Moral Mistakes and Tax Time
Aired April, 2002
KUFM Radio Commentary, Montana Public Radio
Paul Martin Lester (E-mail and home page),
University of Montana
No matter the amount of planning, expertise, and
experience we might have in our job or personal life, sometimes, when we least
expect it, we do something wrong. Unfortunately, in response, many of us come
up with excuses.
An
alternative to our rationalizations is to start with the realization that none
of us is perfect. Through ignorance, neglect, or intention, we all sometimes
choose the less than ideal action. We make what philosophers call "moral
mistakes."
Not
taking responsibility for your choices when events don't turn out as planned is
a kind of moral mistake. It is important to understand that good people-those
trying their best to do what is ethically praiseworthy-make moral mistakes just
as do those who don't try to live up to such high ideals in their personal and
professional lives.
The
problem is that we live in a world that doesn't offer much guidance about how
to distinguish moral mistakes from other kinds of choices. We don't get much
practice in learning how to acknowledge and mitigate moral mistakes.
In
a former life, I was a photojournalist for a newspaper in New Orleans. I was 24
and living in the French Quarter-talk about committing a few moral mistakes
(but that's a topic for another commentary). A reporter and I were sent to the
airport to cover a classic newspaper feature story-twin brothers, who were now
81 years old, were separated at birth and finally meeting. I was standing at
the gate area with family members waiting for the brother arriving from London.
I was wearing three cameras-one around my neck with a flash attachment and one
around each shoulder with different lenses on them. My pre-visualized ideal was
to get a picture of the brother's face as he first saw his sibling. What I
didn't count on was seeing a world famous actress walking toward me from the
airliner (so as to not compound my bad behavior, I'm leaving her name out).
When she saw me, she no doubt thought that I was there to take her picture. I
found out later that she was having some relationship and career problems and
probably thought she could get away from all the media attention by slipping
quietly into an anonymous U.S. city. She shrieked, started crying, covered her
head with her hands, and stood against a wall while her fellow passengers filed
passed her. Finally, she mustered the courage to move and walked past me. She
held one hand over her face and I took a flash shot of her.
Why?
It was a terrible picture. The fact that she was on the plane wasn't
newsworthy. I lived up to every bad stereotype you can think of about news
photographers. My excuse at the time was that as a celebrity, she was fair
game. "Anyone would have done the same thing," I told myself. Taking
the picture and excusing my action were both moral mistakes.
Here
is a list of common excuses that we use in attempts to deny that we made moral
mistakes.
1.
Other people do it. Many of us justify an action because it is easier to go
along with a crowd. It is also easy to convince yourself that others would
mimic your bad behavior.
2.
My boss or life partner told me to do it. As long as you are free to act in a
voluntary or autonomous way, moral responsibility for your actions are not
transferable to someone else. Your boss can take away your job and your partner
can leave you, but those individuals cannot take away your moral agency.
3.
Ethical behavior is fine in theory, but doing right doesn't get the job done.
Philosopher John Dewey made the observation that people wave the banner of
principle, but march to the drummer of expediency. That observation, as apt as
it might be, doesn't justify bad behavior.
4.
My actions didn't hurt anybody. It is hard to know that for sure. If you are
willing to take credit for the good that comes from an action, you must also be
blameworthy for the harm that comes from it.
And
finally, no one knew. Ethics is a first person activity. Intentions,
motivations, and outcomes are always known to the person that matters the
most-you. The lack of external consequences for an act is not the basis upon
which you should judge the moral permissibility of your behavior.
When
thinking about my bad behavior in New Orleans, I caused unnecessary and
unjustified harm even if I were to agree that taking unexpected news photos is
part of the job. The celebrity's arrival was not news and I should have
respected her privacy. My actions were ethically blameworthy. I made a moral
mistake and have never taken a photograph in a similar situation since. Being
the unnecessary cause so directly of an innocent person's grief is a terrible
burden to bare.
It's
relatively easy to catch someone else making a moral mistake. It should be
equally easy to admit to ourselves when we have made unethical choices. Ethical
practice includes continual self-reflection. That includes accepting when we
have done wrong.
Now,
in five days we have to have our tax information mailed to the IRS. If you have
already sent your form in, you'll know the ethical thing to do if you get a
notice about an audit, right?
