Ethics, and upcoming vacation

[flexagon]

One of the trickiest ethical setups for me is getting anything done with a person who doesn't want to know certain information. I value integrity in myself. I also like to know things, like to share knowledge, and have a tendency to believe that information wants to be splattered everywhere. Then there's also my tendency to prefer treating people they way they'd like to be treated, and to in fact let them guard their brains (I don't watch extremely violent movies; that's on purpose; I get it). So I get in a bind between "I should really tell X about Y" and "X doesn't want to know about Y, nothing good will come of it". One way out of this bind in real life is to only hang out with people who do want to know everything (or, you know, capital-E Everything, hi norwoodbridge!), but that doesn't work on the job.

Throw in some power dynamic and some flat-out cruelty, and that is how you get lied to by an unrepentant flexagon. It is possible. My disloyalty can be earned. Looking at recent examples of earned disloyalty -- and now I have two in 2020 -- it always starts with the bind above, the "X doesn't want to know" bind. And in both cases there was a solid dollop of cruelty. It took the power dynamic on top of all three of the other things to actually make me lie. But in any case, while my own apparent moral framework here is kind of fascinating, the ultimate point of this week is that I got put in a nasty ethical conundrum and -- just barely, and with help from Helios, who is unusually qualified to give advice in the domain of the conundrum -- can still look myself in the mirror today. I feel like I passed a particularly malicious test. And I am limp with relief.

I'm not sure anything else even happened this week. Ah, wait, yes, I did my hair in teal and purple and have been watching it fade out? Good date on Sunday with the fancy hair all fresh, down in Rhode Island, listening to The Handmaid's Tale all the way down and back on Audible? Also, leg flexibility has been feeling good. I touched my right elbow to right toe (with a straight leg) again for the first time since early this year, and managed to get into a standing right split in my hallway with only a few bruises, three tries and a solid yank on the old yoga strap.

Only four more workdays left in this calendar year!!! I am drastically, desperately, very much looking forward to the time off. Maybe if I get more sleep I can have some dreams about Nala, who's been visiting heisenbug in dreams but not me so far. Last night he had a pretty detailed dream about her returning from the underworld and, yes, I'm jealous. I want to see my kitty too.

Comments

[askygoneonfire]

I touched my right elbow to right toe (with a straight leg) again for the first time since early this year, and managed to get into a standing right split in my hallway with only a few bruises, three tries and a solid yank on the old yoga strap.
WOW

Interesting reflection on ethics and conundrums that made me reflect on when and how I might chose to lie. Glad you got out of what sounds quite difficult in one piece!

[flexagon]

Oh hello my new friend! :-) Yes, I do circus and am always trying to get stretchier. Which is one of the few things that's gone well this year, as it works over Zoom and I'm not collecting any random injuries from other activities like I usually do.

I sincerely hope to not get into a bind like this again in the remotely near future. Corporate life is bonkers.