Ethics Newsline®

The Institute for Global Ethics is relocating a few miles down the coast from Camden. Our new office in Rockland, Maine, will be open for business beginning April 22. While our home on the Internet remains the same, our updated physical address and contact numbers follow:

Institute for Global Ethics
91 Camden Street, Suite 403
Rockland, ME 04841
Phone: 207-594-6658
Fax: 207-594-6648
Toll-free: 800-729-2615 (U.S. Only)

For more information, see this week’s Research Report.

by Rushworth M. Kidder

If Barack Obama becomes president, he stands to bring young people into U.S. political life in ways unseen since the Kennedy years. On this point there is little dispute.

But what if he loses? What will happen to that surge of youthful political energy? On this profoundly moral question, the discussion has hardly begun.

This energy is not illusory, but it is new. In his 2000 report titled “Civic Engagement,” Thomas Ehrlich of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching found deep “political disaffection” and “mounting political apathy” among young adults. How quickly things change! Now, a scant eight years later, young people are flocking to Obama’s campaign. His rallies regularly galvanize huge turnouts among youth. Exit polls in the Democratic primaries so far (not counting Florida and Michigan) show about 60 percent of the under-30 crowd supporting him. Many of these young people are dragging their parents along with them: One get-out-the-vote bumper sticker reads, “Tell Your Mama/Vote for Obama!”

If he loses, does that energy simply dissipate? Will apathy and disaffection sweep in again? Or, conversely, will young people transmute their pent-up disappointment into cynicism, anger, even violence? Will there be a 1960s-like uprising over an unpopular war, an economic downturn, and distrust of politics?

In fact, there may be a third option — one that I sensed earlier this month during a four-day tour of post-Katrina New Orleans. There, community organizers like Broderick Bagert — himself a highly educated thirty-something drawn back home to his flood-ravaged city by the immense potential for change — noticed other young people gravitating toward New Orleans long before they began moving toward Obama.

Bagert is a senior organizer for Jeremiah Group, which comprises several dozen community-based religious congregations, schools, and unions. Trained by the Industrial Areas Foundation under a principle that says, “Never do anything for people that they can do for themselves,” he now trains others to develop local leaders, build relationships and networks, and create better futures for their communities. Not surprisingly, groups like his are magnets for young volunteers.

“There are a lot of young people who’ve moved here,” he says, “and even more who have come in for spring-break cleanup and service trips.” While he admires their pep, he’s concerned that many are awash with “romanticism” — a “salvation mentality” that he sometimes sees in his peers and once saw in himself.

“I started this work arrogant and naïve and overly rigid,” he admits. He then had to learn the value of listening to older people and creating relationships — “developing some reverence,” he calls it, “which is not our generation’s strongest suit.” Without such training and seasoning, he finds that youthful zeal can produce “short-term wonders,” but that it eventually “renders people ineffective.”

“‘I’m going to go save the world,’” he sees his generation saying, “‘and when that doesn’t work out, I’m going to be a corporate lawyer.’”

What needs developing, he feels, is “a deep commitment to institutions.” He wants his generation to understand the difference between movements and organizations. The former, he says, are built around charismatic leaders, with a following of disconnected individuals drawn together by enthusiasm. Organizations, by contrast, “are built on institutions, with lots of leaders and networks and relationships built around interests.”

And that, at bottom, is the challenge facing Obama — who, like Bagert, has a background as a trained community organizer. His campaign didn’t create the youth movement: It was at work in New Orleans, Chicago, and other cities long before he stepped out in front of it. But where will it go from here?

If he wins, his ethical obligation will be to channel all that energy away from a focus on his own charisma and into the tough, persistent task of building local leaders and institutions. If he loses, that obligation will fall to the volunteer sector. A wave of newly energized youth — disappointed, deflated, and in danger of falling eight years backwards into apathy and disaffection — could hit them like Katrina’s storm surge. If the sector is unprepared, it will probably just hunker down and wait it out, lest the surge overwhelm their mental and moral levees. If they’re prepared, they’ll absorb, train, and deploy these young people in ways that give them practical successes while preserving their idealism.

And if that happens, this surge could be the force for change that the nation long has been awaiting.

©2008 Institute for Global Ethics

Questions or comments? Write to newsline@globalethics.org.

