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<p>Dave -</p>
<p>I'm glad you elaborated. My trivial "shunt" answers to stop me
from turning your "dilemma" into a "multilemma" of arbitrarily
large proportions might be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"it is only a moral dilemma for someone who is immoral"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>another simple showstopper might be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"if you judge anyone else who might consider doing this immoral
then absolutely, don't do it!"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't know when it happened for me, but one day I woke up and
realized that I'd spent the last XX% of my life eating the words
I'd uttered for the first 100-XX% of my life. A little later I
realized I was still spitting words (judgements of others) that
I'd have to eat "yet later", which (sometimes, and mildly)
tempered those fresh round of judgements, if only minimally.<br>
</p>
<p>TL;DR - multilemmas all the way down from here, the shunt didn't
help:</p>
<hr width="100%" size="2">
<p>Your elaboration covers a significant fraction of my own taxonomy
of moral/ethical questions that arise. I'd be interested if this
group were able to build a rough taxonomy (albeit more likely a
heterarchical web of moral/ethical implications than a simple
taxonomy). Maybe in the spirit of Glymour or Pearl, there might
even be some formalizable parallels between causual webs and
ethical webs?<br>
</p>
<p>You hit the big ones for me. <br>
</p>
<ol>
<li>knowingly lie... this might be slightly better for your own
soul than to make up complex excuses to justify lying to
yourself?</li>
<li>community obligation... if your workplace is a critical
resource to your community and your refusing to work there
contributes significantly to it's failure.</li>
<li>by example... You are probably not the only one weighing the
options... so whether you lead, follow, or refuse might be of
small consequence. You may consider yourself a thought/moral
leader among the other workers... if so then yes, I get it.<br>
</li>
<li>confront the "poverty wage economy"... crashing the
business, using the unemployment option to effectively stage a
work stoppage, forcing a > $10/hr wage (based on $400/month
rather than the $600=$15*40hrs) onto the parent company (with
subsequent increased prices for their goods/services).<br>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Other considerations I would insert might include.</p>
<ol>
<li>what is the extended risk of your catching COVID with your age
and underlying conditions, you are more likely to suffer badly
and possibly burden a medical system in your region which either
is or is not already being stressed. Maybe rural UT continues
to maintain low rates of spread which refers us back to 1 above.<br>
</li>
<li>Is your holding the job (independent of COVID and extended
unemployment benefits) a boon or bane to the community? Is it
hard to find people willing/able to do this job? Would
releasing the job allow someone else who also needs it but might
not qualify for the unemployment you are considering, allow them
to feed their family (albeit minimally)? </li>
<li>Do you have something better to contribute to the community?
Is there something else you could be doing with the same time
that is less COVID-risky? Handing off the minWage job to
someone else who needs it and applying your skills/abilities to
a $0 wage task might make more sense? You would even have $100
cash per week leftover to support a longer commute or extra
expenses or direct donation to the cause you are supporting?
Certainly more circulation of cash in the community (if you
spend or contribute the difference).</li>
<li>Maybe this is the perfect time to complete your magnus
opus... consider it an NEA or NSF grant to complete your "great
american novel" or redefine "object oriented design" entirely?<br>
</li>
<li>If your workplace is a genuine community resource, perhaps you
could take the unemployment and return under "yet more
COVID-safe conditions" to enhance that workplace for the
community and the other workers (I can't stretch myself enough
to conjure a specific example, but there may well be one).</li>
<li>Maybe now is a good time for the community to take the bull by
the horns and "buy out" the hard assets of the company and
restart it as a proper cooperative? Does the larger Mormon
community have good precedents for cooperatives, or is it either
church or private enterprise? As an example, I submit the
Grange (though they might sound like pinko-commie-f...s to some:</li>
</ol>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
adobe-garamond-pro, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial;
text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important;
float: none;">The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, was
founded in 1867 to advance methods of agriculture, as well as
to promote the social and economic needs of farmers in the
United States. The financial crisis of 1873, along with
falling crop prices, increases in railroad fees to ship crops,
and Congress’s reduction of paper money in favor of gold and
silver devastated farmers’ livelihoods and caused a surge in
Grange membership in the mid-1870s. Both at the state and
national level, Grangers gave their support to reform minded
groups such as the Greenback Party, the Populist Party, and,
eventually, the Progressives.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>I also wonder if part of the background to your question is
whether it is moral/ethical to *offer* such a deal?</p>
<ol>
<li>As an erstwhile libertarian I can cop the attitude that a free
market sets the value of labor and any interference with that is
fundamentally immoral.</li>
<li>As a budding socialist/communalist, I want to live in a world
where people are encouraged to share and be generous and to
build and respect a healthy and rich commons.</li>
<li>I do think a $10 "living wage" unemployment offered over the
top of a $7.50 "minimum wage" for employment *is* a
