Exploring Ethics with Contemporary Communications.
| Author | Webb, Joyce G. |
On April 28th, 2015, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. was engulfed in flames, due to looting and rioting, which was ostensibly linked to the death of Freddie Grey, a 25 year old African American man who was taken into police custody and while in custody on April 12th, sustained injuries to his neck and spine and, subsequently, died on April 19, 2015.(Associated Press, 5/22/2015) (1). The community was outraged and looters used this event as an excuse to burn, steal and pillage, leaving the community in shambles. This is not an isolated incident. The United States has been plagued by violence taking the form of school shootings, mall shootings, theatre shootings and senseless, repeated acts of violence against unsuspecting citizens for decades.
Usually we think tragedy happens to someone else--people we don't know. This isn't always true. On September 2, 2006, on a beautiful autumn day, when almost everyone in town had gathered for a college football game, Douglas Pennington (49) had driven two hours from his home in Scherr to Shepherdstown, West Virginia where he called his sons to come down from their dorm room to join him in the Parking Lot by Thatcher Hall. Both brothers, Logan (26) and Benjamin (24) Pennington, attended Shepherd University. When they came down to see their Father, they were met, not with a greeting but, with gunfire. Douglas Pennington shot his eldest son first and then turned the gun on the youngest, who was trying to get away, before killing himself. Three years earlier, Logan had been a student in my Public Speaking Class and when the students were asked to complete a speech introducing themselves to the class with the directions to talk about your family, your pets, what you like to do or anything which will help the class to get to know you better, Logan's speech included the comment, "I could talk about my family, but I won't because my family is crazy." No one in the class questioned that and the speech continued on with what Logan did choose to share with us. Later, we were to fully understand what he meant and tragically it was at the expense of both him and his brother. Later, it was explained that the Father did not like or agree with the directions the boys' lives were taking. This was an extreme and final act in an effort to control and end what could have been very promising futures. The Media's explanation for the event was mental illness. (Stoptheshootings.org, last accessed, May 27, 2015). (2).
These events clearly indicate that there is something wrong and this violence has reached a point near critical mass. Random violence is not just unique to the United States but it has become a global problem as well. One might ask, what is the underlying cause of this inherently, significant problem. To answer this question, we need to look at a trend that has been developing over time and is even more relevant today. If we were paying attention in the 1990's, we would have seen the following quotation which was printed on tee shirts and appeared in greeting cards.
Welcome to the 90's
Don't drink the water; don't breathe the air
Don't eat the fish, vegetables, or meat
Don't ever have sex again,
Oh, by the way, have a nice day!!!
At the time, this quotation implied a tremendous sense of change. It indicated where we, as a society, thought we were going. The tone of the message, as well as the content, did not represent improvement in our lifestyle or in the way we related to each other. This was not a message we would have seen printed in earlier decades. So the message we were sending to our youth was: Don't trust anyone. Don't expect the truth (either to fully receive it or tell it ever again) and above all watch out for yourself because no one else will. Strive for what benefits you because you are most important. Love and accept yourself because you cannot depend on others to do it. Anything you think or feel is valid because you believe it is. In the content of this message there was an implied sense of hopelessness. In the attitude of our youth was a feeling of depression. Repeatedly, we heard from "the X Generation" that there was little to look forward to, they were suffering from a lack of direction, and there was nowhere to go. Moving forward to the millennial generation, in 2015, we find there is even more depression and despair. "There is an intense economic anxiety ... that filters from parents to kids and has a whole generation of kids worried about what their future is going to hold."(Bruni, N.Y. Times Columnist, Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be: An Anecdote To College Admissions Mania, March 17, 2015, (3). "College administrators overwhelmingly describe today's students as "fragile." They're seeing less resilience and adaptability in student's today than those even a decade earlier. Some blame overinvolved parenting styles that put intense pressure on students to succeed. And then you have this kind of parenting and this kind of atmosphere that often exists in certain communities right now where kids are following this exacting script through high school that their parents have written for them and they get to college and they are on their own, in a very real way, for the first time and the script is not there for them." (Bruni, 2015). (4).
Therefore we have a generation of individuals who are not used to solving their own problems and simply do not, in many cases, have the coping skills and adaptability to be able to survive on their own. With social media playing such a big part of the lives of the millennial generation, one would think they that would be able to reach out to others more easily and depend on their friends for guidance and support. This does not seem to be the case. According to Schwartz, "The technology is meant to connect people, but it might not actually increase the feelings of intimacy and closeness that can help a young person survive a crisis. There is data, that in fact, students feel less connected to their friends than they did 10 and 20 years ago." (Students In Crisis: Mental Health and Suicide On College Campuses. Katie Couric, May 15, 2015). (5.) In the same article, Margaret Kramer, a University of South Carolina graduating senior points out that "social media creates a tremendous pressure to present oneself as perfect ... constantly online, establishing different personas for ourselves in the classroom, for professional life. There's a perfection expected. I've been definitely affected by that." (6).
Actually, university interpersonal communications classes teach that perfection is a fallacy which many times we impose on ourselves and try to live up to when in fact we should understand that we are not perfect and no one should expect us to be. This type of teaching is teaching survival skills which include coping strategies which are not taught to those who never reach the class either because they didn't get to college or they chose not to enroll. Students should be taught these types of survival skills earlier than college and the study of ethics and developing a personal set of ethics should be a life-long quest. Perhaps then, we could come closer to treating each other better and with more respect.
In the Eight Most Memorable Commencement Speeches of 2015, Madeleine Albright was quoted as saying, "We are living in a time more unsettled, that is more complicated, in more need of a new generation of leaders, than any that I can recall." (7). (Tufts University, May 17, 2015). While Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States told the graduates of Tuskegee University on May 9th, 2015" The World won't always see you in those caps and gowns. They won't know how hard you worked and how much you sacrificed to make it to this day. They don't know that part of you. Instead, they will make assumptions about who they think you are based on their limited notion of the world." (8). Katie Couric told the graduates of The University of Wisconsin, on May 16, 2015 to "Keep asking questions. Keep demanding change but remember activism can't truly lead to lasting, meaningful change without dialogue even with those with whom you may disagree." (9). Finally Stephen Colbert advised the Wake Forest Graduates on May 18, 2015, "This may seem counter intuitive now, but when you leave here, you may miss being graded on all your work ... When you're out of school, there are no objective criteria for achievement, anymore. People my age will say, Hey that work you did; that thing you said; that cause you championed--it's not good. Having your own standards will allow you to weather moments like that. Having your own standards allows you to perceive success where others see failure." (10). Clearly all these commencement speakers were appealing to our youth to become the new generation of leaders; to understand that others will only perceive them through the assumptions they make because of their limited idea of the world; that the world needs change but that will only happen if we keep the channels of communication open, even though we may disagree; and finally that you have to develop your own standards because the development of those standards will help you survive. The development of ethical standards is most important to that survival. Yet, we do not stress the development of personal ethical standards to our children at an early age. The need and challenge to do so is greater than it has ever been in the...
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