Grappling with the Gray #144: Social justice or moral anarchy?

Can social justice warriors turn their campaign against their own cause?

That's the question that drives the conversation when JC Glick, Sarah Kalmeta, and S. Scott Mason join the ethics panel to Grapple with the Gray.

Here is our topic:

By now you’ve probably heard about the notorious NY Times podcast in which progressive elites endorsed the practice of “microlooting” - a prettified euphemism for stealing. Their reasoning begins by positing that not all acts of theft are equal - which is absolutely true, and builds upon the presumption that some acts of theft can be justified - which is also true.

What’s chilling is how those justifications are defined, and where they might take us as individuals and as a society.

Using a friend’s Netflix account? No problem. Steal a library book? Never. Leave a restaurant without paying your bill? Unthinkable. Swipe a painting from the Louvre. Absolutely.

Stealing from Whole Foods is okay because it’s an upscale store - especially if you’re going to give the stolen food to a homeless person. Stealing from a Walmart or Costco is not “very significant as a moral wrong.” Stealing from corporations is a virtue.

This Robin Hood mentality extends beyond theft. A disgruntled employee sets fire to a Kimberly Clark warehouse? Tactically unwise, but morally defensible. And we can at least sympathize with the murder of Brian Thompson since, as United Healthcare C.E.O., he was guilty of social murder himself.

But getting iced coffee in a plastic cup? “That is a profoundly selfish, immoral, collectively destructive action.” So is flying for pleasure. And “private schools should be mostly illegal.”

Has our collective moral compass become utterly unwound? Or are these positions ethically defensible?

Meet this week’s panel:

JC Glick is a retired Army Ranger Lieutenant Colonel. He is a leadership, strategy, and culture advisor, as well as CEO of the Commit Foundation, an organization that helps high-performance veterans find their next adventure.

Sarah Kalmeta is a speaker and executive facilitator who helps leaders make better decisions under pressure. She’s the founder of Pivot Point International, with nearly two decades in global aviation and operations.

Scott Mason, aka the Myth Slayer, is a speaker, podcast host, and coach working with executives and entrepreneurs to Magnetize & Monetize Professional Freedom by Dislodging Toxic Myths to Ignite the Charisma Within.