Of the readers who responded to an unscientific poll on my column's blog, 49 percent believe that it would be right for the Major League Baseball Players Association to boycott the 2011 All-Star Game, which is scheduled to be played in Phoenix, in protest against the bill passed in April by the Arizona State Legislature to crack down on illegal immigrants, while 51 percent believe that it is wrong to mix baseball with politics.
Maggie Lawrence of Culpepper, Va., believes that, given that "the Arizona legislation is simply trying to do what the federal legislation says it will do - but doesn't," such a boycott "is just another simple-minded grandstand."
"The union has no business getting into this," writes Phil Clutts of Harrisburg, N.C. "It is wrong indeed for baseball players to propose a boycott of a game because it would take place in a state that is trying to do what the federal government is unwilling or unable to do properly."
On the other hand, one reader writes, "This country has a Constitution, and two of the freedoms it guarantees are speech and association. The baseball folks can speak or associate as they please."
Check out other opinions here, or post your own by clicking on "Comments" or "Post a comment" below.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business (Smith Kerr, 2006), is an associate professor at Emerson College in Boston, where he teaches writing and ethics.
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@nytimes.com or to "The Right Thing," New York Times Syndicate, 630 Eighth Ave., 5th floor, New York, N.Y. 10018.
c.2010 The New York Times Syndicate (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)
1 comment:
The baseball team owners and players should consider their fans, who overwhelmingly support the Arizona legislation which attempts to control something that has cost taxpayers of the state millions of dollars: illegal immigration.
Arizona's taxpayers are paying attention to their wallets.
Team owners and players should pay attention to their wallets as well. Remember the Dixie Chicks, who learned the lesson, "Shut up and sing".
To the baseball team owners and players: Shut up and play.
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