In today's "The Ethicist" column in the NYT, Randy Cohen's fields a question from a print shop employee who was asked to print a bumper sticker that said, "Defend American Against the Communist / Vote Republican." The employee found the message "ridiculous," and, wanting to "save [her] energy for helping those who mean well," she didn't want to help the customer correct his grammar.
Cohen's response starts off well: "You should do your job according to the usual professional standards ...." But, inexplicably, Cohen doesn't follow through on his own suggestion; he doesn't ask, "if the bumper sticker matched your politics, would your 'usual professional standards' prompt you to suggest edits to the customer?" Instead, Cohen offers the employee an odd mish-mash of say-so pronouncements: you can refuse to print the sticker if your boss consents; given the importance of printers in a free society, you shouldn't refuse to print the bumper sticker except under extreme circumstances; when the bumper sticker is as "loopy," as that one is, you can refuse; you can print it because Cohen and others aesthetically enjoy reading garbled English (like Chinese manufacturers sometimes use); and you shouldn't doubt the customer's sincerity no matter how "foolish[]" and "horrible" his politics. As is often the case, I'm not convinced by any of Cohen's various and contradictory solutions.
Here's where I'd start. To what extent is that print shop neutral ground in the agonistic battles of the day and to what extent is it committed to particular positions in those battles? This raises a difficult issue about professional commitments and personal commitments. I have no quarrel with a printer who says "we only do [right/left] politics here." I have little quarrel with a printer who says, "I print what the customer wants." I myself would be inclined to say, "except at the extremes, I print what the customer wants." True, that raises the question of what I consider extreme. But however I define it, I wouldn't call myself "professional" and silently offer two levels of service: one for politics I like and another for politics I don't like. If I couldn't offer a customer the same service I offer others, I'd decline the job. To me, the term "professional" requires at least that much.
For lawyers who are inclined to silently offer two levels of service, I suggest renting Cape Fear, either the Robert DeNiro version or (for purists) the Robert Mitchum original.
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