Ethical Houston

A friend and I were discussing ethics and he told me a story of when he was in high school.  He was on the track team and one day after practice the boys on the track team found that the Coke machine was broken and that they were able to get Cokes out of the machine without paying.  My friend along with a lot of the other track team members took Cokes.  The next day the track coach found out about the incident and questioned all the boys as to whether they had taken Cokes.  My friend was the only one to admit to taking a Coke.  As a result of his confession he was kicked off the team for the rest of the year.  As far as he remembers, he was the only one that was disciplined.  Was this just?  Should he have kept his mouth shut?  Was there another way for the coach to handle the issue?

In game theory, there is a classic game called the Prisoners Dilemma.  The scenario is as follows:

Two thieves are believed to have robbed.  They are split up into separate rooms and given the chance to confess.  The specified consequences are as follows.  If one confesses and the other doesn’t the one that confesses gets off for his testimony while the other gets ten years.  If both confess they each get a five year sentence.  If neither confesses they get a one year sentence for possession of fire arms.  It would seem that confessing would be the desired outcome except that he doesn’t know whether the other thief is confessing or not confessing. 

 In this scenario, it would be in both thieves self interest not to confess, even though they neither one know what the other will do.  If they both do not confess, they will only receive a one year sentence.  What my friend experienced is a variation of the Prisoners Dilemma.  Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know what the consequences of a confession meant and he did not tell on others that he knew had also taken Cokes.  He bore the whole consequence.  What do you think would have happened to him and the track team if he had not confessed and no one else had confessed?   My guess is that it would have resulted in a much lesser consequence for the whole team.  Would the track coach have suspended the whole team for the season?  I doubt it.  Maybe harder workouts and some form of group consequences, but not as severe as what my friend experienced.  In a sense he became the scapegoat.  He did what he thought was right.  I imagine that’s what he was taught. 

 In the last few years we’ve seen business persons, professionals, clergy and politicians go to jail for breaking laws or acting unethically.   This is as it should be.  But as a result of the actions of a few, those who are innocent are also implicated by association.  New laws and regulations get passed or implemented to ensure that future infractions will be avoided.  Intuitively though we know that those who will be unethical and unlawful will find ways to circumvent the law and go on doing whatever they deem to be in their interest. 

 The Prisoners Dilemma and other game theory games are based upon rational and mathematical constructs rather than what’s ethical or moral.  Ethics and morals sometimes come into play in game theory but the games tend to be independently determined only by logic, reason, and mathematics.  It brings to mind the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  He could have probably avoided crucifixion by “going over the hill”, so to speak which was a theme in the book and movie, The Last Temptation of Christ.  Not only could he have avoided death, but he might have even been able to continue his ministry in some minor way.  No matter what your belief is concerning the atonement, most Christians would agree that what happened on Calvary and at the tomb is a cornerstone of what we believe.  The Romans and the Pharisees probably believed that by killing Jesus, this new radical movement would end.  After all, all his disciples had deserted.  Jesus bore the burden of death and defeat but showed us the power of God in the resurrection.  And for centuries we have embraced this God of new beginnings and hope.  We believe that the Kingdom exists both now and in the future.

            In this hope and belief, we also realize that we are sometimes called to pick up our cross too, not just because we want to be martyrs but because that’s a price of God’s freedom.  I don’t know the deeper motivation of my friend and the Coke machine incident. Whether it made an impact on his team mates, we’ll never know.  But even if they thought he was a chump is not important.  What is important is that he did what was right and suffered the consequences for the whole team, even when they abandoned him.  As Christians, we’re called to risk doing what is right in spite of the consequences.  That’s not always an easy thing to do, when we don’t know whether following ethical principles will make any difference.