Showing posts with label Racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Racism. Show all posts

Thursday, December 17, 2020

The World of Soccer’s Biggest Match Yet, The Duel Against Racism (1980’s - Present)

The game of soccer, or football as almost every country knows it as is truly the worlds game in every way. The game in total is played by over 250 million people in 200 countries around the globe. It is most popular in Europe, central and southern America, and Africa which proves that the game is touched by so many different types in groups of people with so many different ethnic backgrounds. The world of soccer has two major governing bodies, with the first being FIFA which stands for the Federation of international football Association. This is the governing body that rules over world soccer, as they have control over all the smaller governing bodies that are spread across the world. Anything that has to do with international soccer in any way is completely under FIFA’s control one hundred percent. The second governing body and most definitely the biggest is UEFA. This stands for the Union of European football. This is the most important of all the world's sub unions due to the fact that Europe is where soccer is most densely popular. For an unthinkable amount of time, racism has always been the biggest overall issue there is in the sport (European Football). 

        Due to the fact that there are so many different ethnicities and take part in the game of soccer, outside factors in interferences including race, religion, and ethnicity begin to play a massive role in how many of these teams and their fans view each other. Racism became extremely prevalent in the game of soccer around the mid-1980s, and it has only risen from then. The issue has become so massive that it almost seems as though nobody even knows how to approach it. Most recently over the past two years it has been all that has been talked about due to the fact that the racial cases have risen so highly over the past 2 to 3 years (Ramsay). Along with this many players, fans, officials, and soccer experts feel as though these huge governing bodies are not doing enough to protect against the obvious racism issue which has been going on for sometime.   Since racism began to run right in the mid to early 1980s, UEFA in many of the governing bodies around the world have made some steps to take on the fight against racism. But many and most people whether they are players, fans, officials, or people that are just around the game feel as though the steps are nowhere near to the level of intensity that they should be when talking about the serious racism issue the game of soccer has. This is where the true controversy begins to arise. The fact that almost all soccer affiliates no matter where they stand feel as though these large governing bodies like UEFA do basically absolutely nothing in the fight to prevent and silence racism.

     Within this controversy, ethical theories would analyze UEFA‘s actions to see if they are truly doing enough to stand up and protect not only the game, but the players themselves. For the individualist point of you, they theorize that the leader or managers only ethical responsibility is to increase the wealth of  the owners while still complying under the law. In this case an individualist would say that UEFA is doing nothing wrong and that they are taking the correct measures to ensure their true responsibility. In this case the true responsibility is to increase the wealth at all cost while still abiding by the laws, and they are doing so due to the fact that they are taking some measures to ensure they try to put a stop to racism as a whole throughout the game. The fact that soccer and especially European soccer is by far the most profitable sport in the world which really helps this individualist point of you for this argument due to the fact that so many of these teams are beyond wealthy and are only continuing up which is the main goal of individualism. The main argument from the opposite point of you is the fact that even though many of these major governing bodies like UEFA to take some precautionary measures to stop racism, it is nowhere near close to what it should be because the overall health and safety of the players, who are the ones responsible for truly bringing all the money should be paramount.    

From the utilitarian standpoint, they ethically require that people maximize happiness for the most people they can. From this point of you, they would view UEFA‘s behavior as Beyond unethical due to the fact that their actions have caused countless amounts of racial issues that have caused harm, on safety, and serious distress to many of their players, fans, and the rest of their board. This especially applies to the players who have won through more racial abuse the many could imagine. According to the Kantianism view, which judges actions by the individual decisions people make and the motives that are behind them. In this situation, kantianism would state that UEFA is not and has not been acting ethically over the many years of these racial controversies. It would be said that UEFA is using their players, staff, officials, and the fans as a mere means to get their work done and to make the maximum profit they possibly can.  In doing so they are not protecting all of their employees, fans, and players who have experienced many horrific racial incidents throughout the years. The last of the four theories is the virtue theory, which emphasizes the four main virtues which include courage, honesty, temperance, and justice. In this case UEFA’s actions would be deemed ethical on many accounts due to self interest, greed, inhumanity. Overall changes need to be made within the system in order to once again keep faculty,fan, and player safety as paramount while still prioritizing the game of soccer.


The Company Background

UEFA or the union of European football was created on the 15th of  June 1954. This Is one of the six continental considerations of the world football governing body and by foreign the largest and most prized of the six. This association is responsible for all of European football including running nation and club competitions like the UEFA champions league and the UEFA nations league which tag please each and every year. The current president is Aleksander Ceferin Who was a former football Association president of Slovenia and was elected to be UEFA ‘s seventh president in its history in 2016. In today’s world UEFA is by far one of the most well-known associations in all of world sports and has competitions like the way for champions league or some of the largest grossing competitions in games in the history of worldwide sports. UEFA headquarters resign in Basel Switzerland and play a huge role in the association as a whole is each and every year that is where elections take place. Some of the largest and most well-known countries included and UEFA‘s union include European powerhouses like England, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Russia (Chaplin). 

         These are some of the most successful soccer nations in the world and this is what makes UEFA so much bigger than any of the other soccer associations throughout the world is due to the fact that they house most of all of the best teams around the world as 12 out of the 21 World Cup that have been played have one by just European teams alone.Overall the impact and role UEFA plays in day to day soccer around the globe is massive, especially in Europe where they hold most of their control. The association makes all of the overall decisions that have to do with any type of soccer professionally that is being played with any European nation. They decide the rules, regulations, and laws of the game and have the biggest impact of all on the game of soccer (McCauley)

Case Controversy 

UEFA as an association has been responsible for the immense wave of success in the popularity that soccer has taken all over the continent of Europe. From their slow rise when they were first formed in the 1950s, to today’s day and age where they are synonymously known for some of the most popular and well-known competitions in the whole world wide game of soccer. Due to the fact that UEFA is considered the government administrative body of European football, they are responsible for not only the integrity of the game and the way displayed, but also the integrity of the teams, staff, and players themselves. Throughout the long and commemorated history of European soccer, there has been one disease that has plagued the game worse than any other, and it is racism. Since the mid to late 1980s, racism has been an ongoing issue that has caused unrest within the sport unlike any other. Hundreds and hundreds of issues have arised with claims from all different types of people throughout the sport. Staff members, fans, and most of all players have been racially abused throughout the years and it seems that no real steps have been taken to truly hold the horrible disease that is racism (Denne)

       Throughout the countless years in the history of soccer, hundreds of racist incidents have been reported whether it is from fans, staff members, or players themselves this has been an issue for years upon years. As the many incidents continue to pile up over the years, many people have begun to question UEFA on their actions and the way they have responded. After many of these horrible incidents have continued to occur again and again, fans, enthusiasts, and the players themselves have begun to take a stand against UEFA. They feel and believe as though UEFA as the governing body of soccer they are not taking the steps that they should be taking in order to protect their players correctly. 

