After a short Sunday stroll in the Central Park, where I had an excellent New York Frankfurter at one of the numerous vendors stand, I came home for dinner. A delectable “wiener schnitzel” appeared on my plate… It’s name (and a recollection of the previous snack) obviously triggered some thoughts about the chain of events which have plagued the National political scene for quite a while.
A few weeks ago, when a friend asked me if I had written about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal in my blog, I dismissed such a notion, since “I didn’t even want to ‘legitimize’ this kind of events by writing about it”.
Oh, well… when one thinks about the avalanche of “sexual scandals” in the recent, American history, one can’t help but notice it as a symptom of a bigger issue. It’s 2011, but some of the changes in the fabric of the American society are not progressive, quite a contrary…
Indiscretions, extra marital affairs, prostitution, and any imaginable ‘kinkiness’, however unacceptable they might have been to others, have been a part of the everyday day life for many. Sometimes such acts, or rather knowledge about them, stirred masses in the general contempt, other times they were just absorbed and forgotten.
However, one cannot forget the infamous Pope Alexander VI, whose illegitimate daughter Lucrezia Borgia became an epitome for the corruption of Renaissance Papacy.
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Groups of Pilgrims and Puritans, escaping the religious persecution in the XVII century England established the settlements on the American Continent. The modern day America (the USA) it’s the result of the evolution of the society, when subjected to the numerous, external factors (however, in 2011, “evolution” itself is often denied and considered a sacrilege by many, who after more than 200 years haven’t shed their ‘puritan mentality’).
Those suppressed Protestants, with addition of later huge immigration of the Catholics from Europe, and (until today) from Latin America, forged our society to be strict and unforgiving on the sex related issues, especially pre-marital, and extra-marital sexual experiences.
When the lack of the media coverage and a ‘puritan shame’ of talking about these issues, put these events under the ‘unpronounceable’ social blanket, the society lived it’s life happily, skillfully avoiding the troubling subjects. The politicians were the “champions of virtues”, and readily gave the ‘example’ of how to live “honest” life to the millions of the “little people”. What was going on behind the closed doors of their residencies, and in the ‘red districts’ of their happy cities, never, or almost never saw daylight.
After the country shook itself from the horrors of the WWII, and the war hero who served as a president of the USA vacated the post, the new breed of politicians came to the front line. Young and energetic, living the proverbial “American Dream” and enjoying the new Virtue – EXCESS, thriving on the high testosterone level, these new politicians often involved themselves in more or less public sex-capades. The new media, being more aggressive and socially conscious, trained on the fights for the ‘human rights’, anti-war campaigns, and minority rights, didn’t leave “these stones unturned”.
A new President – JFK, was involved in many such stories, with one which was probably the most broadly publicized scandal of them all – an affair with the actress Marilyn Monroe. And yet, the society didn’t react. The country was about to change.
And then, suddenly, without any warning, the “sixties”, and “seventies” came with their sexual revolution, and gay awakening. The phenomenon didn’t last long in it’s extreme form, but the new sexual standards, and approved behaviors made the deep and lasting change in the way sex have been treated afterwards in America.
Sex has been a powerful weapon in politics and business for a long time. So, even in the sexually loose “seventies” movie director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged with a number of sexual offenses, resulting in his escape from the USA, and never returning here, where the outstanding warrant for his arrest is still in force. America readily condemned him, even though the conspiracy theories were widely considered.
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The mid-eighties with it’s beginning of the HIV / AIDS epidemics calmed down the ‘seventies’ spirit and the puritan America returned to it’s “don’t ask – don’t tell” policy. Growing, HIV infected part of the population, according to the general views, was nothing more than “gays, ‘IV’ drug users, and all other degenerates”. Conveniently pushed in oblivion the HIV epidemic related research didn’t get public recognition, nor sufficient funding. When Rock Hudson as a first celebrity AIDS victim died, the society breathed with a relief – he was Gay, thus in the ‘normal’ society there was nothing to worry about.
When Magic Johnson – one of the most successful basketball players, came out with a confession of his HIV infection as a hetero-sexual man, the confusion of the society was limitless…
AIDS, considered by the most of the conservative, evangelical Christians, the God’s punishment for the amoral behavior, just added to the hypocritical treatment of sex as a part of human life.
