Illegal Downloads

Downloading music. It seems as though CD's are on the verge of becoming obsolete. I can't really image a world where every song you own is only on your computer and not on a CD, but that is the world I will soon be living in. People download mostly all of there music, and a lot of them are downloading it illegally.

Although I have never taken part in downloading music illegally, I am almost positive that some of the music on my Ipod was never bought. My music comes from someone else's computer. My question is how unethical do you feel downloading music illegally to be? Some would say that it is illegal, so it is clearly unethical. But this is not so in all cases of the law. It is wrong to not pay the artist for the music they produce. I have heard many people argue that they make so much money that they don't need me spending a dollar on a song. I have also heard people argue that they wouldn't listen to the songs if they had to buy them, thus not becoming fans of the artist.

These are all valid arguments, but do they really make a case for making illegal downloads ethical. I think that it is unethical. Ethics is about the only thing stopping the whole world from downloading illegally.

Does the fact that so many people illegally download music make it more ethical or just more acceptable? It makes me feel like it is not unethical. If it wasn't for all of those commercials urging you not to illegally download, I wouldn't even think about the ethics, I would just assume it is something that happened. Check out this article about the percentage of illegal downloads. Astonishing.

Do you download illegally? Take a bite.

I Won!

Today I got an ad in the mail that was addressed generically to Resident. It had a key taped to it and said, "You could drive away with this 2010 Ford!" Below that it had a scratch and win, if you got three gold bars you were a winner!! Well I got three gold bars. In order to collect my unmentioned prize I must go to the event headquarters. The first thing that crossed my mind is this is a scam to get my information so that they can attempt to sell my poor college butt a car.

I started to wonder if this was ethical. The prizes are usually barely anything, and always come with a catch. People give out information and are continually sought after that. Is it any different than any other form of advertising?

Being a business major, I know the benefits of direct selling. I also know that it is common and not unethical. This ad is an ineffective form of direct selling. But there is a fine line between ethical and unethical. I think that ads like this are on the verge of unethical. It makes me wonder how many of the other letters have three gold bars, how many other "players" are winners. Maybe I am just being a pessimist, thinking that there is no way I could have won so it must be a scam. Maybe I really did win! I guess I will never know.

Have you received ads like this? How do you react to them? Take a bite, I want to know.

White Lies

I seem to be thinking about lying a lot lately. I promise it is not because my life is now revolving around lies.

I just happened to watch the classic movie, Harriet the Spy the other night. In the movie, Harriet's nanny, Sully, gives the young girl some guidence. After Harriet gets in trouble when her secret notebook, full of harsh words about her classmates, falls into the wrong hands and is shared with her friends. Harriet looks to Sully and says, You said never to lie, the things in my notebook are true. Sully then responds with a message about how little white lies can sometimes be good, they can help a friend who is feeling down. The truth doesn't always need to be told.

Some theories on ethics, such as that of Kant, would say that lying of any kind is wrong. But we are all guilty of white lies. I tell my friends white lies all the time. Does it hurt them? Are white lies unethical even though in today's society they have become acceptable.

Take a bite. Tell me about your white lies.

Trust

Often trust goes hand-in-hand with lying. Although it is hard to addmit when you have done something wrong, the consequences of not being honest are often more long lasting than if you were to just come out with the truth.

Does being ethical usually have this benefit? I believe it does, the more you strive to be ethical the longer the benefits will last. Each time someone acts unethical, it may benefit them in the short-term, but chances are it will not benefit you in the long-run.

Do you strive to be eth

ical? Or would you rather face the consequences later in life?

Does internet make it easier to lie?

Take a bite.

Questions

The other day, I listened to a Police Officer guest speak. As students were asking the Officer questions, I thought about where some of these questions stemmed from. Students usually ask Officers questions that pertain to themselves, if I do this what will happen to me. As I listen to the students ask their questions, I wonder about the ethics behind asking the questions. As the officer said, if you are doing something illegal you are doing something illegal and there will be consequences. Yet the students continued to find out how they could get away with things.

One of the questions that struck my interest most was, "What if I was driving and my friends in the car were underage and drunk, would I get in trouble?" The Officer had little to say about this. It is in itself a hard decision to make. Is it more unethical to aid these students who are participating in an act that is illegal, even if you yourself are not participating, or is it more unethical to not help them and leave them to possible hurt themselves or others?


I would choose to help them, as I see it being more ethical.

This article offers a different alternative that is probably more ethical, but much harder to do. Check it out, let me know what you think.
What do you think?
Take a bite so I can hear what you think.

I Was Just Helping

Sometimes helping people with there homework can turn into you doing their homework. At what point is helping somebody on their homework cheating?

The Things I Forget to Wonder

This weekend I was told two separate stories that made me gasp.

The first was told by my elderly friend. She said that her sister was down visiting and she found a wallet outside the store. She looked in for a name and gave them a call. She did not trust giving it to the grocery store as she feared a worker might steal it. The lady was so grateful she delivered flowers on the porch the next day.

The second was told to me by an older friend as well, who, while visiting, an elderly gentleman in the retirement home was putting money away for him in his hat. (He liked to roll up the dollars and stick it in his hat.) There was a worker watching while she did this. Although she thought nothing of it, she soon came to find out that someone was stealing money from this old man.

Both of these situations are sad. The first is acting ethically under suspicion that others might not. The second is acting ethically under assumption that others will too. What got me most about both of these stories is, in both situations, I would have thought of anyone acting unethically. I have the inability to think of what other people might and probably will do. I do not know if this is due to my personality or the age in which I have been raised. I take both of these stories as a reminder to act ethically, but remember that many others will not. The first situation is a great outcome, even if the store had been ethical, there is no harm in assuming they won't.

Tell me, do you often think about others acting unethically or are you like me and always assume others act ethically? I am often the last to know that something like this is occurring because it is not something I think others do. What would you do? Take a bite, and let me know.