Part of being a School of Business and Administration student in a post-Enron world consists of a mandatory course in Business Ethics. I, myself, took this a step further and chose to take a morality cluster as my senior capstone. This included three additional courses in philosophy and I chose an introduction to philosophy course, an additional ethics course and environmental ethics. I felt that these three courses would assist me in rounding out my worldviews before entering into a system that can seem to be frequently neglectful in both social and environmental ethics. Of all the ethics tests that I was taught, however, there was one specific test of making an ethical choice that has been pervasive in my memory. When confronted with an ethical dilemma and one is about to make a choice, one should ask themselves, "is this something that I wouldn't want my family, friends and neighbors to know about?". To me, the reality of the impact of making a tough ethical choice is driven home with this question. Who would know better than Bernie Madoff what it is like to see the impact of a choice and its often profound effect on one's loved ones? For those who aren't familiar with the particulars of Bernie Madoff, he was the man who was a founder of NASDAQ and also of a monumental Ponzi Scheme, for which two of his own sons turned him in to the authorities for. One of his sons killed himself just a few years ago. Madoff's story illustrates the power of an unethical choice and its tragic effect. Our choices impact our loved ones without question and asking the question, "would I want them to know?", forces the questioner to understand the choice and all of its ramifications that they are about to make.
If we are attempting to hide our choice, does that mean that the choice that we have made is the wrong one? In late September in New York City, peaceful protesters were attempting to march up to the New York Stock Exchange. The New York Police Department blocked their way and began corralling them with orange nets. Then, shockingly, a few of the members of the NYPD chose to, what I would unequivocally describe as, assault some of these protesters. The now perhaps overplayed video clip of several young women being sprayed in the face by pepper spray was broadcast over a couple national news channels and went viral on Youtube. The identity of the police inspector was revealed and he and his family promptly went into hiding due to the level and frequency of angry threats in response to his actions.
Call me strange, but over watching the events unfold over the course of the past month, I almost respect Inspector Bologna for making his choice so visible to the public. Did he realize the impact of his actions? Who is to say but, considering how many people have cellphones with video cameras on them, he had to at least know that perhaps someone would make a video. He made no attempt to hide his actions, pepper spraying those young women in broad daylight. He even went so far as to state that he felt that he had done nothing wrong. While I could list out a dozen counters as to why I personally feel like what he did was inhumane and most definitely morally reprehensible, I can still afford him respect for letting his action occur in the light of day. If only all of our police departments were so forthcoming and open about their own actions as Inspector Bologna.
What has been taking place over the course of this last month has been nothing but actions taking place in the middle of the night or very early, dark morning hours. Seattle, Oakland, Boston, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Austin, Richmond, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, St. Louis, Denver, and more have been sites of police actions that aren't taking place in broad daylight. They take place at night between the hours of midnight and 5 am. They take place in darkened streets where cell phones have difficulty filming what is taking place. On the night of the Oakland raid on the march in protest of what had occurred early that morning to the Occupy camp, the Oakland Police went so far as to turn off the streetlights as they threw tear gas into the crowd. The action temporarily eliminated even the aerial view being streamed by a Fox news helicopter.
Countless times, I have heard news media ordered away before riot police entered these camps. Countless times, I've heard the cries of distressed outrage from protesters being arrested when they felt protected by the First Amendment. Too many times, I have heard screams. I have seen dark images of veterans being dragged to the ground and protesters being hit by batons. Despite the cover of night, I have seen too much. This cannot be my beloved country where such things are happening. I often wonder if this is just a bad nightmare and wish that I'll wake up to the way things were before I saw and heard these things. Unfortunately, this is no bad dream and this is my beloved country. As such, I have no choice but to ask of our government officials and police departments, why in the cover of night?
If you are going to make a choice, then make that choice in broad daylight. Be confident of the choice that you make and all choices thereafter by making the choice in broad daylight. Using the cover night, ordering media away--these are the actions of those who feel as if they have something to hide. If one's choice is truly ethical and based on sound reasoning, then there would be no need for any of this. Removal of camps and arrests of protesters would take place during the day where all can be witness to what has occurred. It all returns back to that question that should be asked when confronted with an ethical dilemma--would I want my family, friends and neighbors to know what choice I have made? What actions have I done? If the answer is that one doesn't want them to know, then the choice about to be made does not stand up to the light of day. Just like for thieves and murders, those choices are made under the cover of night.
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