Work that you're morally opposed to.

[jld]

It's a topic that came up long ago when I was studying. I'm relatively easy going with projects and am pretty good at keeping an open mind.

When studying, we were taught to do our best at sustaining our objections to certain projects that tickled our moral compasses. Nothing has ever bothered me really. I've worked on Male/Female escort agency websites, online adult toy stores and even raving evangelical Christian projects.

But today, I found myself cringing. I'm doing some work for a client that is putting on a steeplechase. I'm rather morally opposed to this in much the same way I am opposed to bull-fighting. I wont say anything or turn my head, I'll maintain a completely neutral attitude and do what I'm paid to do, I just found my reaction interesting as this is the first time in my career that I've opposed something I'm working on.

Anyone else get this regularly? When was the last time you were working on something that had you recoiling?

[Gromit801]

I had a bumper stick I had to do, that disgusted me. It was a pro Prop H8 sticker. But I did it, it wasn't my shot to call.

[PrintDriver]

Just a steeplechase (dragged scent lure)? or a live fox steeplechase?

I haven't had to work on a project that twisted my moral compass too badly. A couple tremors here and there but nothing earth shattering.

[jld]

Originally Posted by Gromit801

I had a bumper stick I had to do, that disgusted me. It was a pro Prop H8 sticker. But I did it, it wasn't my shot to call.

Ouch, that's rough.

Originally Posted by PrintDriver

Just a steeplechase (dragged scent lure)? or a live fox steeplechase?

I haven't had to work on a project that twisted my moral compass too badly. A couple tremors here and there but nothing earth shattering.

It'll be just a straight forward steeple chase, no lures. Just horses crashing and buckling over jumps and plowing through hedges.

[Nobert]

Can't say I have, I have done layout for a publication for the local Democratic Party, although I'm not a Democrat.

There are different levels of moral opposition as well. On the one level I have my moral opposition to things like people who don't eat crusts, the cut of suits since the 1980s, the entire notion of a gym, etc. Then there's another tier of moral objection wherein we find such things as synthesized demand (the aggressive marketing of things that nobody really wants or needs), the notion that every human being should carry a telephone around on their person and that all human endeavor should be crammed through a microprocessor and displayed on a small television. Above that there are the easier ones, like working for a company that uses child labor or some such.

I think everyone has to kind of draw their own personal "whore line" in the sand. The point at which one says, "Up to here, I am just doing my job, beyond that, I'm a sellout." That's a line that can change, and it's really hard to say where it should be for someone else, although I have no problem looking down on people whose own lines are closer to the bottom than mine. On the other hand, who am I to judge? I don't have to worry about going on Facebook and being hit with something really objectionable because the company pays people in Morocco a dollar a day to look for inappropriate content. It is getting harder to have principles.

[PrintDriver]

I'm not a fan of the timed element in sport steeplechasing. It leads to spindly-legged fast horses rather than sturdy animals capable of landing some of those jumps. I'd object more to a fox being chased by dogs though.

[Bob]

The trouble with morality is that it's too often polarized into right and wrong, whereas reality is far more random fluctuations of probabilities.

It's been said that a well-conceived, brilliantly executed design for a client that many might deem immoral, can still bring a designer recognition of his peers. But if a fine artist creates something on their own that is so challenging to any sense of decency that it thoroughly disgusts everyone, then they also achieve a kind of immoral immortality -- among their peers, public, and the arts granting committees.