On the Ethics of Manipulation

Semantically speaking, to manipulate merely means; to interact with, as in manipulating the rubic's cube. To the extent that one operates upon and controls something by manipulating it, there is no moral aspect to the action. It is mere fact that one manipulates the state of something they wish to change. The ethical line gets drawn when that which we wish to change has free will and a choice in the changing. It rather reminds me of the old joke, how many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb? Only one, but the lightbulb must be willing to change. If one manipulates the environment of another against that person's will and in the absence of a moral authority, then the manipulators ethics should be questioned.

Military Men of Honor Should Be Allowed to be Honest and honored.

I had an interesting exchange with my son today. He is in the 5th grade and we live in a very conservative town. I heard him call some aspect of his life "gay". To be honest, I do not remember what he was quipping about but whatever it was, it was "gay".

My reaction was strong and I went into lecture mode. I had to point out that when he runs his X-Box and plays "Call of Duty" some of the guys who hit that beach, were gay. I told him that our military has had a policy in which those guys had to lie about how they relate to life even as they execute their duty "to the death". I asked him if he was aware of the military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and if he cared if our soldiers can fight and die as long as they are not honest about how they live and love?

From a military perspective the question is, as you play call of duty, does it matter if the avatar you drive into a German machine gun nest is gay or strait? Overwelmingly the answer is "fuck no!"

He said that queston was weird and that it did not matter in the least as long as the bunker "was smoked".

I will take that as a moral win for choice and defer to another day the question of whether any avatar should ever take up arms against another avatar (frankly a lost cause.) Certainly the case of cultural genocide is a compelling discussion. For now, however, I will rest on the laurel of knowing that he will not use sexual preference as a criteria for commanding a line into a forward offensive action.

Moral?

"Don't ask, don't tell" is an unnecessary distraction to military commanders in command of groups between a platoon and a command level or above.

Our Great-Grandfathers debated blacks in uniform. Our Grandfathers debated women in uniform. Our Parents are debating gays in uniform and, who knows what we will debate at the end of our lives.

My point is simple; every time this issue is raised that which is true must prevail: Men of honor must be celebrated for their honesty as well as their service.