Over the years UEFA has made some regulations and laws due to the problem of racism, with these adjustments have not come with any change as people feel they were not even close to a stern as they should’ve been. Many players have voiced their opinion on the fact that UEFA has not done anything for the fight against racism since the late 1990s. They are referencing the fact that in 1999 all of the European countries were skiing together as one in the fight against racism where the FARE Network was created. FARE Stands for football against racism in Europe and this organization was created due to the fact then in the late 1990s racism was running riot all across Europe and on a weekly basis there were a multitude of widespread cases involving racism. Something needed to be done and for the first time in a long time UEFA finally stepped up to the plate and created this organization which put in place a set of rules that would no longer allow these cases of racism to be swept under the carpet no longer. FARE is even still around today and it ask as a resistant organization for those who challenge racism and discrimination throughout Europe in the game of soccer. They work together with national associations, clubs, and players unions to combat racism and any related forms of discrimination all across Europe (Wachter). This is said to be the last stern action that UEFA has taken against racism and discrimination in basically 20 years. Since then the fight has only got tougher, as racism has reached its peak most recently.

        In the most recent 2019 2020 season, there were more than 150 football related incidents that were reported to the police as racist, “ a rise of more than 50% on the year before in more than double the numbers from three seasons ago” (guardian). Racism is truly beginning to run wild again throughout Europe, with the highest incline coming from the 2017 2018 season to the 2018 2019 season when numbers rose from 98 to 152 reported cases. With racism rising so quickly, many of the players have begun to voice their opinions on the fact that UEFA has not done nearly enough to protect their players and prevent these horrific actions from occurring. Just this past year, some of the worst racism abuse related incidents occurred in a very long time. Some examples of this was one Brazilian player Malcom signed for Zenit St Petersburg, his first professional division one team which was a massive accomplishment. This team is located in Russia, and has had multiple racial problems in the past. In this situation, Malcom was on the bench for his first game and as the game began, fans displayed a massive banner stating that black players were not ever welcome at the club. This all relates and references a manifesto that was written and created by extreme supporters of the club that discourage the club from having any black players whatsoever (Davies). Racism is truly running through the veins of the fans of these teams, and the players are suffering tremendously. 

Also maybe two of the worst racial abuse situations saw this past season occurred in September when inter-Milan player Romelu Lukaku scored a goal and then was taunted and racially abused by the opposing Italian fans by doing monkey chance and scratching their armpits towards him as he celebrated. The other occurred in October during the year of 2020 qualifiers when England played Bulgaria. The match had to be halted twice in the first half alone, which is a new rule that was applied by UEFA which allowed the referee to start the match in any of these situations. People thought this law was a great step but still not enough in the fight against racism. During the situation, England had scored against Bulgaria and it was the African-American man Rahim Sterling who scored the goal. Bulgarian fans in the stadium begin to make Nazi salute and monkey noises at the player and this resulted in the hault of play (Blum). 

Despicable actions like these have led to the problem that we have today and soccer all around the globe. Racism is and will always be a constant issue until real forceful steps are taken to prohibit racism at the stem of  the route. All of these examples with actions of racism have not been taken lightly by almost all soccer enthusiasts and players around the globe, especially in Europe which is the main case that we are looking at. UEFA has been asked again and again to really step up their actions against a fight of racism, and each and every time the fans and players feel as though they have failed again. It is UEFA’s duty to keep not only the integrity of the game together, but also to keep the safety of the players and fans deemed as what is most important. For almost over 40 years, the soccer world has felt let down on the fight against racism. Many of your wife’s responses to these claims is that they do in fact do what they can at the very highest level in order to prevent any racist action of any kind. In the past, where UEFA has stepped up, according to them, is with their whole entire say no to racism advert. This is UEFA‘s main claim to the fight against racism as it has in fact put tons  of the memorabilia and signs around the stadiums when their games take place. Since this came about, there are some that feel as though even though this is a good effort at a strong campaign, a lot of times it is used against The purpose as in some occasions fans I have completely disrespected the advertisement and banner as a whole. Many soccer enthusiasts around the world are beginning to believe and feel as if UEFA almost takes this as a joke. One of the primary reasons that people are beginning to feel like that is due to some of the recent actions that UEFA has taken (Blum). 

In the Italian soccer league, the Seria A, where a good chunk of these racial issues occur on a year to your basis, A anti-racism advertisement was released for the new season. In this advertisement, three chimpanzees or monkeys were displayed and on their faces were different colored paints of different teams throughout the leagues. The images were said to, “ spread the values of integration, multiculturalism, and brotherhood”( gaurdian). FARE, the anti-discrimination group that plays a huge role in the game of soccer tweeted, “ once again Italian football leaves the world speechless. And a country in which the authorities failed to deal with racism week after week, the Seria A have launched a campaign that looks like a sick joke”. Quickly after the advertisement was released, players and soccer supporters all around the world voiced their opinion on just how horrible it truly looked. Overall UEFA has only employed small steps in the fight against racism, including things like being able to hault the match, or putting up anti-racist advert throughout many other games, but the problem of racism has become beyond serious in the sport and much stricter measures need to be taken in order to ensure the safety of the fans and players (McVeigh)



Stakeholders


The stakeholders included in UEFA, The union of European football associations, includes all of the 55 nations that are in cooperation with association association. If the nation is in cooperation with UEFA, then the nation itself is also part of the stakeholders, along with all of the leagues within the country that compete in any UEFA competition. An example of this could be in the English Premier league and England, since all England teams participate in many of your waivers competitions throughout Europe, all of their teams within their major five leagues have a part of the stakeholdership of UEFA itself. An example of a team within the Premier league would be Liverpool who just won the UEFA champions league last season. Along with this, since all teams have a share of the stakeholders, so as do The players themselves. This allows everyone from the bottom to the top to have a small say in the decision making process of European football, even though with the actions that UEFA takes it feels as though nobody else’s opinion besides the people at the top matter. The relationship between UEFA and all of its leagues, clubs, and players is done by memorandums of understanding that are agreed-upon with European European professional football league, European club association, and FIFPRO Division Europe (UEFA). 


