Ethics

If you are at a conference and somebody behind you says something that you feel is offensive is it okay to take their picture and post that to the Internet so that a lot of people know that somebody said that offensive thing?

Comments

This is an interesting question - and an important one, given how often one overhears offensive comments (at conferences, on trains, in coffee shops, and so on!) There might be two sets of issues to separate, though.

The first set of issues concern what was said, in what context, and why, and whether one can determine the motivation and intent, and so on. In some cases, though of course by no means all cases, there are further factors - not always apparent - which might affect our judgments about the offensiveness of a given remark (though, granted, this won't apply in cases of obviously offensive remarks). Given that fact, sometimes the best response is to confront the question - to confirm the moral judgement and establish that no moderating factors apply in this case - rather than just go straight into an online exposure. Due process, one might say.

The second is the question of (for wont of a better term) enforcement. There are many ways to enforce good moral and social conduct, and shaming - e.g. by posting a picture online - is only one of them (for instance online shaming might not prevent the person from making OTHER offensive remarks during the conference - even if it deters them later one). Ideally one would challenge the person or go to the relevant authorities - but of course that's not always as easy to do as it is to say, especially since persons who are genuinely offensive are often resistant to rational challenge and moral criticism.

So no easy answer - but going straight for online shaming might not always be the best course of action (even if only for the pragmatic reason that the offensive person might trace the shaming back to you!)

In my experience - for what it's worth - at conferences one can usually rely on moral solidarity, though whether that is available depends on all sorts of contingencies so cannot be relied upon in a failsafe way!

Read another response by Ian Kidd

Read another response about Ethics