In this paper we use the EU guidelines on ethical AI, and the responses to it, as a starting point to discuss the problems with our community’s focus on such manifestos, principles, and sets of guidelines. We cover how industry and academia are at times complicit in ‘Ethics Washing’, how developing guidelines carries the risk of diluting our rights in practice, and downplaying the role of our own self interest. We conclude by discussing briefly the role of technical practice in ethics.