-Choose Two scenarios and engage in a conversation about the ethical considerations involved in it. Do not simply share your opinion — respond to 2 posts, as well.
– I will attach the 2 students’ posts to respond to.( just briefly respond to them in 3 to 4 lines)
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Scenario #1 – At a news conference, a member of the press asked a military press officer why the government refused to release film footage of the effects of U.S. air fire on enemy troops. The footage included violent, graphic images of the effects of machine gun and cannon fire from U.S. planes. The military press officer responded that if such images were released to the press, public support for the war effort would be undermined.
Do citizens of a democracy have a right to access this kind of information?
Is the Pentagon acting unethically by withholding this information?
Scenario #2 – Protestors at a university campus forced the cancellation of an invited speech by a conservative accused of white supremacy. The protests became so heated that police feared violence. Some protestors even blocked access to the site of the speech. A university spokesperson said publicly that she did not agree with the protestors and that universities should be places where all views — even repellant ones — should be heard and critically evaluated.
Have the protestors failed to demonstrate respect for persons as reasoning beings?
Have they failed to demonstrate regard for the contexts in which arguments are made and heard?
Scenario #3 – A proponent of euthanasia writes an editorial in support of the practice for a magazine. He believes euthanasia is morally justified in some cases. He also believes that one argument in particular, which he has developed and used several times in public, is both sound and highly persuasive, even to opponents. A friend reads a draft and points out a technical problem in his argument. However, the euthanasia advocate believes that his audience would not be able to spot the logical problem in the audience and does not want to change it.
Is there anything ethically wrong with this?
What does this tell us about the author’s relationship to the audience?
Does the end of persuasion justify the means of concealing evidence?
** Scenarios are fictional, but realistic. Based on content from Herrick, J. (2019). Argumentation: Understanding and shaping arguments (6th ed.). Strata Publishing.
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some tips
In any public speaking scenario, both the speaker and the audience have ethical obligations.
The basic responsibilities for the speaker are to:
– Represent their views, evidence, and the testimony of others accurately.
– Respect their audience as a group of reasoning people.
– Make a strong, honest presentation.
The basic responsibilities of the audience are to:
– Pay attention, listen well, and withhold judgment until the speaker has finished.
– Avoid distracting other members of the audience.
– Respect the energy and courage that the speaker has invested in the presentation.
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