answering-to-the-man

Porn star and registered nurse Nina Hartley once made clear what the difference between a "slut" and a "whore" was. The former is doing what she or he likes as often as it pleases, whereas the latter is doing something she or he might not want to do only for the money. And Ms. Hartley made it clear, she's never been a whore.

I sure can't say that, and I imagine many of us can't either.

When you do something you don't want to do just for the money, then that is Answering to the Man. Whether it's telling a subordinate at Cape Canaveral to "take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat," in deciding to launch Challenger in January, 1986, or pushing out a release prematurely to make a deadline to trigger bonuses, that's Answering to the Man.

If you concur with the directive, then fine, or if you can understand the reasoning and even while disagreeing, decide in favor of supporting the decision, then fine. But when the little voice of conscience tells you it's wrong, or you find yourself just hoping no one ever investigates it, but you'll go along to keep that paycheck, then you've become a whore.