To Spite or Not to Spite

On June 6, 2010, The Catholic League was denied a very reasonable request. It's unfathomable that such a simplistic request would be denied. So what's the request? The request is to light the Empire State Building up in the colors of blue and white in honor of the 100th birthday of Mother Theresa.

The Empire State Building (ESB) has been illuminated in multi-colors since 1976 (ESB site). For many years, groups have been allowed to request the ESB be lit in a certain array of color to commemorate groups, people, or events. The first colors utilized in 1976 were red, white, and blue to celebrate our Nation's 200's anniversary. Last year, the ESB was lit in all red to commemorate the 60th anniversary of communist China.

So the question is, why would the ESB deny Mother Theresa but not communist China? Kimberly Brown of ABC reported that Anthony Malkin, CEO and president of Malkin Holdings, the owners of the ESB, stated "ESB has a specific policy against any other lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations." The snake in the grass reveals his bias in his remarks.

The ABC article points out that Mr. Malkin supports pro-choice organizations. Obviously, the Catholic League is pro-life. Why would Mr. Malkin want to show support for the Catholic League when they do not adhere to his beliefs? Yet did he not allow lighting of the ESB for communist China?

Let's evaluate this from a logical standpoint. Mr. Malkin does not support the ideals of the Catholic League; therefore, he does not allow the lighting of the ESB. The sufficient condition of this logic argument is the lack of support. The necessary condition is the denying of lighting the ESB. So anytime Mr. Malkin does not support someone or something, he will not light the ESB for them. The contra-positive of this logic argument would be that if he does light the ESB, then he must support the someone or something. So when we take the contra-positive and apply it to the China event, logically since Mr. Malkin lighted the ESB on the 60th anniversary of China, he must support communist China. Mr. Malkin won't support a peace-loving winner of the Nobel peace prize but he will support a country known for their human-rights abuse. What does this say about the person Mr. Malkin is?

Mr. Malkin has shown his true colors. While he may differ in ideals from the Catholics, and he does have the right to light his building for whomever he pleases, he lives and works in a country that promotes the understanding and accepting of ideals contrary to a person's own ideals. He should live up to the overall ideals of the country and light the ESB in honor of Mother Theresa even if he disagrees with the organization that requested the lighting.

Mother Theresa actually earned her Nobel peace prize. She cared for thousands showing love and respect to everyone. Mother Theresa would love and respect Mr. Malkin. He should ignore his spite of the Catholic League and do unto Mother Theresa as she would do onto him.

Mike

References:

Brown, K. (2010). Catholics mount campaign to light up Empire State Building for Mother Teresa. Retrieved 10 Jun 2010 from http://abcnews.go.com/US/Media/empire-state-building-rejects-request-honor-mother-teresa/story?id=10870923&page=1

Empire State Building internet site. (n.d.). Tower lights history. Retrieved 10 Jun 2010 from http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_history_towerlights.cfm?CFID=38553956&CFTOKEN=74572286

Empire State Building internet site. (n.d.). Lighting schedule. Retrieved 10 Jun 2010 from http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm?CFID=38553956&CFTOKEN=74572286