As we read about lapses in ethics of elected officials, this opinion article blasts the typical newspaper practice to allow a politician to say an ethical lapse was a "mistake" and let them off the hook.
This essay is quite good in defining the difference between a REAL mistake, and a politician trying to say their cheating, corruption or lying was really only a "mistake".
I plan to create a page on political ethics and policy examples, so this starts a new category on "Ethics in Politics & Government".
For example, is it ethical for an elected politician to use hidden political procedures to prevent hidden or un-documented taxes from being discussed in public hearings?
vj
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What they think My Word: Raff Ellis
Memo to cheaters: Getting caught is not a 'mistake'
Nearly
every day someone is in the news with an admission of a "mistake."
Politicians do it, sports figures do it, evangelists do it -- it seems
even the birds and bees do it. We have become the most mistake-prone
society in the world.
Just what is a mistake anyway? I remember
from my college days a course called logic where I learned about the
many fallacious arguments we encounter in daily life. So, when I read
or see so many public figures explaining their behavior as a mistake, I
have to choke back the urge to be ill.
What is a mistake?
Consider these examples: If you believe it's raining outside and tell
someone that it is, when in reality it's not, that is definitely a
mistake. If you turn down Orange Avenue when you truly meant to take
Mills Avenue, that is a mistake. In other words, you honestly thought
the action you took represented your intentions, and it didn't.
Now, if you have a tryst with a prostitute -- and get caught -- you
can't say it was a mistake. If you inject yourself with steroids -- and
get caught -- you can't say you made a mistake. If you carry a
concealed weapon -- and get caught, whether you shoot yourself in the
leg or not -- that also cannot be claimed as a mistake. If you lie
under oath -- and get caught -- you can't say you made a mistake.
Do you see a common thread here? Yep, it's getting caught that makes an action illegal, immoral, or stupid -- and consequently a "mistake." Claiming a misdeed was a mistake is akin to the philanderer saying, "I thought the woman was my wife," or the baseball player claiming, "I thought I was injecting vitamins," or the perjurer protesting, "I thought this was what the jury wanted to hear."
When are the media going to call these "mistakes" what they really are? Why don't they just come out and say, "Alex Rodriguez says he made a 'mistake' when he injected himself for three years with an 'unknown' substance when in reality, had he not failed a steroid test, he would not have made a mistake at all."
Why, we should ask, do the media even allow the use of the redundant phrase "honest mistake"? There is only one kind of mistake -- honest. There might be room in our lexicon for stupid or foolish mistake, but no matter how dumb, they are still honest. A dishonest mistake is a lie.
Raff Ellis, author of 'Kisses from a Distance,' lives in Orlando.
