I've never been all that favorably inclined to the counsel of despair.
That goes double when we're discussing an issue that goes to the heart of how we as an industry conduct ourselves - to what standard we hold
ourselves and one another.
Granted, right now no such standard exists. I don't think that will always be true; if we don't regulate our own behavior then someone will certainly do so for us. I think it'd be a good idea if we had a say in how it happens, and when we have people apparently arguing that no one should expect anyone to hold us to any standard, it's very hard for me even to imagine an argument in support of the idea that we deserve one.
I'd also like to think that, by being in this industry, we're not all in the position of an RJR or Philip Morris employee trying to believe we aren't really peddling addiction and cancer. Whether that sort of thing bothers anyone else, it's not up to me to decide, though I think it should. It does bother me.
That goes double when we're discussing an issue that goes to the heart of how we as an industry conduct ourselves - to what standard we hold ourselves and one another.
Granted, right now no such standard exists. I don't think that will always be true; if we don't regulate our own behavior then someone will certainly do so for us. I think it'd be a good idea if we had a say in how it happens, and when we have people apparently arguing that no one should expect anyone to hold us to any standard, it's very hard for me even to imagine an argument in support of the idea that we deserve one.
I'd also like to think that, by being in this industry, we're not all in the position of an RJR or Philip Morris employee trying to believe we aren't really peddling addiction and cancer. Whether that sort of thing bothers anyone else, it's not up to me to decide, though I think it should. It does bother me.