Rushworth Kidder’s column last week looked at the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans — not just from the standpoint of physical recovery but also from renewal of the nation’s view of ethics and of the responsibility of government.

Among the reactions from readers: “The American Way from the beginning was to stand up and face the challenge and accomplish what we can to the best of our ability.”

And a native of New Orleans offered this observation: “When all is said and done, New Orleans is certainly undergoing a national experiment of grand proportions that warrants sincere attention, because its rise from total devastation will be a landmark in how other cities and communities will need to face if such devastation should occur to them. It will be interesting to watch how Arkansas recovers from this winter’s storms. Remember, hurricane season is not too far away for New Orleans.”

– Compiled by Ethics Newsline® editor Carl Hausman

“Anybody who looks at the two cases will see that there is an enormous difference between the two of them. The people that are trying to draw comparisons to the two cases are people who’ve never agreed with me on important issues like immigration and other things.”

– Sen. David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, rejecting comparisons between his patronage of a DC prostitution ring and the similar scandal that recently ended the career of New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Vitter, who was identified last June as a repeat client of the DC prostitution ring, has declared the matter settled on the grounds that he had “asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife.” Since the statute of limitations has expired, no criminal charges are expected against Vitter, and his party’s leadership to date has taken no action against him. The trial of the woman running the ring is wrapping up this week. Vitter was not required to testify, notes the Associated Press.

Sources: AP, Apr. 14 — Observer, Apr. 11 — Independent Weekly of Lafayette, Louisiana, Mar. 19.

Video of gang beating played over and over on network news while anchors warn how difficult it is to watch; meanwhile, employees of “Dr. Phil” bail out one of the accused attackers in hopes of doing a show

LAKELAND, Fla.
A disturbing video of teenagers beating an acquaintance has raised ethics questions on several levels, including the societal implications of the apparently staged-for-video assault and the moral responsibility of media outlets that aired the tape.

Last week, six teenage girls, ranging in age from 14 to 17, and two male classmates were charged as adults with battery and kidnapping in a March 30 attack in Lakeland, Florida, the New York Times reports.

Their adult status means their names and likenesses — as well as the video that sparked the arrest — can be disseminated freely by the press.

The video shows the extended beating of a 16-year-old girl and has been the focus of a variety of network TV shows, “with anchors often describing how hard the beating was to watch, even as clips of the attack played over and over on screen,” observes the Times.

Defendants were released on bail and banned from using “any Internet chat room, social site, opinion forum, included, but not limited to, MySpace and YouTube,” according to the judge’s order, notes the Lakeland Ledger.

It is believed that the girls may have staged the beating in order to humiliate the victim by posting the video on the Internet.

Regardless of the original motive, the girls emerged into the glare of a national media spotlight. Over the weekend, it was revealed that employees of the pop-psychology TV show “Dr. Phil” had posted bail for one of the teens.

The Associated Press reports that even in the rough and tumble world of daytime TV, “Dr. Phil” staffers later admitted they had gone too far. In an email to the AP, “Dr. Phil” McGraw spokeswoman Terri Corigliano said: “We have helped guests and potential guests in the past when they need financial assistance to come on the show — assisting with clothing allowance, lost wages, accommodations, travel and necessities…. In this case, certain staff members went beyond our guidelines (re: the bail being paid).”

“These staff members have been spoken to and our policies reiterated,” Corigliano’s email said. “In addition, we have decided not to go forward with the story as our guidelines have been compromised.”

While the Florida beating was never actually posted on YouTube by the alleged attackers, CBS News reports that a search on the site reveals several videos of young girls fighting each other, many of which have been posted for months.

Because of precedent-setting court decisions, video-sharing sites, message boards, and Internet service providers are generally exempt from legal responsibility for posting such content, CBS reports.

As to their ethical responsibility, at least one expert — Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute — said media organizations have a duty to share the video.

“The fact that the video was shot because they were seeking publicity was secondary,” McBride told CBS. “A crime was committed in our community, and if there’s a videotape of it, I want some information. That video was incredibly revealing. It told more truth about what happened than any other form of reporting could have told.”

Sources: New York Times, Apr. 12 — Ledger, Apr. 12 — CBS, Apr. 11 — AP, Apr. 10.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Jan. 14 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 3, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 25, 2006.

