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.