I should write something here about J. Nicholas Counter III, who passed away the other day at the age of 69. Here's the New York Times obit and here's a piece I wrote about him here some time ago. Basically, Mr. Counter represented the interests of the movie and TV studios in most recent instances when there was a labor negotiation and/or strike with the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild, the Writers Guild or several other unions or guilds.
If we were writing a screenplay about a guy who did that, could we think of a better name for him than Nick Counter? I know if we were casting the role, we couldn't have done better than the actual man.
Not long ago, I had an ugly exchange with a lawyer who was attempting to screw over some friends of mine on a deal. He insulted me so I insulted him back. He retaliated with the old line about how he was just doing his job…a rationale that I don't think excuses much (if any) one does in this world. I mean, a Mafia hit man is "just doing his job" and that doesn't absolve him of a smidgen of moral responsibility. I also don't buy that if something is arguably legal — or even inarguably — it's ethical. Half the time a person says, "Well, someone's gotta do this," I think, "No, no one has to do that" or that you still can think ill of the person who wants to do it.
If I'd had ten more seconds to think of a reply that day, I probably wouldn't have used a Nazi reference since those are cheap and obvious and if someone's not actually killing Jews, never quite comparable. But what I said to Mr. "Just doing my job" was "You know, I've had hundreds of jobs in my life. I never had one I had to justify by quoting Adolf Eichmann." I later apologized for the low blow…but you know, I didn't draw any equivalence between his actions and actual genocide. I just pointed out that in this world, one is responsible for one's deeds and actions. There's something wrong with any position where you seemingly surrender moral culpability to someone else.
I could never do what Nick Counter did for a living. I certainly couldn't come home from work and proudly tell my family and friends, "Well, I cost 100,000 people their health insurance today so the corporate CEOs can get bigger bonuses!" It's bad enough I sometimes have to say, "Just finished another issue of Groo!" But the former is not an inaccurate summary of Mr. Counter's job description. I don't think he even served the interests of the companies he ostensibly represented, at least not directly. He served their current officers and usually, but not always, that coincided with what was best for the corporations at the table.
The two times I chatted with him, Counter seemed like a decent-enough fellow and I'm sure his occupation, which was not unlike herding rabid feral cats, was difficult. I'm also sure someone else in that position might have done a lot more damage to parties on all sides. If forced to defend it, I expect he'd have said something like, "Hey, someone's gotta do it [and in this case, someone probably does] and I could name a dozen guys who'd be nastier, more ruthless, more destructive, etc." All of that would be true.
But I always felt a little bothered by the fact that he did seem like a nice guy; that he actually perceived the pain his employers often caused and the sometimes-needless (as in, bad for them as well as labor) stances they took. A man like that may be preferable to one who'll just see it as all-out war and never mind the casualties, but he's more difficult to understand and maybe, when necessary, to forgive. I guess the nicest thing I can say here is that at some point in the future, I'm sure we'll have one of those all-out warriors in his place and we'll long for the days of J. Nicholas Counter III.
May he rest in peace…and I sure hope St. Peter is not locked in negotiations with the man.