Coffee House 4
Category: Extra Credit Coffeehouse #6
In all the 5 types of ethics, between deontology, virtue, utilitarianism, feminist, and global the one I belives fits with the main character( Jaswinder aka jazz )actions is deontology. the ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action. in the short story by tony parsons. I say this because the story is about a woman who works at a UK airport as bode parol or an agent witch she takes very seriously and leaves no space for error, she has to follow the rules exat so she doesn’t put her country or the people in her country in Hermes way by not following the rules. For some of us who have traveled, might sometimes be asked what is the purpose of our trip. as jazz did in the story it’s a way to analyze your actions and the way you act to determine whats your actions in the country might be and if u might be a threat to that country or not .in the story we see that jazz follower a clear set of rule to make sure she does her job right.
In the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” I think the main character Jazz follows the ethics of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is believing that doing the morally right thing will bring the most good and I think a lot of Jazz’s actions follow that belief. The first thing that I noticed was when Jazz said to Megan, “…. I don’t care if someone lies to themselves… but I don’t like it much when they lie to me.” I think this is an example of Jazz showing her Utilitarian views because she believes that lying is wrong, or morally incorrect. Lying is not morally right so it isn’t good. Another time Jazz’s actions proved to follow utilitarianism ethics is when Jazz is talking to Megan after she’s been in holding. Megan talks to Jazz with an attitude even calling her a “bitch” at one point. But instead of Jazz returning the same disrespect she continues talking to Megan respectfully. Eventually Jazz sends Megan back to the states for her own good. This would be utilitarianism because Jazz didn’t go against her morals to talk disrespectfully to Megan even though Megan did so to her. She did what was morally right and this eventually turned out to do more good then if she hadn’t because when Megan was leaving Jazz asked her what the name of her boyfriend was and Megan said “Prince Harry.” Obviously Megan’s boyfriend is not Prince Harry so If Jazz had let Megan into the states who knows what she would’ve done there. A final example of Jazz expressing utilitarianism is when she sends Donald back to his family. Jazz tells Donald that his family had reported him missing and wanted him back home so they were sending him back. Donald had shown many signs of being ill whether with dementia or alzheimers or something like that he had poor memory and this was shown many times. When he first showed up saying the president put a microchip in his brain and was streaming live images, and when Jazz saw Donald while she was taking the iraqi man from the plane and he looked as though they had never met. Finally when he was told about his family and he looked confused as though he forgot he had one. Jazz could’ve let him through and into the UK as Donald posed no threat but she knew it wasn’t morally right as the man was not well. Even after telling Donald he was going home Donald asked “ But what happened to me? What the hell happened to me?” Instead of telling Donald what actually happened Jazz just gives him a smile and says nothing. Overall Jazz always tried to do more good then bad and she always choose her actions based on her morals and what would bring the most good out of a situation
     The five types of ethics state that deontology is any system that involves a clear set of rules indicating that certain actions are good or bad, which are always meant to be followed. The main character Jasswinder Smith, in Tony Parsons story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is a UK border agent. Jazz’s job requires her to follow a clear set of rules. The rules she must follow can’t be disobeyed a little bit. Deontology represents two types of ethical duties and one of them is perfect duty.The rules connected to her job can be considered perfect duties. Jazz mentions in the story that she has police powers. Jazz can arrest someone she believes is a criminal, but she can’t kill an innocent person because she believes the person is a criminal. Jazz also has to follow the rule of not allowing criminals to enter the UK. Jazz’s main duty is to protect the civilians living in the UK by following this rule and she can not break this rule. Jazz states in the book that she has to have an inner alarm bell. Jazz doesn’t just ask for a person’s passport, she analyzes their personality and asks particular questions in order for her to determine if they are a criminal or not. The inner alarm bell she mentioned is a mental tool she created to help her make the correct decision. The statement she made in the story shows how important it is for her to follow this rule.
In Tony Parsons’ “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, Jaswinder “Jazz” had applied the concept of Utilitarianism on multiple occasions in the midst of several interactions with potential airplane passengers. For example, Jazz had denied Donald Harrison entry due to his mental instability. This approach might be perceived as harmful to the individual, but Jazz had most likely realized that Donald’s delusions would interfere with the safety and welfare of the majority. Therefore, Jazz had behaved in a utilitarian manner because she prioritized the most good consequences. This utilitarian result was achieved later in the story when Jazz had been notified of how Donald’s family had reported him to be missing. Here, pleasure and happiness was evident from Jazz’s initially harsh action because not only was the public safe from an unstable man, but the family would have experienced immense relief. Deontology Ethics were applied when the suspicious passport was inspected in Ken’s dark room because a procedure was followed in order to ascertain the passport’s authenticity. Here, the “perfect duty” of assessing fraudulence was performed without a middle ground and the rules such as responding to the internal “alarm bell” at the suspicious man was logically consistent with doing her job. Virtue ethics had been applied when Jazz had listened to Megan’s romance endeavor because she had provided the girl with advice rather than further treating her as a would-be criminal. Here, the role of emotions was essential because Megan had been initially defensive, but Jazz had threatened her with police actions just so her “shell” would break and she could aid Megan in her romantic journey. Jazz’s position at the airport might have portrayed her as favoring global and feminist ethics because she was responsible for permitting safe entry to the United Kingdom for individuals of diverse backgrounds and she was in a position of power that was equivocal to the male employees at the airport. Jazz had also embraced feminist ethics when she had treated Megan’s dilemma with particularity and had given interest to this woman’s issues. In general, the ethical strategies in Parsons’ “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” had overlapped on a case-by-case basis. – Tahirjon (Vince) Alesso
This is where to post Extra Credit Coffeehouse #6:
200 words in which you explore Tony Parsons’ story in terms of one of the 5 Types of Ethics. I suggest reading over the handout before tackling this assignment.
