Synthesis paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Synthesis paper - Essay Example On the other hand, where justice is not present, then the laws cannot be followed by men who wish to live by such higher moral laws, and they have a duty to resist them without violence, even if it leads to personal suffering and jail. There is the sense in both King and Thoreau of making use of this higher inner moral compass to subvert what they see as the evils of their time, slavery and an unjust war campaign on the part of Thoreau, and the discrimination and systematic marginalization of African Americans suffering from centuries of slavery on the part of King. In both men the vision is that human laws are only to be followed where they conform to universal moral laws. The individual too and the respect given to the individual’s human rights and dignity are the proper starting points of any government crafting laws. Where society, government and the law disrespect human rights and debase individual liberties, then men have no obligation to follow those laws at all, but ar e free within their own individual capacities to resist the law and to go against society. This paper asserts therefore that one can read into the works of the two men the intention to lay out the foundations of moral action in society: people being able to immediately live with integrity and totally within their own individual capacities to live according to those higher moral laws. This is regardless of what is happening on the outside- regardless of whether governments and societies are enlightened or unenlightened in moral terms. The rest of the paper integrates the two writings in the context of this latter thesis (Thoreau; King). King notes that during the time of Hitler in Germany, all of his actions were legal, but his actions were not just. The plight of the Jews in Germany has become a clichà ©, but worth mentioning here, in that the Jews were victims of massive

Media Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Ethics - Case Study Example The media house’s reporter went ahead and released the story on Ashe’s health condition overseas prior to Ashe’s consent which forced the athlete to publicly admit his health condition when he was not yet prepared. The actions of the reporter were not in line with how journalists even back them ought to have conducted themselves especially in regards to moral and ethical duties as a major newspaper like USA Today. The chief ethical issue that arose out of this case had to do with the reporter’s express refusal to wait a little longer before publishing the story. The reason that he gave for doing exactly this was that the public needed to get to know this information. These actions of the reporter did not serve any level of good informative justice to Arthur Ashe (Foreman, 2010). There are various ethical facts that a reporter or journalist has to take into consideration before making an ethical decision as regards to Arthur Ashe’s case. One thing that we have to consider also is that the athlete put himself out there in the public domain the moment he decided to be a professional tennis player and become one of the leading opponents of the South African apartheid regime. A journalist could have therefore argued that a person of such social standing could be appropriately considered as a celebrity and social icon (Foreman, 2010). The other fact that had to be considered was that Ashe being an athlete, he had connections and obligations to his sponsors or some media outlets. This therefore means that he was contractually obligated to maintain a specific image. All these factors mean that he had to maintain some form of responsibility to his sponsors and fans in social and economic terms as well. The person to whom a journalist is responsible to will always tend to change depending on the circumstance. Journalists always tend to state that they are ultimately