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That took an amazing amount of courage to say at that point in history.

https:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_zUQHXc4JI

Hi Connie,

Joseph Welch certainly was courageous as those were hysterical times and many innocent people suffered due to the non-existent "lists" that "Tail Gunner Joe" McCarthy claimed to have. With my input, ever since the person that I was ethically forming, er I mean guiding, read the "Crucial Decade" while in high school, Mr. Welch was someone he looked up to.

Hi Burt,

Thanks for the link to the video, "An Amazing Way Explained Religion." Jacque Fresco the narrator of the film was exhibiting moral integrity when discussing his non-belief in "man made gods." What did you think of his comment that the way god is biblically presented that he "sounded more like a psychopath than a god"?


A TRILOGY OF MORAL INTEGRITY QUOTES FROM "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD"- by Harper Lee

I. “They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”


II. “We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.”


III. "If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?"

"For a number of reasons," said Atticus. "The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again." […]

"Atticus, are we going to win it?"

"No, honey."

"Then why-"

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

I especially understand number 3. Why do it? It needs to be done, and somebody needs to do it!

My mother used to get mad at me. "Connie, why do you do that?? Let somebody else do it, for a change!" She would be referring to some job that NOBODY wanted to do. I would reply, "Because somebody needs to do it, and why not me?"

The irony here was that I learned the behavior from her. If it needed to be done, she would see to it, no matter how crummy the job was.

I thought the reference to the man made God we came up with as a psychopath was great !

Even amoral integrity is convoluted in the event, " This is my beloved son ". Now, I'm going to let you beat him silly and hang him on a cross !

Doesn't make sense.

-- Burt B.

Hi Connie,

LanceB. sure would approve of "why do it? It needs to be done, and somebody needs to do it!," but would insist on adding, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about it!

Hi Burt,

Isn't it amazing and miraculous (but not awesome or cool!)that this "man made god" is perceived by many "true believers" to be perfect in all of his actions.


Thanks to LanceB., all the domains of my life, especially my academic and work life, have been predicated on three ethical truisms that are demarcated by moral integrity. By adhering to them, there has been to varying degrees a cost to be paid in terms of employment, relationships, friendships, acquaintanceships and lifestyle. To that LanceB. would say "que sera sera."

TRILOGY OF ETHICAL TRUISMS AS TAUGHT BY LANCEB.

I. Moral integrity can never be taken away. An individual can only give it away (and that should never even be considered as an option!).

II. Principle over Pragmatism! (POP!)

III. Most rationalizations are really ethically indefensible rationaLIEzations

I would have added the following to the trilogy list but LanceB. really likes trilogies so this one o=is more like an addendum to the above:

IV. Always Consider the Source

Keep in mind, my metaphysically-oriented wife who is as morally sound as any person that I have ever known thinks that I must have been really evil in a past life as in my present one I am overcompensating for it with mega doses of integrity.

I am of the opinion that there aren't any true synonyms that fully equate to moral integrity. Many words though do demonstrate some of the characteristics of MI and could be viewed as being Moral Integrity Attributes (MIAs).

The following is a list of those MIAs:

Probity
Ethicalness
Truthfulness
Sincerity
Honesty
Rectitude
Uprightness
Decency
Honorability
Righeousness
Principled
Incorruptibility
Steadfastness
Forthrightness
Virtue
Goodness
Upstandingness

As you can see by the above, a trilogy this time would have been inadequate!

Hopefully, when push comes to shove or when it's time to show the courage of one's convictions or when it's time to walk the walk or when it's time to put up or shut up that none of the MIAs are missing in action.

Can you think of any other MIAs?

In addition to Eric Hoffer, there are many prominent Western moral philosophers/ethicists. Their illustrious number would include the likes (and dislikes) of:

Aristotle
Plato
Socrates
Epicurus
John Stuart Mill
Immanuel Kant
Thomas Hobbes
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Jeremy Bentham
Soren Kierkegaard
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Benedict Spinoza
John Rawls
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Friedrich Nietzsche
Henry Sidgwick
G.E.M. (Elizabeth) Anscombe

I propose that Ricky Nelson, he of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" fame, be included in the above list as the following verse from his song "Garden Party" is the ultimate exemplification of moral integrity:

"I'm a travelin' man
I've made a lot of stops all over the world
And in every port I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girl"

er, I mean he morally evolved to espouse:


"But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see you can't please ev'ryone so
You got to please yourself."
_________________________
Avatar is from "The True Believers:Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements" by ethicist Eri

This duet of ethical trilogy quotes is dedicated to the instructor at Kansas University that taught edwardd1 one of the universal lessons of philosophy: you can't use the definite article the when saying hoi polloi. Do you know why?

TRILOGY OF IMMANUEL KANTianisms

I. "He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

II. "Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness."

III. "Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world."


TRILOGY OF JOHN STUART MILLisms

I. "Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called."

II. "One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests."

III. "I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them."

This post is the first of what will be probably many discussing one particular category of integrity-Personal Integrity in the Workplace.

Starting it off will be some provocative and, perhaps, controversial quotes from none other than LanceB. Of course, based on his extensive experience and decades of observations with his antennae always vigilantly scanning for the slightest foul odor of moral impropriety, he does not think that he is being hardcore in his views at all!

TRILOGY OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY IN THE WORKPLACE LANCEB.isms

I. "The demonstration of workplace personal integrity by all levels of personnel is far and away the exception rather than the rule."

II. "The majority of managers on a daily basis exhibit unethical behavior. However, lacking any semblance of functioning consciences, they probably have no trouble at all sleeping well at night."

III. "Comporting oneself at work solely (and soullessly) by doing whatever 'because the boss wants it' is a slippery slope to giving away one's personal integrity forever."

Illustratively and disturbingly so, coming soon, "The Chef Johann Schmidt Story."