Ethics Movie Training
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Ethics Movie Training The VADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, located in Luce Hall in room 201, offers a set of facilitator guides centered on ethical themes explored in recent film. The Ingersoll Library, located in the Stockdale Center, houses many movies that focus on ethical dilemmas. Each summer, newly graduated Ensigns and Second Lieutenants work with Center staff in crafting discussion guides around these films. This document is the first collection of such guides. Each facilitator’s guide in this document is a self-contained brief on the film it focuses upon. Each guide first presents the Stockdale Center’s ethical decision-making model, based upon research on the psychology of ethical decision making. The model presents a procedure that has been distilled from that research. The four-step procedure also allows incorporation of more traditional ethical theories and outlooks, while paying attention to stresses and emotions involved in such dilemmas. The guides then give brief synopses of each film. They conclude with a selection of carefully crafted discussion questions that focus on the ethical dimensions of the films, and the psychological and emotional factors that are portrayed. Each of these films can checked out for use in Saturday training or other such venues. Midshipmen may also contact LCDR Rak ([email protected]) or the Stockdale center ([email protected] ) if there is a movie not currently available that they would like to have included in the library. If the suggestion is approved, a discussion guide will be created for that movie. Also, new discussion guides are being added each year. The Stockdale Center currently has discussion guides for the following movies: - A Simple Plan - Black Hawk Down - Crimson Tide - Gattaca - Generation Kill - The Hurt Locker - John Q - Quiz Show - The Rock - Saving Private Ryan - Social Network - Three Kings Training Officers/Sergeants: If you are interested in using this program for SMT/GMT or other purposes, please contact the center to set up a time to check out the movie and receive guidance on the use of the training aid. Thank you for using our resources. We hope you find them stimulating and thought- provoking. A Simple Plan Ethical Decision-Making Movie Discussion Movie Summary: After stumbling upon more than $4 million in the woods, two brothers and a friend devise a plan to keep the money for themselves. The plan quickly unravels as they begin to question each other’s motives and loyalties. This film focuses on issues of trust, loyalty, sacrifice, and guilt. Ethical Decision-Making Basics: Ethics can be described as standards of behavior that one uses to decide how to respond to situations that have a moral component. In ethical decision making, a person uses standards of behavior to come to a decision and then act. Although this process may seem intuitive, research shows that there are steps we all take in making ethical decisions. The four-step model shown below, based on the work of James Rest, describes how we move from moral awareness through moral action. The questions at each step reflect the work of Thomas Jones, who followed up on the work of Rest. They show how people’s ability to make ethical decisions is affected by different moral intensity factors. The most common ones include: How much a particular social group (peers, friends, family) agrees that a given action is good or bad and what they will think about the decision maker How close the decision maker feels to the people affected by your decision How much the decision maker’s actions harm or benefit someone How likely it is that something good or something bad will happen Here’s how the steps in the model work. In the “I feel” step, you feel something about the situation in your body. Decide if this situation raises a moral issue by asking: 1. Am I violating my moral emotions if I do nothing? 2. Am I putting anyone at risk if I do nothing? 3. Is something bad likely to happen here? Check whether moral intensity factors are affecting you by asking: 1. Would my social group see a moral issue here? 2. How close do I feel to the people involved in this situation? In the “I ask” step, weigh different choices to distinguish right from wrong, better from worse, and between competing tensions. To weigh those choices, ask the following: 1. If I take action, is that fair or unfair? Morally right or morally wrong? 2. What would someone I respect think is the best option? 3. If I take action, is that decision in line with my organization’s or my society’s rules and culture? Ask whether moral intensity factors are affecting your judgment: 1. What would my social group think about my actions? 2. How much harm could come to someone if I take action? What if I don’t take action? 3. How likely is it that this situation will turn out badly if I don’t take action? What about if I do take action? In the “I think I will” step, decide what to do or not to do, using the questions below: 1. What do I think I should do? 2. How much will what other people think about me influence my decision? 3. Do I intend to act on that decision? In the “I act” step, carry out your intention, even if there is great opposition. These questions may be helpful: 1. Do I follow through on this intention? 2. What may prevent me from acting on my intention? 3. What may help me follow through on my intention? This model can be used for everyday decisions, along with those that have more profound effects. This guide outlines the ethical dilemmas in A Simple Plan and then presents some examples for discussion. You can use many of the dilemmas or examples to illustrate this ethical decision-making process. Ethical Dilemmas: 1. Hank, Jacob, and Lou rationalize their decision to keep the money by assuming it is drug money. If it is known that the money is “dirty,” (i.e., drug money), then is it okay to take it and put it to good use? In other words, can the Robin Hood analogy be justified in this case? Ever? How would you work through this decision? (Use the model shown above.) 2. Jacob asks Hank to kill him because he has given up on himself. Is it right to shoot your brother when he has asked you to do so? How is your decision making affected if the person involved is not your brother? How is your decision making affected if he puts a gun to his own head? If you were in this situation, how would you work out what to do? (Use the model shown above.) 2 More About Ethics: 1. It was only possible for Hank, Jacob, Lou and Sarah to justify keeping the money by making many assumptions (for instance, that it was drug money). Assumptions can be dangerous. In the movie, assumptions led to incredibly poor decisions that continued to put them in difficult situations, forcing them to lie and eventually kill. 2. When poor decisions are made, they usually result in poor consequences. If no one is willing to take accountability for these decisions/actions, the results tend to compound, resulting in more poor decisions to be made until someone is held accountable. 3. Why does Jacob ask Hank to kill him? He is depressed, with no job, no family, no future, and now, no friend. He is overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt for everything he has done since they found the money. In general, depression is a temporary problem, to which Jacob has asked his brother to provide a permanent solution—death. Examples/Discussion: 1. Imagine that you are in Iraq conducting a patrol, or in the Gulf conducting a boarding. You find an enormous amount of “dirty money” (from Sadaam, al Qaeda, etc.) and someone suggests that each person should take a little—not all of it—but just enough to put away. What is the ethical decision and how do you explain it to your troops/sailors? 2. During Hurricane Katrina, many people claimed they were “forced” to steal from grocery stores to provide food for themselves or their families. Is this justified? Are there other situations in which the “Robin Hood” rationale is justified? Is it ever justified for a member of the U.S. Navy or Armed Forces? 3. Imagine that you are in combat, and one of your comrades takes a shot that appears to be fatal. There is no medic, no supplies, and no chance of evacuation. Your comrade asks you to stop the pain and suffering by using a bullet of your own. What do you do? NOTE: This does NOT need to turn into a discussion of euthanasia or assisted suicide. That will get very political, very fast. 3 Black Hawk Down Ethical Decision-Making Movie Discussion Movie Summary: This movie is based on a true story about U.S. and U.N. operations in Somalia in 1993. What was supposed to be a 30-minute prisoner capture turns into a nightmare rescue operation when a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter is brought down. The film centers on the rules of engagement, how to tell friend from foe, and the role of individual soldiers in battle. Ethical Decision-Making Basics: Ethics can be described as standards of behavior that one uses to decide how to respond to situations that have a moral component. In ethical decision making, a person uses standards of behavior to come to a decision and then act.