Everyday Ethics

The case of British conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife Joan, who, it was reported today, traveled to a Swiss clinic to avail themselves of legally assisted suicide, is raising ethical, legal and moral questions worldwide. Edward, 85, had gone blind and nearly deaf, but was not actually terminally ill. According to the Huffington…

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 is also arguing Alan Keyes’ birth certificate case against Obama’s presidency.   Birth certificate conspiracies…

Is he seeking revenge or defending his good name? To hear Levi tell it, he’s just clearing the air. Take a look at this clip from msnbc: Wow, he’s got a ton to say about the personal finances of the Palin family and some eyebrow-raising opinions on whether the soon-to-be-former governor is qualified to run for…

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 what he needs to do to get there — including opening a brothel. Prostitution is legal in New…

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 new ethical dilemma perhaps??!” Many of these topics have popped up on Everyday Ethics. There are a few that…

Nar-cis-sism??[nahr-suh-siz-em]  -noun1. inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.2. Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development. Is it unethical for the news to become about personality over perspicuity, or simply inevitable? I’ll admit I search the Google Hot Trends frequently in…

Is it ethical to sue? And if so, when? My husband and I were discussing this issue last night. I promise I’ll get to the reason for the picture you see to your left in a second, but let me preface the story first: It started with us comparing scars. I lost 3 fingers in…

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” for “animals” and you’ve got yourself an appalling story. I’m not at all a…

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 the last few months, culminating in a Wednesday morning raid and several arrests. There are…

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 what we considered to be bad taste. Whoops. After we enlightened each other, we decided to…

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