Arrests and investigations highlight the impact of graft

VARIOUS DATELINES
Investigations on three continents made ethics news last week. Among the stories:

• One more notch was added last week to the belt of Chinese anticorruption prosecutors: Chen Liangyu, a former top Communist Part official, was convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The Jurist reports that Chen is the highest-ranking official convicted in China’s public crackdown on corruption — a campaign designed to demonstrate the nation’s commitment to cleaning up graft.
• Indonesian authorities have arrested the county’s central bank governor on graft charges. The nation’s watchdog agency has been investigating Burhanuddin Abdullah since February over the alleged misappropriation of $11 million in bank funds, the Agence France-Presse reports. Abdullah denies any wrongdoing.
• Almost one million Cambodians have signed a petition calling for the government to clamp down on corruption. The Australian quotes the head of the People’s Center for Development and Peace, which organized the petition, as saying: “The people want Cambodia to be rid of corruption, they want a law to fight corrupt people.” Yong Kim Eng said the petition, which has been circulating since 2006, will be given to the government once it receives its millionth signature. According to the Australian’s report, corruption is one factor keeping Cambodia mired near the bottom of the list of the world’s poorest counties, with 30 percent of its 14 million people living on less than 50 cents a day.
• Britain’s High Court last week ruled that the government’s Serious Fraud Office broke the law in 2006 when it aborted a graft investigation into an arms deals between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems, Britain’s largest defense contractor, according to reports from TIME magazine and the London-based Guardian. In a scathing rebuke to the former Blair government, which halted the probe, the High Court judges wrote, “No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice.”
• Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee again was called in for questioning last week in a probe of alleged corruption by the country’s biggest conglomerate. The Seoul-based Yonhap news agency says investigators are probing charges raised by a whistle-blower who charges that Samsung, under Lee’s direction, created a $200-million slush fund and illegally transferred control of the firm to Lee’s son. The case has riveted attention in Korea, where Samsung and other large corporations — along with their leaders — often are revered by the public.
• Bulgaria, a new member of the European Union, has earned the wrath of the organization after a spate of gangland-style murders, reports the Sofia, Bulgaria, Echo. EU officials, who extracted promises of a corruption cleanup as part of the agreement to let the nation enter the group, say contract killings, as well as police and judicial corruption, still plague the nation. The two killings that attracted attention this week were of an energy-company CEO and a journalist who wrote about Bulgarian organized crime.
• Brazilian authorities have arrested 16 mayors and a judge for their alleged participation in a major corruption scheme. The BBC reports that the federal police force claims that $100 million has been diverted in a plot to embezzle Brazil’s social security funds.

Sources: TIME, Apr. 12 — Guardian, Apr. 12 — Jurist, Apr. 12 — AFP, Apr. 11 — Australian, Apr. 12 — Yonhap News Agency, Apr. 12 — Sofia Echo, Apr. 11 — BBC, Apr. 10.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 7 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 31 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, May 14, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 18, 2006.

Controversy surrounds a deathbed wish to donate organs to a relative; a couple seeks to give birth to a “savior sibling” to provide transplant cells; and discipline is handed down in medical-records snooping — but doctors escape harshest punishments

VARIOUS DATELINES
Several stories last week highlighted dilemmas resulting from the technological advances in transplantation, in-vitro fertilization, and computerized medical records. The stories included:

• A British woman in need of a kidney transplant was denied a last-wish donation by her dying daughter because rules forbid people from willing their organs to select recipients upon their death. The Times of London reports that the woman’s daughter, who died of respiratory difficulties, informally had promised her mother she could have the organs. Current regulations dictate that the kidneys of the daughter, who was a registered organ donor, would be dispersed through normal channels to those with the greatest clinical need and who provide the best tissue match. The kidneys were given to strangers and the mother remains on the waiting list for a new kidney, according to the Times report. But the board governing organ transplants says it will consider changing the rules in the future to allow bequeathing of body parts in “exceptional circumstances.”
• A couple from British Columbia will travel to a Chicago hospital to attempt in-vitro fertilization in order to give birth to a “savior sibling” — a child who can provide donor stem cells that may save the life of the couple’s seriously ill son. The Vancouver Sun reports that doctors at Children’s and Women’s Hospital in British Columbia would not go along with the plan because of concerns, in the words of the Sun’s report, “about creating — and exploiting — a life to potentially save another.” The ill child may be able to beat his cancer with a bone-marrow transplant, but there are no family matches and an international registry of potential donors has turned up no matches in two years. A transplant from cells in a newborn’s umbilical cord could produce a similar benefit to a bone marrow transplant, although the parents have been informed that the success is not guaranteed, according to the Sun.
• Thirteen hospital employees — none of them physicians — who snooped into the medical records of pop star Britney Spears when she was treated for a psychiatric disorder have been fired, according to a report from the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California. Eight doctors who improperly accessed the medical records suffered a milder punishment, with three being suspended and five reprimanded. A hospital spokeswoman could offer no explanation for the discrepancy, reports the Press-Enterprise. Disciplinary authorities say inadequate safeguards on the computer system, as well as old-fashioned voyeurism, were at the root of the problem.

