ARMCHAIR ETHICIST Some weeks ago we conducted an ethical experiment, inviting readers to offer their thoughts — in real time — about an interesting question: Should someone asked to sort through a deceased colleague's office e-mails delete an unfinished letter detailing "some pretty heavy marital woes"?
When Graham says, "Why would I raise the debt ceiling again?" you should imagine someone asking their landlord, "Why would I pay my rent again?" Not paying your rent will certainly free up a lot of money in your budget, but chances are, your landlord would cite your prior agreement to pay that rent and then toss you out of your home.
In a high-coverage media setting, he should arrange to have someone ask whether he still would have voted for this resolution even if he'd known how ineptly the Bush administration would conduct the invasion of Iraq.
"Where should we go tonight?" someone asked nobody in particular.
On another blog, someone asked, "Should I take iodine now?" That referred to pills that can prevent poisoning from the atmospheric release of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear plants that the Japanese authorities have identified as escaping into the atmosphere.
The system we've accepted still seems to imply we should just be grateful someone asked us and be ready to say yes the moment they do.
In the ballroom dance subculture, you should generally not refuse if someone asks you to dance at a social dance type of event, nor should you feel jealous if people are asking your significant other to dance sometimes.
We have learned our lessons the hard way, and we should be of value to someone asking the right questions.
"Someone asked me, 'Should we break out the Champagne?' " he added, laughing, "and I said, 'Yes, but not the Cristal.' " "If consumer spending were to start to fall off, advertising spending would fall off right behind it," Mr. Peeler added.
In the comments, someone asks why should they watch my show, when Mythbusters has already done this experiment?
