, even where there really are no victims? If I take someone else's idea but then make it my own, how much have I actually stolen? If pursing the right course demands an act of piracy, can piracy itself be the right course? These are some of the topics addressed when this week's panel grapples with the gray. This episode's ethics challenge: In the 2019 movie...

Few things in life are black and white. That’s why we have to learn to Grapple with the Gray. Here is this episode's ethics challenge: We’re encouraged to buy reusable shopping bags that make disposable bags unnecessary and thereby help protect the environment. But is that actually a good idea? In 2019, the top ten grocery stores in Britain reported selling 1.5 billion reusable bags, an avera...

Not everything is black and white.  That's why we have to grapple with the gray. Here is this episode's ethics challenge: A woman recently sued Kraft Heinz for $5 million over misleading advertising. The company markets its Velveeta Shells & Cheese as being "ready in 3 1/2 minutes.” In fact, that's the amount of time each cup needs to be microwaved; but it doesn’t include t...

Not everything is black and white. That's why we need to grapple with the gray. Here is this episode's ethics challenge: Daniel owned a neighborhood restaurant. One day, he received a frantic call from his friend Michael, who owned a local catering business.  “My freezer just broke down.  Can I store a few cases of chickens in your freezer for a week or two until I get mine repaired?” Da...