Of Exemplary Oxymorons, "Business Ethics" Seems To Me To Exceed All Others In Its Oxymoronity

Unless you are irremediably Luddite, or off the grid, by now you probably know that sometime in the next year or so there's gonna come a BEEG change in the way that the signal which is "television" will be capable of being received.

The switch will make it necessary for people getting their signal 'over the air' have either a tv capable of receiving the new (digital) data, or get a modulating device. Since March 1, 2007, every television sold in the US was supposed to have had a digital tuning chip installed before it was sold. If your tv doesn't have the chip, you have to buy (or in some cases, even more perniciously, rent) a converter box. The FCC issued explicit instructions to retailers that warnings of this impending technology change be posted in the TV Sales areas.

Now guess what happened?

If you said retailers didn't put up the signs, and that many thousands of panicked consumers were sold televisions-without-chips (well, they had to reduce that inventory somehow, dinnthey?) to replace televisions WITHOUT chips, well you might work for Sears. Or Wal-Mart. Or Circuit City.

Cuz that's pretty much exactly what happened: Yahoo Tech (who knew?) was ALL OVER this this morning:

You see, the Federal Communications Commission requires that all TVs manufactured, imported, or shipped since March 1, 2007, include a digital tuner. Analog-only sets that don't have digital tuner can still be sold, as long as retailers display warnings to consumers near them. The problem that is retailers like wal-Mart, Sears, Target, and Circuit City haven't been following this rule. So they are now facing hefty fines from the FCC.

According to an FCC report, Sears "willfully and repeatedly" violated the rules by failing to display a sign next to analog-only equipment it was selling online and in stores. Sears received more than 20 citations and is now facing a $1.1 million fine. Wal-Mart is looking at a $992,000 fine for violations in 51 stores, and Circuit City is facing a $712,000 fine.

More companies will no doubt try to take advantage of the digital TV-transition confusion. So I thought I'd put together a few tips to help you make an informed decision before you buy or subscribe to something you may not need."

"Giant Shrimp" is the often offered as the paradigmatic oxymoron, and in some respects it is so due to it requiring no discursive discrimination to comprehend it; it operates at the level of literal, uninterpreted 'signification.

But NOTHING in the USer lexicon tops "Business Ethics" for aporetic self-rebuttal.

Think about it. Have you EVER been surprised to hear of venality, dishonesty, mendacity, betrayal of trust, down-right theft when discussing the affairs of "business?"

Neither have I...