Obama Insulted - Brazil Vindicated

October 2nd is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti in India, but on this day something very strange happened in Copenhagen. Here at Copenhagen on 2nd Oct, IOC has decided the venue for 31st Olympics (to be held in 2016) to be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But why do I say this is special. Yes indeed it is special for the people of Brazil. Hearing the results Football great Pele had tears in his eyes. But it’s not the selection but the rejection of so called “big guns” that makes it special. Here is how a newspaper has put it- “Like sweet, sultry samba music, Rio hit all the right notes. Chicago had Barack Obama. Tokyo had $4 billion in the bank. Madrid had powerful friends. But none of that mattered. Rio de Janeiro had the enchanting story — of about 400 million sports-mad people on a giant untapped and vibrant continent yearning, hoping, that the Olympics finally might come to them. And the International Olympic Committee was hooked.”
It’s the loss of Chicago or rather Barack Obama that makes it special. Chicago was the favourite- given the fact that Mr and Mrs Obama had personally come to Copenhagen to persuade IOC members and had spent two days buttering them. But this favouritism was short lived. No one ever expected a first round exit of Chicago. The nature of loss gives a strong presence of an “anti-American” attitude. Nearly half of the IOC’s 106 members are European countries. This represented a defeat of “illusionist” power of America and Obama- who was born up in Chicago.
Brazil will now hold the world’s two biggest sporting events in a space of two years – in 2014 it is hosting Football World Cup. Now among the BRIC countries, India remains the only country not to hold any Olympics ever. Let’s see if India can make it next time.

Ethics and Morality

People think that ethics and morality are same, but there is a fine difference between them. Morality is what a person thinks is right or wrong. Ethics is what a group of person perceives as right or wrong. In other way morality defines personal character while ethics defines group character. There are many kinds of ethics company ethics, national ethics, business ethics, professional ethics etc. Ethics many times corresponds to law, but it’s not always. Laws can be said to a social ethics, as anybody who lives in a society has to follow laws of that society, this is nothing but social ethics. A person when confronted with making a personal decision is expected to look into his moral principles and make decision, but when the same person has to make a decision, which complies with a group, he is supposed to make a decision which supports the group ethics to which the person is a part.

In our day to day life, we often encounter situations where ethics and morality clashes. One such situation is the case of abortion. Here many people will find aborting a child as morally wrong, but by law it’s correct and hence conforms to social ethical standards. So a person may choose to not abort a child (this is his personal choice and here he applies his moral principles), but the very same person has no right to condemn another person decision of abortion. Here he/she is expected to comply with the ethical principles (read here law) of the society of which he/she is a part. So choosing to either go or not go for abortion is moral choice, but condemning abortion of others does not comply with the social ethical standards. Other situations where ethics and morality clash are the case of homosexuality (many believe it is wrong, but it’s is legal in many countries), the case of a criminal defence lawyer (the lawyer moral code finds murder immoral, but legal ethics demands the accused be vigorously defended. Legal ethics must override moral character and allow the judicial system to let the accused get a fair trial and let prosecution prove his guilt). Some people may find their moral character clashing with their company ethics. They many a times have to make a decision which they do not like, this creates resentment among employees and may lead to employee leaving the company.

Defining and justifying the thin line difference between ethics and morality is a tough call. The world still strives to overcome this vital difference. Understanding of this real difference will lead to a more peaceful world.