Janet knew that her argument was really weak. She kept looking at the data trying to find a way around the weakness. Finally, it hit her. She realized that she could hide the weakest part of her argument in a really complex presentation aid. If the people can’t understand it, they can’t use it against me, she thought to herself. While she was nervous during her presentation, she was confident that no one would notice what she did. Thankfully, at the end of her presentation, everyone applauded. During the question and answer period that followed, no one questioned the weak information. In fact, no one seemed to even remember the presentation aid at all.
1. Is hiding weak information in a complex presentation aid ethical?
2. Are complex aids that don’t lead to audience understanding ever ethical?
3. If you were Janet’s boss and you found out what she had done, would you think she was an unethical person or just a good, albeit manipulative, speaker?