Individualism

From the individualist perspective, it is said that the leader or managers' only ethical responsibility is to increase the wealth of the owners while still complying under the law. From the information that we have gained based on individualist point of you, individualist would say that the actions of UEFA have not been unethical due to the fact they have a bided by the laws while still increasing the world of the game of soccer as a whole as it is the most prosperous sport in the world. There are two ways to view individualism, the first is Milton Friedman’s View which states that the only goal of business is to profit within the constraints of the law. This means that a business should do anything and everything I possibly could to make any profit no matter the impact on others as long as it is within the guidelines of the law. The second way of viewing individualism comes by a man named Tibor Machan, Who came up with his own idea of individualism called classical individualism. It states,” according to Machan The only direct goal of business is to profit, and the primary obligation of the business person is to maximize the profit ( Salazar). With these two different views of individualism in mind, overall individualists would say that UEFA as a whole followed these values because they’re number one primary goal was to profit off the game of soccer and they continue to do that each and every year no matter the issues or problems surrounding the game. The tough part of this argument it’s coming from the law side and if UEFA was truly protecting their players under the laws and values that they have stated. UEFA has taken some steps throughout the years to halt racism as much as they possibly can, but this so-called maximum effort that they put in is felt by many fans and players as though it is much lower than it should be. As the statistics show, from the 2014 2015 seasons to the 2018 2019 season the overall revenue of UEFA have continued to steadily rise. The last reported revenue the UEFA has released was during the 2018 2019 season where they marked that A massive revenue of €2.8 billion. 

       As we continue to analyze the individualists point of you for this controversy, The toughest part will continually be if UEFA truly does do enough to protect its players. Throughout the years many efforts from UEFA in the fight against racism have been seen by both players and fans. The real question is, are these efforts enough when racism is by far the largest issue in the world of soccer. As hundreds and hundreds of racial incidents continue to be reported each and every year, the fans and players alike feel as though you were here for his efforts are nowhere near the level they should be due to the true concern of the issue. Racism has been running wild throughout the sport for almost 40 years and it seems as though UEFA always takes the bare minimum steps they have to in order to show that they are still abiding by what they say. People and players want more from UEFA, more laws, more punishment, and more stricter rules. From an overall point of view, the fact that UEFA still makes some effort to fight racism within the sport shows that they are still taking action to protect their players now even if it’s not enough for the necessary measures that are occurring, they’re still abiding by what they have said about protecting the players. An example of a change that UEFA has made most recently is that matches are now allowed to be completely stopped due to any racial abuse or interference within the game (UEFA). Overall under the individualist view, the players and fans are being protected, while at the same time UEFA is still maximizing their profit while abiding by all the laws necessary.


Kantianism

Kantianism is an ethical theory that was created by Immanuel Kant and it has four basic principles. These for basic principles or to act rationally, help others make rational decisions, respect other people, and be driven by Goodwill and trying to do the right thing. Kantianism primarily focuses on rationality and goodwill and doing what is correct for the good of humankind. He states that it is completely wrong to manipulate and exploit people for your own advantage and states that everything should be done under the Goodwill of the people. Within this theory there is a categorical imperative, which is basically a test that indicates whether in action is impermissible or permissible. Within the categorical imperative, is the formula of humanity which strongly states that you should never use people as a means to get what you want because of the fact that you were explaining them for the better good of yourself ( Salazar). 

Based on The information that has been collected about Kantianism and the thought process behind a theory, Kantianists would state that UEFA is and has not been acting ethically towards the fans and players of the game of soccer. Kantianism truly looks at evaluating and assessing the actions of individuals and their decisions based on their overall motives and how they treat people. In this controversy and situation, UEFA is using all of their staff, officials,fans, and players to their own benefit in order to maximize the profit of the game without the correct amount of care and protection the fans and players truly deserve. In doing so this comes to terms with the fact that it does not seem or feel like what matters most to UEFA the safety of its fans, staff, and players due to the fact that they have been dealing with racial issues throughout the sport for almost 40 years and throughout all this time UEFA and many of the major soccer governing board have only made minimal small steps to prevent racism. The fans, staff, and players are the true reason for soccer bringing in all of the revenue that he does each and every day. Without the players there would be no game, there would be no stadium, and the fans would not exist because the team would not exist. So what should be most to UEFA is the players who make the game happen each and every day, and the fans who show up and give them the massive profit that they make every year. In this situation UEFA is using the fans and the players as a means in order to gain the maximum profit they possibly can. For UEFA to straighten this out, massive steps need to be taken to show the players and the fans that they change is coming, with new laws, regulations, and rules being applied to the sport.

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism It’s basically explained as maximizing happiness for yourself and others. The goal is to maximize happiness for everyone involved while minimizing unhappiness for everyone. It is very simple into the point that happiness is the key to everything. According to DesJardines,” utilitarianism tells us that we can determine the ethical significance of any action by looking to the consequences of the act”(DesJardins). This basically says that any action can be ultimately viewed as good or bad by looking at the consequences that arise from the action itself. In this situation there are two actions. The first action is the racial abuse in incidence they continue to occur each and every year throughout soccer. The second action, Or so-called action is done by UEFA. These are the small changes in the rules, regulations, and laws that they have made over the years. It sure seems as though what they have done has not been nearly enough to stop the disease that is racism. From a utilitarian standpoint these actions and behavior is extremely  unethical in multitude of ways due to the immense amount of harm in pain that has been caused on the players due to all the racial issues within the sport. So many players and athletes throughout the years I’ve been racially abused and It continues into today’s game has some of the most famous players in the world like Neymar, Romalu Lukaku, Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander Arnold and many more I’ve been racially abused just this year. Along with the players, there are also a multitude of cases that involve staff members and especially fan altercations resulting from racism. Overall UEFA is not doing enough to create a safe and equal environment for all during the time of soccer. 

