Don’t get me wrong, but as much as I
love those cool little nick-knacks that Martha Stewart has created
over the years, she’ll always be a criminal in my eyes. And based
on recent reports surfacing about McAfee
Antivirus founder John McAfee hiding out in Belize; wanted in
connection to murder and drug charges – he and his company have
lost a lot of my respect.
I don’t sugar coat things – as I’m
sure you can see by the opening paragraph. So, let’s be blunt. When
somebody is convicted or accused of a crime in any way, shape or
form, it is due to the personal decisions they made to place them in
such a situation. Whether they are innocent or guilty of the crime,
they made a decision that placed them in hot water in the first
place.
In 2004, Martha Stewart was sentenced
to a short prison visit and a mere five months under house arrest for
what evidence could be collected regarding insider trading. The
federal charges of insider trading never stuck, but she was charged,
convicted, and sentenced on charges of obstruction of justice, lying
about a stock sale, and a few other misdemeanour type toppings.
Her significant stock in ImClone
Systems Inc. was dumped only a day before the company would announce
vital information that would result in some serious damage to their
financial stability, causing stocks to fall out. The initial impact
was quite telling. Her company's own stocks bottomed out and the
couple of hundred people who worked for her company, Martha Stewart
Inc. suddenly found themselves without employment.
Now let’s look at McAfee’s
situation. When allegations of illegal drug activity and murder
investigation by McAfee
Antivirus founder John McAfee surfaced, the internet message
boards lit up with thousands of loyal computer antivirus users
expressing concerns over the reliability of the McAfee Antivirus
protection programs that McAfee created – even though he left the
company nearly two-decades ago.
When anybody who is in the public lime
light engages in any unethical behaviour in their personal life, it
always impacts their professional careers and brand as well. Need
another example; how about Lance Armstrong – he’s pretty much the
modern poster-boy of how to betray the trust of the general public.
Need another? How about Pete Rose, Joe Paterno, even General David
Petraeus – who has been regarded as a true American patriot; and
finds him being labelled as a traitor by some.
The facts don’t lie – the
assumption of guilt in America is good enough to convict somebody in
the court of public opinion. This is a fact of life folks. Whether
right or wrong, ethical or not, it’s the world we live in today.
The decisions that John McAfee have
made in his life are not by circumstance, or his wealth – it’s a
personal flaw, but one that he chose to travel. As a result, his once
highly regarded McAfee
Antivirus software must now be questioned on whether it was
originally developed by a whack-job. And based on the truth about
McAfee’s lifestyle – that’s a forgone conclusion.
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