If the idiot is hurting no one but himself, he can be blissfully ignored, unless it is someone about whom I genuinely care. But even then, I have discovered that one who has set himself on the road to his own damnation with complete determination to see through his own destruction cannot be deterred from it by even our most dogged efforts of the best meaning friend.

If the idiot in question in hurting only me, then I can weigh the consequences of addressing the situation with him or just ignoring it. I feel no moral imperative either to act or to remain silent, as the consequences of those actions will only be of benefit or detriment to me.

However, if our idiot de jour is acting so as to hurt others, who, by their place in life (the system, the organization, etc.) have little choice but to suffer because of Idiot’s actions, then I think we have a moral responsibility to act — sometimes subtle, sometimes overtly aggressive, but in some manner to act.

Here endeth my two cents’…