Virtue Theory

Virtue theory concentrates on the rationality of people in the choices they make in their lives. Vegetarian was created by Aristotle. There are four main parts to your true theory that include temperance, honesty, justice, and courage. Is for me and virtues will help in deciding someone’s rational behavior. According to Aristotle, characteristics of people are differentiated based on the rationality of the person.  Someone who is ethical within the virtue theory,” act so as to embody a variety of virtues or good character traits and so as to avoid vicious or bad character traits” ( Salazar 23). According to Aristotle‘s studies, it is key to know someone’s purpose and potential in order to evaluate if they can possibly reach their highest purpose or potential. 

According to virtue theory, these four main virtues are what is key and if we are looking at UEFA as a whole, they have absolutely no courage as they have still not set up to the plate for the fight against racism even after almost 40 years of this being a constant serious issue. This is a blatant lack of courage due to the fact that they do not want to step up and create change for a better environment due to the fact that they are already happy with the immense results that I get from the game on a year to year basis. They are also being completely dishonest as they make the claim that they are against racism every single year with small adverts but they do not make a true real effort to the cause. Last but not least is the idea of justice which Is the worst of the four in this case with UEFA. These players, fans, and staff deserve justice for what they have been put through and yet UEFA’s punishment for these horrible racial actions are nowhere close to what they should be. 



Action Plan

In today’s day and age, UEFA is facing the daily problem that has taken a stranglehold of the game of soccer. This is racism, and it has been running riot throughout the game of soccer for almost 40 years. As the multitude of racist cases continue to stack up with the game, UEFA has not done nearly enough to take on the fight against racism. Over the years, UEFA has taken some steps in order to show that they are against racism, but the lack of effort and true feeling of care it’s just not there. Fans and players alike feel that UEFA it’s set in their ways, and have not made any real changes to stop the disease that is racism. When UEFA continues to do very small things like advertisements and banners that show their fight against racism, it feels as though to the fans in the players they are diminishing the actual importance of just how bad racism is throughout the sport. Much more severe and crucial steps need to be taken in order to finally hault racism from completely taking over the game. According to UEFA, their “core mission is to promote, protect and develop European football at every level of the game, to promote the principles of unity in solidarity, and to deal with all questions relating to European football”. This is the mission statement that is provided by UEFA on their true thought about the game of soccer. One crucial part of the statement that sticks out is what was said about promoting the principles of unity in solidarity, and in the hundreds of racial abuse cases that have been seen throughout this for over the years, it sure does not seem like UEFA is protecting in abiding by the strict set of core values. 

      With UEFA‘s original mission statement and core values in mind, something needs to change. The mission statement and core values themselves I personally feel are extremely well written and they display the correct view and position of the sport. According to the mission statement they are trying to protect all of their players and fans while bringing them together despite their differences for the love of the game. Sadly The actions of UEFA over the years I’ve come to show that this is not as important to them as it should be. I believe that UEFA needs a completely fresh new start on the whole entire situation. I would personally recommend that UEFA change their mission statement in order to show that change is  coming. I believe that their original statement is actually very well worded and displays the value of the sports and what they believe in very strongly, but with the past lack of effort that was shown by UEFA, a change in wording to show that changes are being made I believe would be a smart decision on the part of UEFA. Personally a rewording to something along the lines of,” UEFA strongly believes in their core values and their overall mission to promote , protect and develop all of European football equally at every level of the game. This includes equal and fair standings for all clubs, leagues, players, and fans who are part of the UEFA family. We promote the principles of unity in solidarity where no other is held in any other higher regard or standing, and we promote the true values of  a safe, equal, fair functioning league of European soccer”. These small changes in the mission statement with adjustments including words like equal and fair well allow people to see that UEFA is taking a turn in a new direction where they will put maximum effort and care into providing a safe equal non-discriminatory game for all who play. 

      According to UEFA, there are eleven key values that UEFA holds highest for European football. These values included football first, pyramid structure and subsidiarity, Unity and leadership, good governance in autonomy, grassroots football in solidarity, youth protection in education, sporting integrity and bedding, financial fair play and regulation of competition, national teams and clubs, respect, and European sports model and specification of sport. All 11 of these key values have descriptions explaining UEFA‘s main thought process throughout these values. Relating to this case, some of the most important values that are listed include the one about unity and leadership and respect which or two of the most important values of the list. Throw all these cases of racism and racial abuse that have been reported that UEFA has put their own fans and players through does not show any acknowledgment of them following these important values that they have listed.

 UEFA need to completely restart over relisting their values once again while making it clear and evident that solving the racism issue is their main concern. In my action plan, more severe punishments and steps will be taken in order to ensure that racism is completely wiped out from the sport. Racism within soccer, is an extremely broad Action as it occurs in many different instances and places. The punishment will be severe due to the fact that racism cannot be put up with in any form no longer in the sport of soccer. For the players and staff, if any racist comments are made online through the form of blogs or social media, severe suspensions and fines depending on how severe and the amount of past occurrences you have. For example, with these players making millions of dollars, a first offense would lead to a $500,000 fine, and a suspension of the next three games that you participate in. For in-game punishment, there will be new stadium regulations and laws posted all around the stadiums of Europe that states that any and all racist activity of any kind Will result and a multipletude of punishment. These will include the game being completely shut down on the spot by the officials, the protagonist fans and team will be fined, penalized, and suspended depending on how severe the occurrence of the case is. Punishing both the fans and the team then forces the team itself to crack down on their own fence due to the fact that the team will be losing revenue and taking losses in games that should have never occurred due to their horrible actions of racism. Even though UEFA will begin to crack down harder on both fans and teams due to the amount of racial incident that have been occurring, the profits will still be maximized and stay the same due to the fact that soccer is the most popular sport in the world any amount of following that most of these European teams have is so high thank your fans and games will always be attended and sold out the matter the rules and regulations. These fans have an extreme love for the game and nothing is going to stop that even if the regulations and rules become much stricter over time. Overall a serious change needs to be made in order to ensure the integrity and safety of all involved in the game.




