Philosophy Archives - Albert Frank

United Airlines Evil

By Albert S. Frank Posted on April 18, 2017 in Good and Evil

Brass Knuckles – The Next Thing In Customer Care?

You probably know what United Airlines did to their passenger Dr. David Dao. If not, this clip from Jimmy Kimmel gives a good orientation: https://youtu.be/HV28_ENzFog

Why are so many people – including me – so upset about this? United did not kill Dr. Dao, or try to kill him. No doubt they would have preferred for him to leave without any violence at all, though they did resort to violence when it seemed convenient.

But after several days I still feel horror, disgust, and outrage. Why?

Because the normal reaction to evil is horror, disgust, and outrage.

I use the word “evil” deliberately and literally. This is not an exaggeration.

What is evil? According to Terry Pratchett’s character Granny Weatherwax in the novel Carpe Jugulum:

Evil is when you treat people as things

The motive does not have to be cruelty, or even dishonesty. United was evil even if they had the right to remove Dr. Dao – which by the way I very much doubt. Treating people as things is evil whatever the motive.

Here are some of the ways that United Airlines was evil:

United showed no concern for Dr. Dao’s reason for needing to take the flight, namely that he had patients to see the next morning;
United did not seek to find a replacement to exit the flight, for example by raising the compensation offer to a high enough level;
United invited thugs onto the airplane to remove Dr. Dao by threatening violence and, if that did not work, by applying violence;
Thugs acting as agents for United violently removed Dr. Dao. I find it hard to believe that three large men could not have removed one small 69-year-old without reportedly inflicting a concussion, breaking his nose, and knocking out two of his teeth. But whether or not they wanted to injure him their violence was, under the circumstances, evil;
Dragging Dr. Dao was also evil. The thugs, having injured him, should have left him where he was and instantly sought medical help. Even if they thought he was dead, they should have shown his body more respect;
The first “apology” was grotesque. United CEO Oscar Munoz on April 10, 2017 apologized for “having to re-accommodate these passengers”. Dr. Dao was not just someone inconvenienced by having to take a later flight – we have heard that United inflicted a concussion, broke his nose, and knocked out two of his teeth. Or should I say they re-accommodated his teeth?;
Then, in a memo to employees, Munoz claimed that Dr. Dao was “disruptive and belligerent”. If true, that could have justified his removal. But a video I have seen shows Dr. Dao being firm but calm. If the video is reasonably complete then Munoz was misinformed or deliberately lied about Dr. Dao. I do not know American law, but in Canadian law this looks like defamation. Defaming your victim is also evil.

It seems from this incident and others that United’s attitude towards passengers ranges from indifference to hostility. One can pray for United to go bankrupt. Until and unless it does, I question whether United should be allowed to fly in Canada.

A “Finite Resources” Phony Argument

By Albert S. Frank Posted on July 29, 2014 in True and False

A line I’ve often heard is that we should do this, that, or the other because we have “finite resources.”

Are Our Resources Really Finite? If So, Does It Matter?

The idea, often accepted without any rational thought — which I suppose is why people like to use the line — is that since the resources are finite we have to be careful or we’ll run out.

First of all, not all resources really are finite in any meaningful sense. At any given moment there is a finite number of trees on our planet, but new trees are growing all the time. At any given moment a finite amount of energy reaches the Earth from the Sun, but more keeps coming so we call solar energy a “renewable” resource.

What about non-renewable resources? Consider the rock under our feet, about 90% of which is made of silicon compounds. Leaving aside the occasional meteor the amount of silicon on Earth is finite, but given how much we have it is hard to see how we could run out as long as we have a planet at all.

Before we worry about a resource shortage we should ask a few questions, like:

Can we make or find more of the resource if we want to?
Can we recycle, using the same resource repeatedly?
Are we using it faster than we can find or make more?
Is it, though the quantity is finite at a given moment, really a renewable resource?
Can we find ways to use it more efficiently?
Can we use other resources instead?
What are the chances that the resource will become largely obsolete, like the use of oak for the masts of British naval vessels?

These questions may seem dull compared to dramatic suggestions that we’re about to run out. But sound thinking often depends on the details.