Sources: Times of London, Apr. 12 — Vancouver Sun, Apr. 12 — Riverside Press-Enterprise, Mar. 12.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 7 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 17 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 28 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 14 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 9, 2007.

Critics say the garments amount to a technological assist

PARIS
A new ethics issue has evolved in the sports world: whether a high-tech swimsuit offers competitors an unfair advantage.

London’s Telegraph observes: “It is almost traditional for technological developments in swimsuits to become the subject of debate in Olympic years, but recent performances by swimmers in the Speedo LZR Racer have alarmed the company’s rivals.”

World records have been falling like autumn leaves since the development of the suit in February, reports the International Herald Tribune. But even though the LZR was approved by swimming’s governing body, rival manufacturers are claiming it uses outlawed materials to enhance performance.

The new suits, developed with the help of NASA technology, are seamless and electronically bonded instead of being sewn, are fashioned from a special water-repellent fabric, and reduce skin vibration and other human factors that can slow swimmers, the Taipei Times reports.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, critics claim that the high-tech devices amount to technologically assisted swimming, not human swimming.

But the Australian general manager of Speedo takes issue with that, telling the Herald: “What we are allowing the swimmers to do is to swim their fastest, and it is exciting for the sport. People have to embrace innovation and technology, otherwise we would all be sitting around … watching Roger Federer playing with Rod Laver’s racquet.”

Sources: Taipei Times, Apr. 12 — Telegraph, Apr. 12 — International Herald Tribune, Apr. 11 — Sydney Morning Herald, Mar. 23.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 7 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 18.

IRS warns taxpayers to be honest; closed-circuit TV cameras may be introduced into British examination halls; and button cameras may be the latest rage in high-tech cheating

VARIOUS DATELINES
High- and low-tech cheating made headlines in several major stories last week. Among them:

• The U.S. Internal Revenue Service participated in what has become an April ritual — reminding citizens not to cheat on their taxes. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that the IRS has gotten into the habit of highlighting past cases of tax fraud, including descriptions of the sentences miscreants have received.
• Closed-circuit TV cameras may be introduced into Britain’s exam halls in order to deter cheating, the U.K. Press Association reports. While a teachers’ union warned last week of an Orwellian surveillance culture that could develop as a result of the technology, officials of the association representing exam proctors say closed-circuit monitoring could protect not only honest students but also exam monitors, who sometimes are accused of making false accusations or botching exam instructions. Cheating, according to the report, is becoming an increasingly difficult problem because of new technologies — such as pens fitted with voice recorders — that enable dishonest test takers.
• High-tech cheating was the topic of a recent Los Angeles Times report. Among the innovations: websites devoted to cheating practices, cheating tutorials on YouTube, and phones that receive text messages from confederates helping a student with answers. At the leading edge of cheating technology, the Times reports, are button cameras, which have a wireless connection to a laptop computer, enabling students to save images of the test for use by cheaters who take it later.

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Apr. 12 — U.K. Press Association, Apr. 12 — Los Angeles Times, Mar. 30.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline Commentary, Dec. 31, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 10, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 19, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 27, 2007.