References


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McVeigh, Niall. “Serie A Anti-Racism Artwork Featuring Monkeys Condemned as a 'Sick Joke'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 Dec. 2019, www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/16/serie-a-receives-condemnation-anti-racism-artwork-monkeys. 

Smith, Rory. “'Intelligent' or 'Strong': Study Finds Bias in Soccer Broadcasts.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/sports/soccer/soccer-racism-broadcasting.html. 

UEFA.com. “Stakeholders: Inside UEFA.” UEFA.com, 13 Feb. 2017, www.uefa.com/insideuefa/stakeholders/. 

Wachter, Kurt. “Racism in Football – Football against Racism: The FARE Experience.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/racism-football-football-against-racism-fare-experience. 

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Fox News' Tucker Carlson Accused of Anti-Immigration and Racist Comments (2020)

Fox News Logo

Controversy

   In June 2020, Tucker Carlson, from Fox News, went on air and made many comments pertaining to the racial injustice that the country of the United States has experienced throughout the year including, “This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, but it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.” This statement was particularly prompted by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis the moth prior. 

Due to the insensitivity presented by Mr. Carlson, a number of companies backed away from airing commercials for Fox. These companies include Walt Disney, Papa John’s and Poshmark. Each of these large companies released statements in which touched on their moral expectations.  Poshmark was the first major company to come out stating, “We do not agree with the comments he made on his show and stand in solidarity with those who seek to advance racial justice and equality.” 

After harsh criticisms, Mr. Carlson began to speak harshly about the unrest, urging a more severe crackdown on protests. In one segment he stated, that these actions could be “inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.” He then scolded the Vice President and President for having “scolded America for its racism” and that “people will not forgive weakness.” According to Fox news, none of these incidences have caused a suffer in finances. Viewing continued to stay up and a campaign began titled #IStandWithTucker. While multiple companies retreated form supporting Fox News and Tucker Carlson a great number stayed involved with Carlson’s segment including the gun rights personality Dana Loesch and MyPillow, who is run by a major supporter of Mr. Trump. 

Discriminatory remarks towards the black and brown community were not the only aired on live television. Tucker Carlson severely attacked immigrants stating they have long “plundered” American taxpayers and have an taken unfair advantage of government benefits. “The American piñata has been getting pummeled for decades and now it has finally come apart…Our national wealth is up for grabs by whomever gets here first, and they are coming.” Carlson also claimed that undocumented immigrants are sending billions of dollars they earn in the US back to family members in their native countries, while simultaneously benefiting from “free healthcare, free education, subsidized housing, and food stamps.” 

            Within the United States it is well known that undocumented immigrants cannot legally receive food stamps, live in subsidized housing, or receive government health insurance, but they are permitted to attend public schools and get medical treatment in emergencies. Therefore, Mr. Carlson’s remarks were completing off-base and uncalled for. Carlson then continued and argued that the “crisis” could be easily fixed with a series of government actions that include building a wall across the US-Mexico border, expanding employee verification system, and efficiently deporting undocumented immigrants. Carlson then claimed that these actions will most likely not occur because our congressional leaders are “decadent and narcissistic” and unwilling to defend our nation. 

Tucker Carlson has had a past of having outrage towards immigrants as well as the black and brown community. In previous years he has stated that immigrants make the US “poorer and dirtier.” “Our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us even if it makes our own country poor and dirtier and more divided.” In the year 2019, Tucker Carlson addressed a subject on air after the multiple mass shootings within the United States claiming that white supremacy is “not a real problem.” He has stated “This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.” He also argued that President Donald Trump’s condemnation of white supremacy was unnecessary because the number of people who are members of the white supremacist groups in the U.S. could “fit inside a football stadium.” According to the NCAA, the country’s largest college football stadiums hold about 100,000 people. It is also “extremely difficult” to track hate groups claims Bob Hopkinson, a spokesman for southern Poverty Law Center-tracks hate groups. These groups tend to stay very quiet about their membership but is it known that there are more than 300,000 people registered as users on the oldest hate site, Stormfront, and that number doubled when President Obama was in office. According to the FBI, domestic terrorism is increasingly motivated by white supremacist ideology. 

            Throughout the years, multiple lawsuits have been presented towards Fox news due to their insensitivity towards many groups of individuals. These allegations consist of sexual assault, sexual misconduct towards women, as well as many instances of child pornography. Of course, it is very difficult to convict an individual of a hate crime when the words that are being released are not actions but rather opinions towards certain situations or groups of people. Soon after these comments were made, Mr. Carlson released a statement that claimed he would be taking a much-needed vacation. Fox News took no initiative in reprimanding Tucker Carlson but instead insisted on vacation time, which he was paid for.  After this information was released, Fox News posted a blog apologizing for the statements that were made and claimed that there were consequences towards what had occurred on live television. Mr. Carlson’s writer was fired immediately and yet another document was released on all the positive effects Fox News has had on minorities, specifically immigrants and the black and brown community. 

Stakeholders

  The stakeholders within the Fox News and Tucker Carlson case consist of Tucker Carlson, the CEO of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, as well as the many higher ups who have a say on what is considered consequential. Those who have been affected by the actions of both Mr. Carlson and Fox News are member of the black and brown communities, immigrants, and any individual who found the actions and words of Tucker Carlson offensive and the lack of consequential action towards the situation. 

Individualism

The individualist theory is a major ethical theory that mainly focuses on maximizing profit for stakeholders while attempting to not break the law. From an individualist perspective, the case of Tucker Carlson and Fox News is indeed considered ethical. While Mr. Carlson made some very insensitive and discriminatory comments towards certain groups, he did not break the law in any way. Freedom of speech and opinion within the country of the United States is acceptable. Fox News also did not break the law. Although they did not implement harsh consequences towards Mr. Carlson and presented a great amount of selfishness, ethically, according to individualist, no harm has been done. 

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism consist of maximizing happiness for all. Both the actions of Tucker Carlson and Fox News would be considered unethical in the eyes of a utilitarianism theorist. Mr. Carlson, very clearly, only cared about his opinion rather than how his words might affect others. As for Fox News they did not take the necessary steps to make sure that this incident does not happen again. Instead of firing Mr. Carlson, they simply fired his writer and recommended that he take time off for a vacation. While both did apologize for what had occurred, Fox News and their news anchors have had a consistent history of offending other with their comments and not making change within the company.

