The ethically-challenged "ethicist" of the New York Times Magazine, Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column has inserted himself into the Henry Louis Gates situation by urging the Harvard professor to sue in order to "pursue social justice." To see where Mr. Ethicist is coming from, let us start off with his laughable money quote in his current column on the subject of lawsuits:
Gates should enjoy a cool one and then file suit, assuming he has legal grounds to do so. We Americans are often mocked for being overly litigious, but we are not nearly litigious enough. In the right circumstances, filing suit can be a way to pursue social justice, and that makes it thoroughly ethical.
Paging ambulance chaser John Edwards!
Cohen goes on to push his "social justice" shtick as the rationale for a Gates lawsuit:
I am not encouraging frivolous lawsuits or those inspired by TV pitchmen who use the words “slip and fall” as if invoking El Dorado. Rather, I refer to suits filed to oppose systemic injustice, for the benefit of the larger community, often at some personal risk and expense. This is not opportunism; it’s altruism, not self-interest but civic virtue. A lawsuit by Gates could lead to a formal examination of the troubled history of police interactions with African-Americans and hence would meet this standard.
Altruism? By tying up the courts? Cohen and Gates are too good to be true. Of course, the usual suspects are behind this lawsuit for "social justice" idea:
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, an organization that has sued the New York Police Department many times on behalf of individuals and groups, told me that lawsuits can be “an important tool for reform when coupled with advocacy and public education efforts and when the circumstances are conducive to change.”
Win or lose,The Ethicist is already salivating over the possible results of a Gates lawsuit:
Even a losing lawsuit can compel a powerful institution — government agency or corporation — to disclose its policies and practices during legal proceedings. A lawsuit can provide a public forum to examine a significant issue, guided by a dispassionate judge. What could be more virtuous?
The Ethicist makes it sound like Gates would be a great moral hero if only he would sue. Pretty please. File that lawsuit, Skip, to make Randy feel better:
Nor is he ethically obligated to sue. Doing so is supererogatory, above and beyond the call of duty. Only he can decide if he has the stomach for a struggle and the resources — financial, psychological — to proceed.
For any who have any lingering doubts whether The Ethicist is overtly urging Henry Louis Gates to suit, there is this final bit of proof:
These arguments notwithstanding, Gates should sue. Social change proceeds through the combination of many forces — legislation, litigation and public discourse among them. For Gates to contribute to this effort would be laudable. (And given the high — and disheartening — number of African-American men who, since Gates arrest, have described their own similar encounters with the police, the class-action suit Feige calls for might be sadly possible.)
And what about the possibility of police officer James Crowley suing Henry Louis Gates? Out of the question according to The Ethicist since he accuses Crowley of abusing his office:
The president has softened his initial response to this affair, withdrawing his remark at the press conference that “the Cambridge police acted stupidly.” He now suggests that both Gates and Crowley “overreacted.” Quite likely. But if Gates overreacted, he did so only as an individual, an outburst that might be obnoxious but is not criminal. There is no law against Contempt of Cop. If Crowley overreacted, he erred as a professional, perhaps abusing his office in a manner that is particularly fraught, given the history of African-Americans and the police. That’s what should be examined in court.
Finally, Cohen tosses cold beer on the White House kumbaya session that was proposed by President Obama:
Both Crowley and Gates have accepted Obama’s invitation. Courteous conversation is a fine thing; beer is a fine thing. But not even White House brew can resolve this conflict the way a trial can. Gates and Crowley should drink heartily, speak civilly and eventually reconvene in a courtroom.
Hmm... Perhaps your humble correspondent should file a class action lawsuit on behalf of the Times readers against The Ethicist for falsely passing himself off as ethical. It seems he disingenuously tried to brush off his $585 contribution to MoveOn.Org by claiming that donation to the extreme leftwing organization was on a par with giving to the Boy Scouts. Mind you, Randy, self-interest would not be involved. Such a lawsuit would be filed strictly out of a sense of altruism and civic virtue.
Oh, and do happen to have the phone number of John Edwards?
