Nir Rosen, moral choices and bloody goblins

I started playing a game called Dragon Age: Origins. It’s got swords and goblin-like creatures and battlefields flooded by gallons of blood. It’s rather geeky. It’s also quite thought provoking. One of the features in the game is the ability to make choices and most choices in the game are not as simple as Coke or Pepsi.

During my first few hours in the game, I made a choice to betray a friend when I knew he had turned down a crooked path. I chose to carry on with him, pretending all was well, while attempting to seal his fate. He was unaware of my treachery until it was too late.

My betrayal ended up with my friend lashing out on his apprehenders, erupting the scene by revealing himself to be a cursed blood mage and stealing off into the night, more than likely with wicked vengeance on his mind. So, after that disaster, I chose to try to be as honest as possible from then on. I know now that even a simple choice may have dire consequences later on.

It’s a very realistic aspect of the game to put weighty choices in someone’s lap with almost no warning whatsoever. People face moral dilemmas often in life and must make the choice of whether to sink deeper into a despicable act or to reach for an ethical lifesaver and pull themselves back out onto the shores of right.

Journalists, in particular, have to make moral choices more often and farther reaching than most people. This past week Nir Rosen found some black comedy in the brutal rape of a fellow journalist, Lara Logan, in Egypt. He decided to swap tweets about it with friends. He also decided to start ripping on the assault of the Anderson Cooper while he was at it. Then some other people noticed it.

Nir Rosen

It is actually rather funny, a lifelong journalist forgetting the gravity of his own words.

His most remorseful statement was, “My career was dedicated to defending victims from oppressors and instead I now look like I mock victims and justify their oppressors.”

It’s a response that seeks forgiveness but fails to engender pity. Nir Rosen surrendered his fellowship at NYU and might as well surrender his reputation too.

A Google search on Nir Rosen, as of today, lists 3 results before delivering a slew of stories related to his reckless tweets.

A professor at NYU that shares his surname, Jay Rosen had just four words for Nir Rosen’s excuses. Jay Rosen would be right too. The best thing that Nir Rosen could do is to put this episode behind him as quick as possible, no explanation is necessary.

As I return through the land of Ferelden I find myself exploring the southern woodlands outside of Ostagar. After hacking and blasting through hordes of goblins, my party encounters a girl with a rather snarky attitude and a bizarre sense of fashion. My companions believe that she is wicked, deceitful and possibly a witch. Finally, I’m given a choice of how to consider her. I make my decision and rest easy, after all this is merely a game.