 Kantianism 

Kantianism consists of making rational decisions in a form of good will. The controversy of Fox News and Tucker Carlson would be considered unethical in the perspective of a Kantian. Fox News completely abused their power in this situation. Instead of doing the right things and firing Mr. Carlson for his actions, the company insisted that he take time away from his show by going on a vacation. Of course, Mr. Carlson agreed to this, therefore, also abusing his power. Instead of taking ownership of his actions and facing the realistic consequences he chose to ignore it and run from it. The formula of humanity is where an individual or individuals treat people as a means rather than an end. This means that each and every person is treated with value. The actions performed by both Fox News and Tucker Carlson prove that they only cared for themselves and treated others as though they were an end not a means. A person or people that hold the positions that these individuals do within the controversy should be attempting to set an example for those who are watching. 

Virtue Theory 

The four main principles of virtue theory are courage, honesty, self-control and fairness. If a virtue theorist were to take a look at the Tucker Carlson and Fox News controversy, they would easily consider it to be unethical. Both Fox News and Mr. Carlson did not show any courage. They only came out with statements apologizing due to the immense amount of hate they were receiving from some audience members and other companies. Honestly was also not presented. Fox News released a statement that claimed their company has done a great amount for minority groups. Many of these actions are focused on certain individuals employed by the company and are completely made-up. Tucker Carlson showed no form of self-control. He very blatantly made the remarks that he did without thinking of the affects his words had on specific individuals. Fox News also consistently shows no self-control as situations very similar to this one continuously occurs. Fairness was also not properly presented. Fox News easily could have made sure that Tucker Carlson was fired for his unacceptable actions. Instead he was given paid vacation time. 

Tucker Carlson 

Evaluation

After completing the research on the controversy, I have very mixed feeling about the case. First and foremost, I personally believe that the incident is extremely unethical. Tucker Carlson simply should have been fired from his position as well as the many other employees who have made similar mistakes. Fox News is very clearly managed poorly. While it is important for news anchors to be passionate about the information that they are putting out to the world, they must make sure that what is being presented is factual information that considers the human values of every individual no matter who they are.  

Action Plan 

 Fox News should attempt to rebuild. While their company is still doing well, they could potentially be doing even better if a significant amount of changes were made. First and foremost, all individuals who have a history of any type of misconduct towards an individual or within the workplace should be removed immediately. Individuals such as Tucker Carlson who have shown a lack of morals and sensitivity should also be released of their duties. These actions could potentially allow for companies who previously refused to advertise for Fox to come back. Therefore, revenue would continue to increase. After this, Fox News needs to publicly apologize for all the hurt that has been cause not only by Tucker Carlson but by the many individuals over the years. They need to own up to what has happened and not hide away from it by attempting to convince the public that they have not made mistakes. Fox News must create a new identity. Of course, their politics can and will remain the same, but changes must be made in order to gain the trust of the public back. In the future, if any instance relating to what had previously occurred come about, immediate and consistent action much be implemented. Of course, it will take a great amount of time for certain groups and individuals to regain trust. Fox News must prove that customer satisfaction is their number one priority. If successful, profit is will increase immensely. 


References:

Hsu, T. (2020, June 12). Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Loses More Advertisers. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/business/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news-advertisers.html

Relman, E. (2019, May 22). Tucker Carlson says immigrants have 'plundered' the US and want to steal Americans' wealth. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-says-immigrants-have-plundered-the-us-2019-5

Rodriguez, A. (2019, August 08). Fox News host Tucker Carlson says white supremacy is 'not a real problem in America'. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/07/fox-host-tucker-carlson-white-supremacy-not-real-problem-america/1941585001/

Rueb, E., & Taylor, D. (2019, August 08). Tucker Carlson of Fox Falsely Calls White Supremacy a 'Hoax'. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/business/media/tucker-carlson-white-supremacy.html

Murdock, D. (2020, August 28). Deroy Murdock: Trump and racism – Republican Convention's answer to this big lie. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-racism-repubican-convention-answer-lie-deroy-murdock

Ember, S. (2017, April 25). 11 Sue Fox News, Citing 'Intolerable' Racial Bias. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/business/media/fox-news-racial-discrimination-lawsuit.html

Cranley, E. (2019, September 27). All the most controversial things Fox News host Tucker Carlson has said over the years. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-controversies-comments-immigrants-women-fox-news-2019-3

 

 

 

 

Monday, December 7, 2020

Mcdonalds: Racial lawsuit (2020)

 Mcdonalds: Racial lawsuit (2020) 


Abstract 

(McDonalds famous logo)
        As the years fly by, more and more racial injustice is brought to life from all over the United states. This new light really displays the true colors of some organizations that you’d perceive as friendly companies. McDonald’s is one of those organizations. The famous fast food organization was hit with their third racial discrimination lawsuit just this year. This case involving 52 franchise owners compared their locations of the restaurants and brought up the case of a racial tier involving the owners. The 52 African American owners explained how the CEO’s would locate the Black owners' businesses in “depressed and dangerous” area’s. They described it as if they were set on a suicide mission that was doomed from the start. From an ethical standpoint, McDonald’s actions could be discussed in many ways.         The first theory of Individualism states that an individual’s job for the company is to maximize profit but only within the law. An individualist would find it unethical with the actions but wouldn’t pursue them to achieve a maximized profit. As these actions are within the law, the cost of these franchise’s are millions of dollars. Also, after the lawsuits were filed, profit dropped dramatically. Utilitarianism's ethical theory is to maximize happiness for the majority of stakeholders. Utilitarians would see these actions as unethical to the majority of stakeholders. Even if the organization as a whole is happy and satisfied, the majority goes to their African American customers and the African American franchise owners. Next is Kantianism, and the formula of universal law, to be ethical under the formula of universal law one must treat others with respect and not use others as just a mere means, as well as not lying and/or stealing. Kantians would find McDonald’s action’s as unethical as well. The misplacement of the locations of only Black owned franchises demonstrates the example of using these franchises as just a means, in an attempt to profit more with White owned franchises. Finally, the virtue theory would describe the actions of Mcdonalds as lacking the virtues of prudence and Fairness. With these actions as an outside reference, the unfair treatment of the Black franchise owners is something Mcdonalds needs to heavily change in the future in order to stay in business. 

