AIG's Eleven: Ethics Anyone?

I find myself struggling with a personal conflict that simmers deep within me. I find myself sharing in the national groundswell of outrage over huge bonuses being paid to executives of a company that is being saved from oblivion by the federal government, and by extension...the taxpayers. But something deep inside of me chuckles. Something in the core of my being makes me want to burst out laughing. You see, for the last ten years or thereabouts, I have been complaining and railing, albeit quietly, that our national culture was losing or had lost it's moral compass. I have commented on several occasions that I was disturbed by a national culture that seemed to idolize the thrill and glamour that they saw to be inherent in criminal activity. This attitude was most readily apparent in the movies that we watched. As a matter of policy, I had always refused to watch movies that glamorized criminal activity such as "The Fast and the Furious" and "Ocean's Eleven". Friends and acquaintances frequently chided me for what they saw as puritanical views, always telling me that it was all in good fun. Despite the good-natured ribbing that I endured, I persisted in my own personal policy.

Consider for example, the film "Ocean's Eleven". This film was a 2001 remake of a 1960's film about a group of criminals who planned the theft of a large amount of cash from a casino safe. The 2001 remake was done on a much grander and more opulent scale, which tended to obfuscate the fact that these suave, debonair, likable characters were committing a crime. In this remake, eleven charming scoundrels plan the theft of over one hundred-fifty million dollars from a casino. The subliminal, probably unintended, message became, "Yes, it's illegal, but isn't it glamorous!" The questions of legality and morality became incidental to what had become the more important message that being charming, suave and good looking are core values in our society.

The irony is not lost on me that the AIG bonuses total one hundred sixty five million dollars and that exactly eleven of the scurrilous bonus takers took their "retention bonuses" and left the company. I wonder if the fellows who cooked up these highly leveraged financial instruments as a way to churn transactions and make tremendous bonuses saw "Ocean's Eleven" while they were in college learning the complex intricacies of financial maneuvering? Now let me close by pointing out that I don't watch Mixed Martial Arts fighting, Ultimate Fighting, shoot 'em up movies or movies that glorify violence in any form. Anyone care to tell me that it's all in good fun? Morals and ethics anyone? I vaguely recall once reading something or other about he who lives by the sword.