Don’t look to the president for moral leadership

Julia Azari
vox.com
Originally posted February 19, 2018

President Trump’s reaction to last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has drawn heavy criticism.

His initial round of tweets, reminding the country that the Florida shooter had been known to display “bad and erratic behavior,” and that such behavior should be “reported to the authorities” were not well-received. Critics called the response “victim-blaming.” Survivors of the shooting were neither comforted nor inspired.

Of course, we live in a time of partisan polarization, and it’s easy to suggest that there are many Americans who are unlikely to respond positively to any message from President Trump. That’s probably true. But none other than liberal snowflake Ari Fleischer — press secretary to George W. Bush — offered a broader indictment: “Some of the biggest errors Pres. Trump has made are what he did NOT say. He did not immediately condemn the KKK after Charlottesville. He did not immediately condemn domestic violence or offer sympathy for Rob Porter’s ex-wives. He should speak today about the school shooting.” Trump did address the incident in a speech on Thursday.

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Anti-Trump Republican Rick Wilson tweeted on Sunday that Trump isn’t a president but a “moral stress test.” His speech on Thursday and his visit to Florida over the weekend appeared to impress very few people. At the time of this writing, the president’s response appears to have culminated in a series of tweets chastising the FBI for not pursuing reports about the Florida shooter and linking the FBI’s failure to its Russia investigation.

The article is here.

Messy Morals

By Anthony Painter
The RSA Blog
Originally posted on May 29, 2014

David Marquand wants a new public philosophy. This philosophy will be based on ethics – a morality of social justice beyond the market. He sees that we are in a ‘moral crisis’. Markets, individualism and greed have taken over. The public good has been in retreat since Margaret Thatcher came to power.

He has found unlikely allies this week. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, and a group of capitalists gathering under an ‘inclusive capitalism’ banner have also suggested a different moral economy – though they would not necessarily express it that way. Smart business people and financiers see that the legitimacy of their activities relies on a different alignment between ethics and business. It is more about self-interest than morality. Nonetheless, the crossovers with David Marquand are intriguing.

The entire article is here.

Lawrence Lessig’s March to End Corruption

Moyer's and Company
Originally posted February 14, 2014

This week, we bring you a special report on a two-week, 185-mile trek through the winter cold in New Hampshire, led in January by constitutional scholar and activist Lawrence Lessig to raise awareness of the crippling problem of corruption in American politics.

“If you think about every single important issue America has to address — if you’re on the right and you care about tax reform or addressing the issues of the deficit, or on the left and you care about climate change or real health care reform — whatever the issue is, if you look at the way our system functions right now you have to see that there will be no sensible reform given the way we fund campaigns,” Lessig says.

The entire story is here.

Brooklyn man encourages everyone to proclaim 'I Have a Therapist'!

Bipolar sufferer starts blog to break down the stigma of mental health treatment. There's nothing wrong with seeking help when you need it.

By Simone Weichselbaum
New York Daily News
Originally posted November 4, 2013 (and I just found out about it a couple of days ago)

Got a therapist? Well, let’s hear about it!

Thousands of shrink-goers are logging onto the blog, “I Have a Therapist,” created just three weeks ago by a bipolar Brooklyn man hoping to break the stigma of seeking professional mental health help.
“Therapy is the best thing to ever happen to me,” said webpreneur Elad Nehorai, 29, whose Tumblr blog encourages people to get help when they need it — and then to share their stories.

The entire article is here.

Charidy started a "I have a therapist." campaign on Tumblr.

According to Charidy's Tumblr account:

Charidy is a startup based in Brooklyn, New York.  We are a fundraising platform for non-profits. But we’re more than that.  We want to make our site, our marketing, and our whole identity revolve around doing good for the world, in which fundraising is an integral part of a larger whole. And that’s why we’re doing this campaign (among others that will be launching soon).  We strongly believe in this cause and believe that by putting our hearts into it, we can really change the world.

Charidy's page is here.

The Tumblr page is here.

This is an interesting use of social media.

I have been reblogging some of these post from the Ethics and Psychology Tumblr page.

Moral Mondays

Religious and Ethics Weekly
August 23, 2013

Religious leaders in North Carolina are being arrested in growing numbers to protest new laws they say adversely affect the poor, the aging, and children.

Watch Moral Mondays on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.