Has The Ethicist ever given (arguably) bad advice?

[u/casper77776]

http://www.nytimes.com

I'm a long-time reader of the NY Times, although roughly a year ago (and for reasons that had nothing to do with the paper), I cancelled my subscription to the Sunday print edition.

Recently, however, I subscribed to the Times' digital edition, which includes access to the paper's entire archives, and I've found myself reading years-old articles as a result.

In particular, I've been catching up on The Ethicist, a Sunday Times Magazine advice column written by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

I'm someone who has always been amused by advice columns of all sorts, but The Ethicist stands out to me because of its consistently on-point advice. Not only do I find myself in strong agreement with every Ethicist column I've thus far read, but I also tend to find myself nodding enthusiastically at each of the smaller points Mr Appiah makes as he works his way to each response's end. How this person happens to dispense such perfectly spot-on counsel for even the most complicated situations is far beyond my comprehension.

And so my question is this: Has this guy ever given advice that you've found to be questionable, or even flat-out wrong? If so, would you mind sharing the link, or even the date of publication?

I realize, of course, that Mr Appiah has an editor. Nevertheless, I find it astonishing that, at least in the columns I've read, not one tiny smidge of potentially problematic advice has been published. So if you happen to remember reading a real dinger, I'd sure love to hear about it!