tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10772329.post4701625977002451866..comments2023-10-19T04:28:39.042-07:00Comments on Infamy or Praise: A Round Tuit (27)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03168693942822575264noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10772329.post-42688980619327671152010-04-14T12:49:20.213-07:002010-04-14T12:49:20.213-07:00You write, "I mistakenly argued that the web ...You write, "I mistakenly argued that the web hoax in question was unethical; I never wrote nor believed that Eric himself was unethical. There are unethical professionals, and there are ethical professionals--all of them, probably--- who do unethical things on occasion." I think that trying to draw a distinction between arguing that an attorney's conduct is unethical and the attorney himself is unethical is a bit fine. One cannot treat the results of professional conduct (and you discussed Turkewitz' prank as a professional act rather than a personal one) as though these have sprung from thin air; by alleging that what Turkewitz did is unethical, you have alleged that he is unethical, at least to some degree. Yes, we can talk about matters of degree, but there is a fundamental distinction between ethical attorneys and unethical attorneys who are more ethical than other unethical attorneys; by making this allegation, you have lumped Turkewitz in with the latter group, where even you would agree he does not belong.<br /><br />Though it's a minor point, the "Marshall is stupid" commentary is Greenfield's, not mine. I say that this is a minor point because I understood his message and chose to quote his words in my post, if not to explicitly adopt them as my own. Though provocative, I think that in the context used in his post, his point is well-taken.<br /><br />Admittedly, much of my frustration with your deletion of some of the key posts and comments at your blog in favor of a massaged retelling of the situation results is simply personal pique. Had I not defended your original apology at Bennett's blog and commended you for leaving the original posts intact, I would not have felt so strongly about the subsequent deletions. You, as the proprietor of your blog, certainly are well within your rights to modify your site's contents as you see fit. I thought it reflected well on you to leave the unadulterated posts and comments intact; I think it reflects badly on you to remove them. While I believe these thoughts reflect broadly-shared senses of blogging norms, these are ultimately just my own thoughts.<br /><br />You say that you "do not have the liberty" to engage in flame wars on your blog. You do. It's your blog and it's just a blog; it's not some sort of venerated reference source which must remain free of extraneous commentary. You established a blog, you posted on it, you invited comments, you received them, and you chose to delete them. You have that right and you exercised it -- own that rather than positioning your actions as done in service to a higher objective. Please don't expect me to applaud you for deleting the original record here, however.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03168693942822575264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10772329.post-4116403924135670262010-04-14T12:13:30.472-07:002010-04-14T12:13:30.472-07:00I have avoided engaging or rebutting the over-heat...I have avoided engaging or rebutting the over-heated attacks on me for my ill-considered criticism of Eric's hoax. It does amaze me that anyone would find my apology less than crystal clear who wasn't predisposed to find fault with it, but I guess that's the problem. <br /><br />Yes, the information that would have prevented me from making the misstatement in question was in my own files. Translation: there was no excuse for not checking my own resources before I shot off my metaphorical mouth. Is that really so incomprehensible? Nor was my explanation of why I screwed up in any way an excuse. Some people, and I guess you and Scott are two, can't distinguish between reasons, which explain why something occurs, and excuses, which relieve the actor from all or some blame. I made no excuses. Unfortunately, I do not have the liberty on my blog to just engage in flame wars; its purpose is to assist ethical analysis, which means explaining why all of us do the wrong things sometimes, including me. Rushing out a blog post and a response without properly researching it? Wrong and reckless. The reason we sometimes do it? Time pressure. Lesson? Be vigilant when under time pressure. This isn't rocket science.<br /><br />I'm not going to explain why the apology was both sincere and complete, since it is clear that you and a few others want to subject it to more hostile analysis than is either warranted or rational. I apologized for declaring a web hoax to be professional misconduct, specifically misrepresentation. That was excessive, unfair to Eric, and most importantly, an incorrect interpretation of the Rules. I have ethical objections to all web hoaxes, and will not hesitate one bit to state them in the future. But Eric's was particularly mild one, especially considering when it was executed, and was an inappropriate target of my criticism. But why you and Scott seem to think that questioning the propriety of web hoaxes is such a sin against the universe is perplexing, not that I care. <br /><br />There is nothing sinister or unethical about my removing a section of one post and all of another that I have declared was based on bad judgment and sloppy research. I left them up for a reasonable time, long enough, I thought, for those who were determined to call me every name in the book to get it out of their systems. (Obviously, I was wrong about that, too.) I have no obligation to critics to give them ammunition ad infinitum to heap abuse on me, especially when I have acknowledged---in full---my error and sincerely apologized. Ethics Alarms is not supposed to be about me, and to the extent that those posts were skewing the orientation of the blog, they needed to come down. I constantly update and correct all my posts, and take some down that I discover were based on incomplete or erroneous information.If I can't stand by an opinion, I don't want it up. Sorry if that robs you of some fun, but there it is. <br /><br />I mistakenly argued that the web hoax in question was unethical; I never wrote nor believed that Eric himself was unethical. There are unethical professionals, and there are ethical professionals--all of them, probably--- who do unethical things on occasion. You do not seem to appreciate the difference: I made a stupid mistake, admitted it as soon as I became convinced of it, and from that you conclude that "Marshall is stupid." That kind of statement is hurtful, but it is also absurd and self-revealing.<br /><br />Ethics---not compliance, but ethics---is inconvenient these days,as the fury often directed at me for presuming to make ethical judgments to prompt people to think critically about what kind of culture we want to have proves. The activity is full of risk, because mistakes are inevitable. When I make them, I will admit them, and count on the fact that most people are fair, have a sense of proportion, and are willing to forgive and move on. I am not afraid to be wrong; I do want to make sure I don't hurt anybody when I am wrong. The Golden Rule applies.Jack Marshallhttp://www.ethicsalarms.comnoreply@blogger.com