Running for more than a decade on American TV, Judge Judy is a popular court reality show with former family judge Judith Sheindlin that gained a number of TV awards during its history. The show concerns itself with minor claims cases that are considered in the court presided by Judge Judy. The procedure is similar to the real court proceeding imitating every detail of it. At the end of the show, Judge Judy has to render her judgement or dismiss the case. It should be stressed that the director of the show selects cases that would appeal to audiences of all ages, thus, catering for all tastes of diverse viewing audience.
The case I particularly like is the one that concerns an LAPD traffic officer who wrote a speeding ticket for an Asian lady who turned out to be a daughter of a retired LAPD officer. As a result, a young woman with the help of her father complains to higher authorities on the LAPD officer who, allegedly, exceeded his rights, which brings them both to court.
Since TV showcase under analysis concerns jurisdiction and judging, it can be approached in terms of such philosophical notion, as virtue ethics, since it deals with ethical and moral aspects of judgement. The main principle of virtue ethics concentrates on the moral standards of an individual or a society when passing moral judgement. The reason why this approach is the most appropriate when analyzing the case of a traffic officer and a speed driver is that it focuses on the immorality of the young girl’s behaviour and situation itself in this context. In this case consequences of the action or relations between parties do not play a crucial role.
In this connection, it should be stressed that during the trial, Judge Judy asks both parties questions to carefully investigate the case in terms of ethics and righteousness of the actions of both offender and officer, thus, supporting the ethical approach of virtue ethics.
From the point of view of virtue ethics adherents, the moral qualities are intrinsic in every individual. Thus, a female’s behaviour is viewed as a reflection of her immorality. To the request to provide her driving license, she speaks about her father who is a retired traffic officer. By doing so, she tries to avoid getting a ticket from the officer. In terms of legal jurisdiction, the female has violated the law, but what is more important she tried to damage the officer’s reputation when she is the only one who broke the law. In an attempt to use his father’s name and influence authorities, she also infringed upon the moral norms of society that Judge Judy immediately understands.
It should be pointed out that the tape with the conversation of the girl and traffic officer is provided as evidence. According to the tape, the officer followed all rules and adhered to the procedure of fining as opposed to the violator who first and foremost, exceeded the speed limit and then tries to avoid being fined by using her father’s authority, which Judge Judy emphasizes in her accusation.
Moreover, having stepped aside from moral and ethical norms once by behaving irresponsibly, the young woman continues to behave inadequately in court by interrupting with the judge and showing no respect while traffic officer comply with the rules of court trial. In conclusion, Judge Judy orders a judgement for five thousand dollars in favour of the officer who, according to his inherent moral values intends to donate to the police department.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that Judge Judy has gained such popularity among viewers since this TV show presents intelligent, entertaining, and close to reality court proceeding and at the same time resorts to various ethical norms of judgement.
Fallacies of Wikipedia
A lot has been spoken about the deficiency of Wikipedia and still students continue to use it as a source for their writings. Constantly their professors shudder hearing this word. As it is generally known, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that contains an enormous amount of articles of various topics. I would like to concentrate on the deficiencies of Wikipedia article about Kate Chopin, a renowned American writer.
Wikipedia can not be regarded as a proper academic source, since anyone can add and make some amendments to the entries, which can result in misuse of statistics, false data, inaccuracy or completeness of articles and so on. The article that concerns Kate Chopin is based on non-scholarly sources such as American Authors sites, magazine articles, blogs, dictionaries and encyclopedias, which are not verifiable, reliable and additionally, not peer-reviewed (Kate Chopin 7).
Moreover, the page contains request for any visitor to improve the article. In other words, it can be edited by non academic people, which reduces its appeal for scholars and students. As an experiment I changed Chopin’s place of birth in the article and it was accepted. Thus, it can be assumed that free online encyclopedia may disseminate misinformation among students and entail dramatic mistakes in student papers following the mistakes in the articles.
Furthermore, the article provides a limited amount of information about Chopin’s childhood, difficult years and literary themes without any detailed reliable data. Relying on Wikipedia articles, students can not develop their skills for critical reading and thinking, analyzing motifs of the authors, eliminating irrelevant data, making conclusions. Therefore, it should be stated that Wikipedia is not a relevant source to site in student papers.
Work Cited
“Kate Chopin.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2004. Web.