 Background

         In 1955, McDonald’s consisted of a small restaurant owned by Ray Kroc and the two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Ray Kroc was an ambulance driver for the red cross at the age of 15. As he grew up, his profession changed from a piano player to a multimixer salesman. As he traveled the country, selling the multimixer products, he ran into the small business in California and was impressed by the effectiveness of their operation and he quickly became a partner in the business. The small organization focused their menu on limited items including burger, fries and beverages. As the company grew, Ray founded McDonald’s system inc. and in only three years the small business sold their 100 millionth hamburger. In 1961, 
(Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds)

Kroc launched Hamburger University, which at the time was a training program in a new McDonald’s restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Franchisees were “trained on the proper methods for running a successful McDonald’s restaurant. Hamburger U utilized a research and development laboratory in nearby Addison, Illinois to develop new cooking, freezing, storing and serving methods”(Mcdonalds, our history). More than 275,000 franchisees, managers, and employees have graduated from the program. Today, McDonald's is the world's largest fast-food restaurant chain and one of the best-known brand names. “The company has more than 39,000 locations in about 100 countries. A pioneer in the fast food industry, the company has maintained consistent, moderate growth through affordable prices, speedy service, and by constantly expanding and refreshing its menu offerings”(Mcdonalds, our history). Starting from nothing to what they are now, McDonald’s had a huge uprising and is known by everyone around the world but, did the global company let the fame get to their heads? 

 The case 

(McDonalds CEO, Chris Kempczinski)
         In September of 2020, 52 former franchise owners sued the global giant for racial discrimination. They explained how Mcdonalds denied them the same opportunities as White operators and they believed that Mcdonalds had a two tier system of Black and White owners and attempted to push out the Black owners. “Under what the suit describes as a two-tiered system of Black and white franchisees, McDonald's profited from Black business operators and a Black consumer base, but eventually Black franchisees failed because they had been sent on financial suicide missions”(Washingtonpost, McD. Lawsuit) From 2010 to 2020, the 52 black franchise owners operated 200 restaurants and profited as long as they possibly could. One of the owners' attorneys stated “Revenue, at McDonald’s, is based on one factor and one factor only,location... It has nothing to do with the taste of a Big Mac. You don’t go to a different McDonald’s because the Big Macs are better. You go to the closest McDonald’s, period”(CNBC, racial discrimination). McDonald’s then stated the location wasn’t up to them but to the franchises itself. They also stated that they provided high performing franchises to Black owners as well. These claims were true until the accusations that were discussed behind closed doors were brought up. The owners agreed that it was up to them on paper but in reality, the location’s were being forced on them. “The lawsuit alleges that Black operators who rejected offers to continue running their restaurants in low-income neighborhoods faced retaliation. The plaintiffs also allege that McDonald’s provided misleading projections that persuaded them to buy undesirable franchises and denied them better locations typically given to White franchisees, who operated safer restaurants with higher sales and lower security costs”(CBNC, racial discrimination). ” Mcdonalds CEO went on to say that the company stands for diversity, equity and inclusion and said they also disagree with the claims in the lawsuit and that they intend to strongly defend against it. This led to the creation of the NBMOA which stands for National Black McDonald's operators association. They stated that the treatment of African American owners is moving backwards. Larry Tripplett, chairman of the NBMOA, said in a letter to McDonald’s executives last year, according to the lawsuit. “Through no fault of our own we lag behind the general market in all measures. This is reflected in the loss of sales to African American consumers. We believe that the loss of sales is closely correlated to how African Americans are treated within the company” (Restaurant business online, mcdonalds). African Americans contribute to 25% of all McDonald's customers. It was recorded that after the lawsuits, McDonald's revenue dropped 30% as a whole in the last quarter according to Jordan Vanslinsky of CNN. 

Stakeholders 

         These actions, if proven guilty can drive revenue down for Mcdonalds like it already has. The stakeholders involved are the upper management at Mcdonalds and the black community involving the 52 franchise owners who were mistreated. These allegations can really hurt the famous brand name of McDonald’s. Especially today, in an era of racial reform and the Black Live Matters movement, these actions will not go unnoticed. Maintaining their ethnic stakeholders is a huge reason why McDonald’s is as successful as they are today. For McDonald’s, 25% of customers are African American, 24% of customers are hispanic, 21% are White and 20% of customers are Asian American’s. They’ve also denied all of these allegations but for 52 different Black franchise owners and 200 of their businesses going under, it’s hard not to believe them especially with the proof they’ve displayed. 

Individualism 

         An individualist would view this case as unethical due to the main goal of individualism, which is to maximize profit within the law. Milton Freedman was an American economist and statistician best known for his strong belief in free-market capitalism. He preached revenue and profiting from a managerial standpoint. For McDonald’s as the global organization, they average roughly 21 billion dollars from the United States every year. Recently, the franchises that were put in these financially depressed areas lost 4 to 5 million dollars per location. “ After subtracting restaurants’ costs from missed revenue over the years active, the plaintiffs say their losses are $4 million to $5 million per location on average”(CNBC, mcdonalds racial discrimination). If we estimate that 200 McDonald’s businesses closed and each of these businesses lost 4 to 5 million each, Mcdonalds as a whole roughly lost 800 million to 100 million dollars over the past 10 years due to the Black franchise owners being put in certain areas. A utilitarian will “avoid short-sighted thinking that often boosts profits momentarily but leads to a quick demise” (Salazar 20). These actions boosted profit momentarily at the beginning of the 2010’s but are slowly decreasing as the years go on. In 2013, McDonald’s hit 28.11 million dollars in revenue. The most they've ever profited in a year. Since then, McDonald’s revenue has slowly decreased every year and in 2019, like I stated early, they achieved 21 billion dollars. Since 2020, is not over yet and the fourth quarter income sales have yet to be reported, their revenue can’t yet be reported but The global fast-food chain reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $1.11 billion, or $1.47 per share, down from $1.33 billion, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier. Net sales dropped 6% to $4.71 billion as the company observed dramatic changes. These dramatic changes have hurt McDonald’s greatly. 

