I'm all for all the rights that our ancestors before us worked so hard to make possible for us today. Big believer in them.
But when someone "pleads the fifth" it ranks right up there on my list of PR pet peeves such as when someone says "no comment" to the media.
Yesterday, Stewart Parnell, the owner and CEO of Peanut Corporation of America, allegedly the source of the outbreak of salmonella in food products that were distributed all over the country, decided to plead the fifth. And this was after he was asked by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) from the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, whether of not he'd dare eat the contents of a container that held many of the recalled peanut products that his own company made.
By definition, the act of "pleading the firth" is the act of refusing to testify under oath in a court of law on the ground that the answers could be used as evidence against them to convict them of criminal offense.
Hmmm, you don't have to be Einstein to figure out how or why Parnell was advised by his lawyers to do as such.
The clincher is that evidence shows that he even after he knew about a possible salmonella problem, dating as far back as 2006, still "he defiantly told employees to ship to thousands of manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream."
What motivates a human being to do such a thing? Greed and a lack of respect for the safety of the American people who so willingly and unknowingly ate his company's products.
People died as a result of his actions. It's sad that we can no longer trust the leaders of corporations to do what is right, but instead put their own interests first.
He might plead the fifth, but by doing so, the media, the families of those victims that have died because of his actions, and the American people will have no mercy on him, and rightfully so.
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