—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Mr. Cohen overlooks the
July 28, 2009 - 08:42 ET by BruzillaMr. Cohen overlooks the reason that Mr. Gates quickly changed from "victim of police racism and pursuing a lawsuit" to "just want to get past this" mode: he found out the officer switched to hot mike mode and all his commentary that night was recorded. The police were nice enough to cut the released radio traffic after the officer reports Gates was being unco-operative. If a lawsuit is filed, the rest of the recordings will be released and Gates is going to be seen for the racist he is.
the police need funding
July 28, 2009 - 09:10 ET by JIMMY1660for more dash cams and mobile radio audio/video cams to reflect exactly what has transpired.
Good work by the police goes on without thanks-Thanks guys.
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE
More NYT irresponsibility
July 28, 2009 - 09:00 ET by needleThis ought to be a great way to help the NYT’s Presidential prodigy by stoking the fires of racism that Obama blew up into a national imbroglio. This has great potential of backfiring big time in Obama’s face, especially considering CNN's Lemon Does Amazing Interview With Cambridge Police posted earlier here.
Oh well, I imagine the NYT is scratching around for some way to goose newspapers sales, especially in the home territory of its Boston Globe. The impact of their machinations on the country and the government is of minor importance.
- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler to manage your portfolio.
just perhaps Mr Cohen and Mr Gates should-
July 28, 2009 - 09:03 ET by JIMMY1660have a big glass of shut up!!-not being there, but listen to the police tapes and reading the police reports. Looks like the Good Sgt. and the fellow officers who showed up, were the kind of cops we need around the country. Nothing but professional. Great job guys!!The professor and Cohen perhaps need to be a real victim of street crime to appreciate the good police work at the professor's residence.if the want a lawsuit, go ahead-change the venue to Texas.
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE
just perhaps Mr Cohen and Mr Gates should-
July 28, 2009 - 09:04 ET by JIMMY1660have a big glass of shut up!!-not being there, but listen to the police tapes and reading the police reports. Looks like the Good Sgt. and the fellow officers who showed up, were the kind of cops we need around the country. Nothing but professional. Great job guys!!The professor and Cohen perhaps need to be a real victim of street crime to appreciate the good police work at the professor's residence.if the want a lawsuit, go ahead-change the venue to Texas.
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE
It seems to me the cops have
July 28, 2009 - 09:15 ET by mattmIt seems to me the cops have a legitimate slander complaint against Gates.
Re WH Visit
July 28, 2009 - 09:27 ET by slickwillie2001One of the legal talking heads on Fox News was just commenting on how unwise it would be for Crowley to visit the White House and meet with Henry Gates and the Bamster. This article makes it even more obvious how bad an idea that is. I hope the City of Cambridge's lawyers impress on Crowley the fact that anything he says to Gates can be used against him in a court of law.
I'm sure the thug President would lean on Crowley to apologize to Gates even though he did nothing wrong. As any of us should understand, an apology is regularly twisted by smart lawyers into an admission of guilt. The visit is a bad idea all around.
re: Re WH Visit
July 28, 2009 - 14:15 ET by sic721If Sgt. Crowley(against the advice of millions of Americans) does go to the White House, I would strenuously advise him to take along a tape recorder and/or his attorney, preferrably both!!!
"Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves upon the ruin of this Country."-John Adams
This is not Post-Racial America
July 28, 2009 - 09:30 ET by ZacraGates is a piece of work. He is the Racist, Michelle is a racist, Wright is a Racist, hey look a pattern. Why do you think Obama had his college thesis sealed before running? We would have all seen he is a Racist.
Gate
July 29, 2009 - 12:49 ET by rpeeler42I believe Gates must be a distinguished graduate of the Jesse Jackson School of "How to Screw White folks and make millions of dollars doing it while not improving s..t." Gates major was "How to act like an a..hole and strut around Harvard like I was smart"
Gates is right up there with Al Sharpton for being the most worthless "civil rights demagogue in the nation."
Yes. He should sue. Correct the last social injustice...
July 28, 2009 - 09:41 ET by JWF...Societies maltreatment of buttholes.
A butthole that sold his website for $10 million can well afford to fix his front door. The neighbors report someone, possibly a butthole is breaking into a house, they can not make out the race, but they are pretty sure one of them is a butthole.
