Astronaut Hair and Professional Ethics

Yes, there's another thread inolving Armstrong's barber in General, but it's mostly about how so-and-so is a so-and-so and weasels like pie.

Several people in the other thread felt Armstrong was wasting the courts' time and/or that it was perfectly all right for the barber to sell to a collector. Setting aside privacy issues for the time being, I see the barber's actions as unethical and unprofessional, no better than Enron looting pensions or police filching valuables from the evidence room. Just because barbers don't make seven figures and aren't publicly funded doesn't mean they can't be held to ethical standards. Graft is graft.

Our culture ecourages selfishness and self-serving goals, such as working only for money with no concern for what your work contributes to or removes from the society, and spending for immediate gratification, without a thought to what activities you're funding. This selfishness is foolish, however, when its collective impact gradually degrades the quality of goods and services, and fails to maintain collective resources such as air and water. On the micro-scale, it may seem unimportant that lower-status workers act with ethics and professionalism, but that attitude is reflected in the values of our culture, creating a feed-back loop that drags down our quality of life.