cart-before-horse problem... but given the vagaries of how
bureaucracies and legislation works, it is not surprising and
the "moral dilemmas" generated for people (including small,
medium, and large business) are maybe helpful (like a Zen Koan)
to shock the system into a more upright posture?</li>
</ol>
<p>Mumble,</p>
<p> - Steve<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/5/21 10:09 AM, Prof David West
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:ea3884f9-905a-416d-ac6f-f8698cf1ce15@www.fastmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title></title>
<style type="text/css">#qt p.qt-MsoNormal{margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}p.MsoNormal,p.MsoNoSpacing{margin:0}</style>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">One should be precise when asking
a question, and I find I was not.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">The first ethical dilemma is that
I would have to <b><i>knowingly lie</i></b> about my "fear" of
contracting COVID at work. I know I am at greater risk but that
has not and likely will not translate into "fear."<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">The second ethical dilemma arises
from the fact that I would be, almost, literally irreplaceable —
unemployment benefits are a huge disincentive to workiong. So
those I left behind will suffer some serious negative impacts,
assuming my hours and increasing their own exposure to disease.
Ethics of loyalty, friendship, compassion for others????<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">A third issue: if I inspired even
one other colleague to follow my example, the store likely would
have to close with negative impacts on the community as well as
the other employees.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">One might make a case that the
only ethical thing for me to do would be to leave and take as
many as my colleagues with me in hopes that the Canadian company
that owns the story would raise their wages scale to $15+ an
hour. This would harm nothing except their corporate profits and
would benefit both the community and all the employees. Unlikely
to happen, but the ethical argument could be made.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">PS Nick: yes, I would be lonely,
but that is a pandemic condition during the pandemic.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">PPS poets: Richard Gabriel, Ph.D.
Computer Science, MFA Poetry, creator of a poetry writing AI —
told me that Haiku cannot be written in English, or any
non-ideographic language, because meter provides only syntax,
and misses the semantic point.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;">davew<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial;"><br>
</div>
<div>On Fri, Feb 5, 2021, at 9:03 AM, <a
href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com" moz-do-not-send="true">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" id="qt" style="overflow-wrap:break-word;">
<div class="qt-WordSection1">
<p class="qt-MsoNormal">Dave,<br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"> <br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal">Wouldn’t you be lonely?<br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"> <br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal">N<br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"> <br>
</p>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal">Nick Thompson<br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><a
href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</a><br>
</p>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><a
href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</a><br>
</p>
</div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"> <br>
</p>
<div>
<div
style="border-right-color:currentcolor;border-right-style:none;border-right-width:medium;border-bottom-color:currentcolor;border-bottom-style:none;border-bottom-width:medium;border-left-color:currentcolor;border-left-style:none;border-left-width:medium;border-image-outset:0;border-image-repeat:stretch;border-image-slice:100%;border-image-source:none;border-image-width:1;border-top-color:rgb(225,
225,
225);border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:1pt;padding-top:3pt;padding-right:0in;padding-bottom:0in;padding-left:0in;">
<div><b>From:</b> Friam <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com"><friam-bounces@redfish.com></a>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Prof David West<br>
</div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 4, 2021 9:15 PM<br>
</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a><br>
</div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> [FRIAM] ethical dilemma<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"> <br>
</p>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">Biden's
COVID relief bill includes $400/week unemployment
benefits until September. </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">Normally,
if you voluntarily quit a job, you are not eligible
for unemployment benefits. However, a person can
qualify for these benefits if they quit because they
"fear' contracting COVID at their job.</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">I <b><u>know</u></b>
that my job has an enhanced risk for contracting
COVID.</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">So
should I quit and earn 400/wk for the next six months
— tax free.</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">Or
continue earning 300/week that is taxed.</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">No
one but myself would ever know if I "feared"
contracting COVID at that job</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;"> </span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="qt-MsoNormal"><span style=""><span class="font"
style="font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;">davew</span></span><br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
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