Policeman arrives and finds a broken door and a butthole wandering inside of the house. He requests ID from butthole to prove said butthole is breaking into his own residence in full view of butthole's neighbors. Butthole gets belligerent. Officer request butthole follow him outside to location of witnesses. Butthole complies whilst calling officers mom a fellow traveling butthole. Officer arrests butthole despite butthole informing him buttholes are protected from prosecution.
Yes. He should sue. Buttholes are the last maligned class of Americans.
Oh, and if anyone says anything about my little post here. Don't forget, I have a team of lawyers because smarttushies have rights too people!
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
This piece could have been
July 28, 2009 - 09:55 ET by G. MayThis piece could have been so much longer. Ethics being an entire branch of philosophy, Cohen's "conclusions" can be dissected and shredded at just about every sentence ad nauseum.
The money quote for me is "If Crowley overreacted...".
That completely invalidates this mental midget's entire argument. He spent paragraphs building his argument and making conclusions based on completely arbitrary accusations of racism from pathetically incomplete amounts of relevant information. In his mind, the suit would be a mere formality - Gates has already won. Then he follows it up with an admission that he might not know enough about the situation by saying "If".
The problem here is the leftist's idea of "social justice". It follows the same faulty and selfish thinking that brings you the concept of socialism, when socialism is considered in the broader context of supposedly being about "social justice". The leftist does not see how arbitrarily their own standards of social justice are applied, let alone conceived. Nor do they understand how their incomplete philosophy is painfully subject to personal bias and even whim.
Note the use of the words "virtue" and "altruism" used in a relativistic way to prop up his shabby argument. These words have no meaning as they are read here. The author rightfully calls out Cohen on this. There is so much missing information, which Cohen actually admits, yet he still suggests "Sue baby, sue!" This is virtue?
So The Ethicist fails to make his own case and offers a course of action based on his personal whim. Not only does The Ethicist fail to recognize an appropriate ethics situation, but he's unethical in his recommendation.
Activists
July 28, 2009 - 11:03 ET by iveseenitallProfessor Henry Gates and the Reverened Wrong come out of the mid-20th century Jackson -Sharpton "activists" era. They've been quite successful poisoning the minds of young blacks such as Barry and Michelle. And they will continue to do so, no matter what evidence there is that they really should "move on". But I don't believe Gates will sue the police. I think he'll calculate the loss of his phony "prestige" at Harvard. And he doesn't want the light shown on him much longer. He's too comfortable with the sinecure he has at the university, a base from which he can continue to fantasize about the evil white man and continue to make it up as he goes along in his hate-filled "African-American Studies" program. Perhaps he, the Rev, Al and Jessee will some day be taken on a trip around the world with Barry and Michelle, counting their money, apologizing for our nation, and its history of wrong-doing. "God DAMN (white) America!"
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Spot On!!!
July 28, 2009 - 14:19 ET by sic721A commenter at TownHall the other day posted this:
"There is (a) class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.… There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public…"
Booker T. Washington, 1911
True almost 100 years ago, more true than ever today!!!
"Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves upon the ruin of this Country."-John Adams
"Ethicist"
July 28, 2009 - 10:34 ET by onewiseguyWhat a hoot! This guy is an "Ethicist". This guy can't even understand the simple fact that Gates is the one who is at fault and he works as an Ethicist? This guy has the understanding of a 2 year old (also known as a "Democrat").
Because frivolous lawsuits
July 28, 2009 - 11:15 ET by wiwfBecause frivolous lawsuits are ethical.
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
WHAT?!
July 28, 2009 - 12:06 ET by Airforce_5_O"I refer to suits filed to oppose systemic injustice, for the benefit of the larger community, often at some personal risk and expense. This is not opportunism; it’s altruism, not self-interest but civic virtue. A lawsuit by Gates could lead to a formal examination of the troubled history of police interactions with African-Americans and hence would meet this standard."
He is kidding, right? How does this meet the standard? Wait, I'm sorry, I forgot. It was a White cop arresting a blackman so it is racial profiling. I can't beleive I missed that!
Some people need to have their liberal removed and he should be in line. Anyone know a Doctor preforming this perticular proceedure?
