The Web and Chain of Trust and Responsibility: A Rubert Murdoch Contradiction
In his parliamentary committee hearing, Rubert Murdoch claimed that he is not responsible for the hacking, etc. that has been conducted under one of his many branches of his corporation. He states that those who he trusted (and those who they trusted) failed on their duties and therefore are responsible. The parliamentary committee failed to notice or failed to note that this seems like a selected cessation of a chain of responsibility.
I present a basic inherent chain of responsibility of any corporation or business here in the US and I believe in the UK
Another way one can see the chain of responsibility more clearly is by following the money trail. If one of his many employees brings forth a brilliant report, coverage, show, segment, presentation, sale, etc., the monetary benefit—the chain of responsibility—does not stop prior to Murdoch. Murdoch benefits handsomely. He benefits because those he trusted, provided an excellent product that brought him financial gain. Furthermore, the society in general benefit from such gain because the government collects taxes from those gains which, in theory, gets divided into the many programs people benefit from.
It is disturbing to me that the parliamentary committee and government in general, fail to see the upward trajectory of trust and responsibility. Rubert Murdoch does have a broad business empire he oversees. Just as any segment of this empire brings him financial gains, any segment of this empire that brings him negative effects, must bring Murdoch a significant level of responsibility. This seems obvious and apparent. That the parliamentary committee did not address this evidence to Rubert is a blatant failure of the committee and therefore of the government and of the people of that nation.
The chain of responsibility and trust always has its selective cessation, but it does not make it legitimate or consistent. We should all take note of the vast expanse any action effects us and how we are also trusting and responsible for many actions. I hope the actions the Murdoch et al. committed have their deserved repercussions. I also hope that one day we become more aware, in an active fashion, that we all have a significant role and responsibility as well. If Murdoch suffers from this scandal, we as a people and a government should ingest significant repercussions as well.
In the beginning of his July 19th show, Keith Olbermann (Countdown with Keith Olbermann) presents how Rubert Murdoch always illustrates pride and responsibility in his family’s actions going back to his father’s war reporting in Gallipoli, but now is denying responsibility of the hacking incidents. Mr. Olbermann does bring to “air,” albeit very briefly, that the chain of responsibility and trust not only falls on the hand of the individual in charge, but it also goes beyond one man and beyond one frame in time.
We trust. It is perhaps the most fundamental and primal element of our being. We trust that what we feel and sense is the case. We trust that people around us sense and feel in similar fashions. We trust that our leaders have our own set of principles and have our welfare in consideration. As such, the burden of responsibility lies not on the other people who we have placed trust on, but to each and one of us. We have allowed our being to trust. Although the Murdochs et al. are responsible for their laps of leadership, we also need to place the burden of responsibility much more potently on us. We trusted. We need to become more keenly aware of this insight.
