Communication Ethics and Taking Responsibility

 

While reading article by Samantha Blackmon, Slave Tetris and Our Responsibility to Game Studies, my jaw dropped. I could not believe that something as clearly insensitive as "slave Tetris" could be created in a children's video game. To make it even worse, this game was used to educate! Blackmon was rightfully enraged and continued on with her article explaining that it is our job to call out those who make such ethical mistakes so that it can be fixed and addressed. Unfortunately in the case of the slave Tetris game, as well as many other responses to unethical issues, the company gave a half-hearted apology and didn't take much ownership for their poor decision. "Agency folks, agency" (Blackmon, 2). Although it is disheartening that the game company did not take responsibility, I think that this is an important lesson we can learn. Blackmon makes a great point about how when we notice that something is wrong or unethical, we need to speak up and take action. 

To connect this to my own life, I will share my own story of being called out for my poor decisions and unethical communication. I am on an athletics team and there was a certain day at practice when two of my teammates were competing for a spot on the travelling squad for our upcoming competition. After practice ended, the spot was given to the teammate that I would consider to be a close friend of mine. In excitement for her, I celebrated her success and gave her a lot of praise, not acknowledging the disappointment/loss of my other teammate. After this encounter, a bystander had come up to me and told me straight up that the way I praised my friend was unkind to my other teammate. Although it caught me off guard to be called out like that, I immediately realized how right she was to do so and how inconsiderate I had been. I thanked the bystander and apologized to my teammate right away. I think that this was a very important lesson for me regarding communication ethics because it was necessary for my to acknowledge my mistake and take ownership. Mistakes happen and unfortunately people make careless decisions. I think that the best takeaway from this experience is to be able to admit those mistakes and correct others when they do something similar.