The Ethics of Choosing a Topic

When a student, or any individual really, has the opportunity to give a speech where he or she is picking the topic, how much time do you think is given to determining the topic? The truth is, this is probably a decent amount of time. People usually stop and think about their audience and what they would find interesting. People think about which topics they are familiar with and knowledgeable about. Speakers think about their own ability to keep a topic interesting. Some individuals may even think about the ethical decision of choosing a topic. This is something I try to drill into my students.

What is an ethical topic? Most students would probably agree that speaking about the right we should have to kill people we do not like is unethical. They would agree that a demonstration speech about how to build a bomb is questionable, at best, when it comes to ethics. There are, however, a lot of gray areas.

Is it ethical to give a speech urging individuals to smoke? How about a speech urging people not to buckle up? While a lot of people might quickly say 'no', what about a speech that objects to governments requiring individuals in the front seat to fasten their seatbelts, or a speech that says we have gone too far when it comes to restricting or limiting where people can smoke? Are these topics the same as the first two I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph? Do they come close?

I frequently tell my students a story about when I worked as a reporter in a small town. I learned that a 16 year-old girl was kidnapped while locking up the business establishment for which she worked, one Friday evening. I called and got the police to verify that this was indeed true. Only after verifying it was I requested to hold the story. The kidnapper had told the family that if they went to the police or the media, the girl would be killed.

Since the police chief did not make this request until after the information was verified, legally I was not obligated to run the story. Could I run the story ethically, however? Most of my students quickly answer 'no'. I point out that by not running the story, there could be other teenagers who went on believing this area was safe and not staying on their guard. This could have led to more teenagers being kidnapped. On the other hand, if I ran the story and the girl was killed, how would I feel? True I was not the one who pulled the trigger but there are those who would argue I may as well have.

What I did is not important. What is important is I stopped to think about the ethical consequences in either even and was ready to defend my action, whatever it might be. This is what I tell my students. Some people may disagree with your ethical decision. If you are comfortable with your decision and you can defend it, if and when someone questions it, then you should proceed with your speech.