"Obama lied, transparency died!" Michelle Malkin
As the negative reaction
July 28, 2009 - 13:16 ET by snaggletoothieAs the negative reaction to the president’s thoughtless words are only slowly dying down I’m beginning to be more convinced that most of it has nothing to do with any racial component there might be. I am becoming convinced that the real hot issue is public support for the police. We know that the police can be picky, difficult to deal with, even a PIA sometimes. But most of us realize that this is part of the cost of having a minimal level of security and safety. And Barack Obama and the community organizer crowd don’t understand this basic fact of civilized life. The vast majority of Americans see all this as a necessary and inescapable cost associated with civil society. Unfortunately our president just sees it all as something to be twisted to his own purposes. I suspect that this is a thorn this lion will never be able to completely remove from his paw: it is a shibboleth of Obama's nonstop siding with division, hate and disorder.
If Gates sues it will only keep Obama's weak stance on public safety constantly before the public and cause the wound to fester and continually sap Obama's strength.
'Ethicist' Urges Skippy to Sue?
July 28, 2009 - 13:22 ET by locomotivebreath1901Sue whom?? His momma for raising such an over-educated, petulant bigot???
http://locomotivebreath1901.blogspot.com
What's the WORST accusation
July 28, 2009 - 14:07 ET by Jack BauerWhat's the WORST accusation that can be hurled at a person in contemporay America?
It's a phrase that heaps scorn, opprobrium, and hatred on the recipient. It has career and personal consequences.
And "racism" is what Henry Louis Gates continues to accuse Sgt. Crowley of indulging in.
Oh yes, there should be a lawsuit. Sgt. Crowley should sue Gates for the ranted slander and the written libel.
It's not as if there isn't plenty of evidence.
I am not a racist----
July 28, 2009 - 14:21 ET by misterbill--matter of fact, my knees are so bad, walking fast is out of the question.
Neither am I a xenophobe. I lean more to the marimba.
Finally, I am not an ethnic nor have I ever visted ethni city. I am a redneck!!
That's
July 28, 2009 - 14:18 ET by jessieHThat's it, waste more taxpayers money.
Sometimes--
July 28, 2009 - 14:22 ET by misterbillSometimes I seek relief from stress in silliness. It's fun. I guess if I were to become a liberal it would be fun all the time.
Actually, I hope Dr. "Yo Mama" Gates does sue
July 28, 2009 - 14:25 ET by R D HelmThe entertainment value would be priceless.
-Dave
Profiling
July 28, 2009 - 14:31 ET by 1uncle1uncle:: Profiling is a natural part of police work. Who is most likely?
Tho nothing was said about racial except or until Gates did. Too quick to use that word. Police have a difficult job. Let them do it. Do what they ask. It's simple. Don't jump to conclusions likeThe Czar.
Class action alert
July 28, 2009 - 15:03 ET by FranksamI'm going to sue Randy Cohen in a class action filing for being an a**hat. Please let me know if you want to be excluded from this suit. Otherwise, you're in. I expect that the attorney and I, as 'lead plaintiff', will consume all cash proceeds, but other members of the class can expect to receive at least a coupon for some ice water.
I am so going car shopping.
HMMMMMMMMMMM
July 28, 2009 - 15:24 ET by rick007I think he should be investigated for tax fraud myself.
Ever notice how quict the blacks get on the sue wagon???
They are not interested in working just how much they can sue whitey for.
Remember all you idiots everytime a person sues the goverment you are the ones paying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Govt has no money excepr what they steal from you!!!!!!!!
I am waiting for the tapes to come out showing...
July 28, 2009 - 18:10 ET by jawebster1Gates yelling and screaming at a police officer doing his job. Wanta bet that the Gates' team of lawyers will fight to suppress that from happening? Too inflammatory they will say. Jim Webster
I sure hope this obnoxious
July 29, 2009 - 01:35 ET by fitzfongI sure hope this obnoxious "professor" sues. Then everyone will see in the cold light of day what a deceptive shell game the modern day "Civil Rights" movement is. My guess is that the "professor" isn't that dumb...and since Jackson and Sharpton will want to keep their grift going, they'll lean on him to back off.
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best