Catfish Ethics Case Study

Ethics is the study of morality. Morality is composed of the standards that an individual or group has about what is right or wrong and good or bad. Through ethics, you are able to reflect on one’s moral standards or moral stands of a group or society and asking whether they are reasonable. One must keep in mind ethical relativism when analyzing whether a situation is right or wrong. Ethical relativism says that moral right and wrong depend on the culture a person belongs to. Since societies differ in the moral standards there is no single correct set of moral standards everyone should follow. The three main schools of thought learned for ethics are utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and ethics of care. Using these three schools of thoughts I will analyze an episode of Catfish.

Catfish is a reality-based television show

Kantian ethics are summarized through his categorical imperative. Gladys’ actions were not right because to behave morally you would want the action to be done to you. Gladys would not want Cassie to lie behind her back for her own happiness, even if she meant for her actions to be good the way to meet the end was wrong (the ends do not justify the means). According to Kantian ethics, everyone should be treated freely and knowingly to consent as people. Thus, as free people, Gladys should not have manipulated the situation for her own good and controlled Cassie’s emotions. Though Gladys showed her actions to be out of the goodness of her heart, but the way she goes about her ends does not allow for the actions to be correct. Additionally, Gladys used Cassie for her own personal interest since she wanted to take credit for helping Cassie, this was the end, she used the fake profile and Cassie to achieve it. The show when analyzed from a Kantian ethics perspective is not morally correct because it is centered around using people as means for your own