A Chinese court hears downloading case brought by Western music labels; a poll shows growing unease with surfing habits being used to tailor individual content; Microsoft offers some ideas about protecting Internet privacy

VARIOUS DATELINES
Ethics and the law struggled to play catch-up with galloping computer technology last week. Among the top stories:

• Several major recording labels have joined a copyright-infringement suit in a Beijing court. MarketWatch reports that Sony BMG Music, Bertelsmann AG, Warner Music, and Universal Music are among the companies suing two Chinese firms they accuse of offering illegal music downloads. The case has major implications, according to the report, because if the Chinese court allows the case to be heard, potential damages could run into the billions of dollars.
• A recent poll shows that many people are uncomfortable with the concept of websites customizing their content to match surfers’ personalized profiles. The Toronto Globe & Mail reports that a Harris poll of 2,513 people in the United States indicates most are uneasy about websites gathering data and using it to tailor advertising or content to individual surfers. “There’s a creepy factor and a fear of the unknown that people don’t want to deal with,” Michelle Warren, senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ontario, told the Globe & Mail.
• Microsoft last week called on firms that provide Internet advertising to adopt a number of provisions to protect consumer privacy. The trade journal InformationWeek reports that Microsoft submitted its proposals to the Federal Trade Commission after the agency asked for comments on guidelines relating to self-regulation — a move designed to allow industry to head off government-imposed rules. Microsoft suggested that companies logging page views in order to create targeted ads should inform visitors of the process, and should retain the data only long enough to serve “a legitimate business need.” Web surfers also should be allowed to opt out of data collection, Microsoft proposed.

Sources: MarketWatch, Apr. 6 — Reuters, Apr. 12 — InformationWeek, Apr. 12.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Mar. 31 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 31 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 3 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 25.

Survey finds mixed support for boycott of Olympics; majority doubts Olympics broadcaster NBC will be aggressive in reporting negative news on China

From Zogby Interactive:

“As thousands of pro-Tibet protesters cut short the Olympic torch relay Monday in Paris, a new Zogby Interactive poll finds 70% of likely voters believe the International Olympic Committee was wrong to award this year’s summer Olympic Games to China because of its poor record on human rights. Dissatisfaction with the IOC’s choice is strong across the political spectrum, with 70% of Democrats and Republicans, and 68% of political independents who said they disagree with the decision to have China host the summer games….

“…The online survey finds nearly half — 48% — think U.S. political officials should not attend the opening ceremony of the games because of China’s poor human rights record, while 33% believe U.S. officials should attend and 19% are unsure. Most Democrats (52%) and independents (51%) would support U.S. political officials boycotting the opening ceremony, while Republicans are more divided — 42% believe U.S. officials should not attend, while 41% believe they should be present at the opening ceremony….

“Support for an outright boycott of the games is less strong, although nearly a third (31%) believe the United States Olympic Committee should boycott the Olympic Games and 23% believe President Bush should order a U.S. boycott of the games to protest China’s human rights record….

“While 46% agree a political boycott by world leaders of the Olympics would be an effective way for them to express their unhappiness with China’s human rights record, nearly as many (40%) disagree. Regardless of their support for a boycott, most question how likely it would be to bring about change — 70% believe a boycott of the Olympic Games in China would amount to grandstanding by world leaders that might help them politically in their own countries, but will have no effect on how China’s leaders treat their own citizens. Just 13% believe a boycott would embarrass the Chinese leadership so much they would change how they treat Chinese citizens.

“Regardless of how they view the effectiveness of a boycott to change how Chinese leaders treat their citizens, 71% believe any boycott of the Olympic Games in China by the U.S. would be hypocritical because the U.S. imports so many products from China and retains relatively close diplomatic ties with China that the U.S. has essentially endorsed China’s human rights record. Sixty-one percent also believe that U.S. political leaders may oppose a boycott against the China Olympics out of fear of a financial backlash from China….

“Despite recent media coverage of China’s human rights issues, nearly half of Americans (48%) believe the U.S. and international media will ignore negative stories about China before and during the Olympic Games out of fear of retribution from the Chinese government. The vast majority (94%) believes the Chinese government will try to prevent international news media from covering stories about China that put the government or country in a bad light….

“When asked about their expectations of coverage from NBC — the network contracted to televise the Olympic Games in China this summer — most (54%) don’t believe the network will be as aggressive about covering any possible negative stories about China leading up to and during the Olympics as it would be if not contracted to broadcast the games….”

For more information, see: Full press release from Zogby, Apr. 7 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 7.

“Right is the only ingredient that can make might lasting in our policy and conduct toward each other, toward minorities and disadvantaged men or people — yes, even toward our enemies.”

– Robert H. Jackson (U.S. Supreme Court justice and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, 1892–1954)