A few weeks back I read an article in BusinessWeek Online that seemed to call for a blog. So, being a man who believes in doing what needs to be done, I hereby present my thoughts.
The article, “If It’s Legal, It’s Ethical…Right?” by Bruce Weinstein, PhD, relates an incident that happened during the taping of an episode of an A&E program, Intervention. The particular series was about dealing with alcoholism, and as part of the program a film crew was following one woman who was dealing with the disease. It seems that one day during filming she had a shot (or perhaps more) of vodka and then went out to her car for a drive. Someone from the crew (apparently the producer, but it isn’t completely clear) asked her if she wanted someone in the crew to take her, but she insisted she was alright. Then instead of doing what most people would consider the “right” thing and keeping her from driving, the crew let her drive off.
Excuuuuuuuuse me????!!!!
Now, let’s let the lawyers put a topper on this story (you knew there had to be lawyers involved, didn’t you). Michael J. O’Connor, an attorney who has worked with reality shows like Survivor and America’s Next Top Model, was quoted in The New York Times regarding this situation:
"Television producers are not policemen. On a moral level, you get to the point where stepping in seems like it would be something you'd want to do. But from a legal standpoint, third parties causing injuries to other third parties is not something a television program is really responsible for." 1
This is legal double-speak for “We ain’t responsible.” Apparently the film crew is considered as “witnesses” (or might that be “witlesses”) and so they do not have any responsibility to intervene, even when what they are filming is at best poor judgment and at worst potentially fatal. This encourages Dr. Weinstein to posit the following question:
- Are our responsibilities limited to what the law requires of us?
- If we are legally allowed to do something, does that mean we ought to?
- If there is no relevant law to speak of with respect to a "What should I do?" problem we're facing, does that mean that anything goes? 2
His answers to the questions? “No. No. No.”3
Weinstein goes on to discuss the implications of this question of legal vs. ethical. He gives some very spot-on examples of things that were once legal, but were not ethical if we care about what happens to others – which we should. As he puts it, “To be a member of the human race is to care for what transpires in the world around us.”4
I am in complete agreement with Dr. Weinstein that we need to make our decisions based on ethics more than law, although that doesn’t necessarily mean we break the law if we feel it is not ethical, rather we work to change the law (however, sometimes even that is negotiable, as Rosa Parks showed us). But let’s take a look at this through another lens – the lens of the Law of Attraction.
The Law of Attraction (or LofA as I like to call it) basically says that we attract the things that are most like us, and we are in turn attracted to people and events that most match who and what we are. There is more to it than this, but let’s just stick with it for simplicity’s sake.
So if we are willing to play fast and loose with ethics, explaining away our behavior with the “well, it’s legal” excuse, then we will attract others who tend to do the same. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about the idea of being surrounded by people who will stab me in the back to get ahead as long as it’s legal. I would much rather be around people who believe that doing what’s right is more important than acting in the letter of the law.
I would be interested in what some of you think about this. Check out the article and then post your thoughts. Until next time…
Believe in Yourself.
Sources
1-4: Weinstein, Bruce, PhD, “If It’s Legal, It’s Ethical…Right?” BusinessWeek Online: October 15, 2007
Comments