At a young age, our elders introduced the idea of ethics—what is right versus what is wrong. Through trial and error, we learned to not put the coin in our mouth, to not hit our siblings, and to leave the cookie jar alone. Or at least, we learned to not partake in these misdemeanors when anyone was looking. Ethics were established, but we never realized the extent it would proceed to once we grew older; we didn’t understand that further ethical-challenging decisions lay ahead. Suddenly, eating the last cookie turned to lying, cheating, stealing, and sometimes beyond. Without a single notice, society took over and the simplest of unethical behavior no longer mattered. The ethics of recent generations, particularly ours today, have changed in
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Known as the Compliance Dodge, it holds the idea that if it isn’t illegal or against the rules, then it’s ethical (Marshall). This idea holds untrue as ethics is much broader than law, and that every law/rule has inevitable loopholes. Even if a person abides by what the rules directly state, unethical behavior can still take place. One recent example involves an NFL player Harry Douglas, who was blocking an opponent and purposefully hit him at his left knee, sending the opposing player to the ground in pain. Douglas justified this hit by saying that it was technically legal; however, the ethics of this hit was questioned as the hit occurred dozens of yards away from the ball and had no impact on the overall play (Wooden). Therefore, the circumstances of this moment point to the loopholes in rules, as the only reason this player had for hitting him was the want to purposefully injure his opponent and end his career. Not only does his reasoning scream unethical behavior, it also appears quite disturbing. In addition to this one example, a plethora of other incidents occurs where rules are not broken but ethics are questioned. No set of rules will apply in all situations, allowing our society to abuse flaws and loopholes. The increased and approved usage of this distortion has led to a world where we scoot around boundaries and jump at opportunities to gain at another’s
Known as the Compliance Dodge, it holds the idea that if it isn’t illegal or against the rules, then it’s ethical (Marshall). This idea holds untrue as ethics is much broader than law, and that every law/rule has inevitable loopholes. Even if a person abides by what the rules directly state, unethical behavior can still take place. One recent example involves an NFL player Harry Douglas, who was blocking an opponent and purposefully hit him at his left knee, sending the opposing player to the ground in pain. Douglas justified this hit by saying that it was technically legal; however, the ethics of this hit was questioned as the hit occurred dozens of yards away from the ball and had no impact on the overall play (Wooden). Therefore, the circumstances of this moment point to the loopholes in rules, as the only reason this player had for hitting him was the want to purposefully injure his opponent and end his career. Not only does his reasoning scream unethical behavior, it also appears quite disturbing. In addition to this one example, a plethora of other incidents occurs where rules are not broken but ethics are questioned. No set of rules will apply in all situations, allowing our society to abuse flaws and loopholes. The increased and approved usage of this distortion has led to a world where we scoot around boundaries and jump at opportunities to gain at another’s