Director David Fincher’s film, The Social Network, is as deeply disturbing as it is deeply engrossing. It’s a testament to Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin that I could not take my eyes off the screen sitting on a crowded flight from Boston to L.A. The film follows Mark Zuckerberg – a computer geek trapped in the delusion that what he creates...

One of many resources I consult on issues is The Ethics Resource Center located in Arlington, Virginia. “ERC,” its website writes, “began in 1922 as American Viewpoint, which provided education to adult immigrants about citizenship and values. “In the 1960’s, Ivan Hill, an entrepreneur from Chicago who was passionate about ethics and patriotism became interested in supporting the work of American Viewpoint.  » Read more...

At the height of all the Watergate scandal coverage in the ‘70s, TIME magazine ran an interesting story about Jeb Stuart Magruder. Don’t remember Magruder? He’s the man frequently mentioned in the first hour of the movie All the President’s Men. Based on the 1974 book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two investigated the initial break-in at...

In my book, What Do You Stand For?, holocaust survivor Judy Meisel writes, “The statement, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person?’ upsets me. One person can do a lot!” That phrase came to mind while I was reading a paper from one of my New Hampshire students. “I have done some good things for people, but I have done more...

Spoiler Alert: This has little to do with ethics. Think of it as a little Christmas cracker. In the beginning… there was Charles Dickens classic tale of greed, redemption and compassion. In short order, Dickens, or rather Hollywood, begat Once Upon a Christmas, Twice Upon a Christmas, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas (my favorite), How the Grinch Stole… and the...

How do you balance living up to the expectations of others with being true to yourself? How do you find the strength to stand up for what you believe is your own path? These are just some of the themes that drive the Disney animated feature, Mulan. Based on Chinese legend, Mulan tells the story of a young girl determined to save her...

In the sports film, Blue Chips Pete Bell is a college basketball coach with an abiding integrity for the game he loves and a passion for his student players to succeed in life. But he’s got one problem – losing. For Coach Bell, losing is a four-letter word that he cannot, will not tolerate. Coming off a losing season, he hits the road to...

Our crack Ethics Stupid field reporter, Jon K, (he’s the one holding the “Impeach Nixon” sign on the far, far right) had his boots on the ground, as well as several sweaters and a big coat, at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. last month and filed this report. “I got to the Rally at 5:20am and there were probably...

Ethical stories surround us every day. While the media tends to focus on the negative, it’s important to acknowledge the positive. While sitting in a local theater the other night listening to the energetic Disney musical Beauty and the Beast, something jumped out at me; something unexpected. The opening narration lays out the backstory. “…a young prince… spoiled, selfish, and unkind…...

Of course, Comedy Central’s Rally to Restore Sanity had plenty of comedy. That’s the cable channel’s stock-in-trade. But it offered something more, something that’s been missing from all the political posturing, bullying and noise. It offered an image of thousands coming together around a call for civility and reasonable debate. At the end of three hours of music and arch political humor...