Utilitarianism 

         A Utilitarian would find McDonald’s actions as unethical due to the majority of the stakeholders being unhappy and unsatisfied. Like I stated earlier, African American’s make up 25% of McDonald’s customers. This is the highest race percent of McDonald’s customers. McDonald’s needs to make all of their ethnic customer’s happy to be ethical under Utilitarianism. The fact that 4 different racial discrimination lawsuits were filed against McDonald’s just this year, proved how unhappy and how mistreated the African American race feels. In one of the lawsuits, it stated that the Black male workers heard racially derogatory terms and disparate treatment that resulted in them receiving harsher discipline, and fewer hours, then their white colleagues. Also an earlier complaint filed in July by Black employees of a Lakeland, Florida McDonald's was amended after two of the workers were fired, they said “it was there retaliation for speaking up about their abusive work environment.The Illinois suit's allegations are symptomatic of a pattern or practice of McDonald’s corporate leadership’s failure to address”(USA today, racial discrimination). This related to the retaliation that the Black franchise owners faced when they wanted to move locations. They had the fear of being punished and fired from their job. The African American race has been mistreated for too long, especially from the McDonald’s organization. 

Kantianism

         A Kantian that believes in respecting others, and not using others a mere means would find these actions as unethical as well. The lawsuit stated that McDonald’s “ denied them financial support and assistance often afforded to White franchise owners. As well as unfair graded Black-owned operations, which led to poor internal reviews and pushed out those franchisees”(Washingtonpost, McD. Lawsuit). This was their attempt to drive Black franchise owners out of the organization and to promote white franchise owners. Kant characterized the categorical imperative as “an objective, rationally necessary and unconditional principle” that we must always follow despite any desire we may have. Mcdonalds were irrational in an attempt to get what they desired. And what they desire is pushing these Black franchise owners out of the business. These actions brought in revenue at first in the beginning of the 2010’s but eventually lost them millions of dollars. McDonald’s attempted to profit off of these Black franchise restaurants as much as possible knowing they wouldn’t last and that's exactly what happened. “McDonald's profited from Black business operators and a Black consumer base, but eventually Black franchisees failed because they had been sent on “financial suicide missions”(USA today, racial discrimination). 

Virtue theory 

         From a virtue theory standpoint, they would describe the actions of Mcdonalds as lacking the virtues of prudence and Fairness. The ethical definition of prudence is one being concerned with what is good and advantageous to oneself, others, and life as a whole. It includes being careful when taking action concerning human goods. McDonald’s lacked prudence behind closed doors rather than over the media. They handled it well over the media by denying the allegations but there prudence around other races lacked. They allegedly graded Black-run restaurants unfairly, leading to poor internal reviews and subsequent denials of growth opportunities and better franchising terms. As well as having abusive environments towards different races. Meanwhile over the media McDonald’s CEO stated “Not only do we categorically deny the allegations that these franchisees were unable to succeed because of any form of discrimination by McDonald’s, we are confident that the facts will show how committed we are to the diversity and equal opportunity of the McDonald’s System, including across our franchisees, suppliers and employees”(CNBC, racial discrimination). The ethical definition of fairness is establishing moral standards for decisions that affect others. Fair decisions are made in an appropriate manner, while thinking of others based on appropriate criteria. I think it’s clear that these African American franchise owners and employees were mistreated from the start. Having a racial tier of Black and White franchise owners and giving the better opportunity and chance of growing their restaurants to the white franchise owners and setting the Black owners up to fail is a clear discrepancy of unfairness within the organization. 

 Justified ethics theory

         In my opinion, The fact that 52 different Black franchise owners went through the same struggle of being pushed out of the organization is completely ridiculous. McDonald’s actions of racism are exactly what our generation is attempting to get rid of. A quote that I’ve followed my entire life is to judge someone's character not race or background. Every man or woman is created equally and I think McDonald’s as an organization needs to realize this. I also know that not everyone in the organization is a clear racist, but if one of the CEO’s or higher management is giving Black franchise owners bad reports and mistreating them in an attempt to drive them out is destroying the structure and brand name of McDonald’s. I don’t think McDonald’s handled it well with their responses. They never disapproved of any of the accusations but instead stayed calm and stated how they’ve hired people of diversity. From an outside standpoint I believe McDonald’s is completely in the wrong here. They mistreated and used their own employees as well as driving their revenue down at the same time. 

 Action plan 

         McDonald’s is facing new lawsuits every year, like I stated early they received 4 racial discrimination lawsuits this year alone. As an organization, McDonald’s needs to evaluate and commit to their actions as well as having repercussions to these actions. These repercussions should hold the CEO’s and other high management positions to be held accountable for their actions. I believe the organization should preach equality and fire the CEO’s who have been involved in the scandal. As well as having other positions look over franchise evaluations in case of mistreatment given to Black owned restaurants. The organization should also relocate some of their Black franchise owned restaurants to more profitable areas . These franchise owners should have the right of relocating without facing repercussions and threats of being fired or un-promoted. These franchise owners need to be represented more than just a mere means of profit. McDonald’s also needs to realize there stakeholders that bring in revenue for their restaurants. These stakeholders involve their diverse customers and employees. Mistreating and discriminating against other races, especially the ones that run your businesses and purchase your food will only hurt the company in the long run. Finally, by promoting diverse movements, not using their franchise owners just to profit, and changing the locations of some restaurants, will make Mcdonalds stakeholders happy and make their actions ethical. 

Conclusion 

        
         The actions that McDonald’s have been accused of are unethical and the morals of the global fast food chain need to be adjusted as soon as possible. In a generation of equal opportunity and public reform for racial injustice, me as a citizen of the United States find these actions disgusting. No individual should feel the stress and pain of being mistreated as well as operating a business that is setting you up to fail. The ethical background of this case involving each theory describes how unethical these actions were. From non-profiting, to unsatisfying the majority of stakeholders to mistreating and using their own employees to achieve what they want proves how unethical this case was. Hopefully in the future, McDonald’s can make a change in their organization and take responsibility for their actions.

- Christian Bianco