Dual Loyalty
May 11, 2009
Last week AIPAC, (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) had it annual meeting in Washington. A colleague attended and was impressed by both the content and speakers.Critics of the organization often accuse American Jews of “dual loyalty” claiming that their loyalty and support of Israel exceeds their loyalty to the United States. This is a pernicious argument that I believe is often fuelled by anti-Semitism. I have never heard of the American Armenians support of Armenia as a “double loyalty” nor of the support of any immigrant or children of immigrant for the “Mother Country” as being disloyal to the United States.
When John Kennedy ran for president, his opponents argued that because he was Catholic his allegiance to Rome would compromise his loyalty to the United States! No one would dare question his loyalty to the U.S. today.
We all have multiply loyalties. Most of us are (or want to be) loyal to our family, friends, colleagues, employer, business partners, clients, religion and so on. Children of divorced parents often have to deal with a conflict of loyalties. There are situations when these loyalties could have the potential of entering into conflicts. It is up to us to best navigate them guided by our own conscience and the values at stake.
Loyalty is a much-revered value in most, if not all, cultures but remaining loyal to more than one entity is not easy. Ethics often deals with potential conflicting loyalties.
How do you manage a conflict of loyalty situation?
Here are a few tips that might be helpful.
1. Identify or recognized the conflicting loyalties
2. List your values, those that define you. Decide who you are or want to be.
3. Determine the boundaries, what your loyalties will allow and prohibit. What you are ready to do and what you will refuse to do. You may decide, for instance, that you will not lie to either party or that you will not report information from one party to the other.
4. Seek counsel before making a decision or taking action.
As the Israeli novelist Amos Oz once said:
A conflict begins and ends in the hearts and minds of people, not in the hilltops.
Comments (2)
May 11th, 2009 at 3:22 pm Posted by Radmila
I very much like your blog as I find it quite personal, because Ethics is in my opinion deeply rooted in all spheres of our existence. In addition, with a background in sociology ethics is always something that has been of great interest to me and I believe it be essential but unfortunately neglected in the world we live in today. Therefore I will be sure to keep reading your blog on a regular basis and hope to find the same warm yet poignant tone and analysis.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:13 am Posted by Isaac B2
I enjoyed your take on this. Though I don’t think there’s any conflict between my loyalty to America and my love of Israel as a Jew, it doesn’t surprise me that others still want to see a conflict of interest there. Sigh.
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