In 1995, after years of a relative calm on this front, the sexual behavior of the US politician became a headline issue in all the media. Both the Republicans and the Democrats conducted a crusade against the President Clinton, for his relationship with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky, with whom he had a “documented” relationship. The President was forced to have a series of public, televised speeches denying the affair. The congressional hearing was arranged in which he committed perjury claiming that he “didn’t have any sexual relationship with this woman…”, when the stains on the blue dress (later sold on eBay for thousands of Dollars) said otherwise.
It was interesting to watch how righteous America became, even in New York City, even among the people who could have been brought on similar charges… Eventually the budget surplus and apparent growth of the country prevented the President from being impeached, but the seed was planted in America’s mind.
Unlike in other Western Democracies, like France, Italy, Germany etc, the private life of an American politician became a property of the Nation, and a subject to the public scrutiny, and occasional investigations.
However the result of such investigations differed based on the period “the crime” was perpetrated and the current political leaning of the Congress Majority.
Newt Gingrich has a “wonderful” history of indiscretions – he proposed to his 2nd wife when the first was recovering from treatments for uterine cancer (not yet divorced). He proposed to the 3rd wife when his second wife had just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So, a 3rd time married scruple-less politician is running to be a president of the USA on a “family values” ticket (he quits, comes back to the race, hard to keep track…).
John Edwards (who was a runner in the Presidential elections in 2008) came out about his affair and fathering a child during his long marriage with the wife Elizabeth, who was for a few last years fighting terminal cancer (she finally succumbed to it’s merciless force) - the America was appalled.
For some reason Newt Gingrich (R), having such a track record, is still eligible to have a political career, and dreams to become the most powerful politician in the World – the President of the USA. At the same time John Edwards (D) became the target of investigation to prove that he might have misappropriated the campaign funds to pay the affair and it’s cover up.
In this case the Democratic politician is taken out of the political equation for an affair, which in the previous case was conveniently dismissed and not accounted for.
In March 2008, the New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D) was forced to resign from his post (preventing the impeachment proceedings) for his involvement in a ‘prostitution scandal’. Besides that particular flaw, he was considered a good governor, and a previous Attorney General of an impeccable record. He wasn’t legally charged, since the public funds were never a subject of the scandal.
In the recent years we had a number of sex scandals in the Congress in Washington DC, raging from the Congressmen on both sides of the Isle engaging in the sexual relationship with the staffers, to the homosexual relationship of some Congressman with the male Pages. We can mention them ‘en mass’ but writing about them in detail would be a complete waste of time and energy.
No matter how stupid, and inappropriate it is, if it happens between consenting adults, it shouldn’t be a subject to the public interest of any sort (unless a crime is committed).
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In the recent weeks we have all learned about a teenage son of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger until recently was a Governor of California (an actor, and bodybuilder before that). The scandal wouldn’t be a newsworthy fact, if not for two details:
1. The mother of the boy has been employed by Arnold Schwarzenegger household for many years.
2. He has been (oh, well - not for long) married to Maria Shriver (from Kennedys’ clan).
Of course in case of the actors who are not politicians any more, the laxity of the public opinion is much greater, than in case of politicians.
Although, not always. In 1989, a very promising actor, Rob Lowe was ostracized for his amateur sex tape featuring a sex act of himself with two young women. At that point the Studios couldn’t forgive him for a ‘bad publicity’ he received afterwards. It cost Rob Lowe many years of exclusion from the main stream of Hollywood.
In May 2011, the International Monetary Fund head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested at the JFK airport to which he rushed (forgetting his cell-phone in the hotel). He was charged with several counts of the sexual assault. The victim of the alleged crime was a maid from the hotel he stayed in while in New York.
He was a very powerful man. He was a very rich man. He was a candidate to the Presidency of France in the coming elections. He was a man who in 2008 was involved in a hushed sex scandal.
He had a sexual relationship with the aforementioned hotel maid. For this alone, he has proven to belong to this exclusive group of Powerful Idiots, who exercise their powers to get sexual favors (paid one way or another) from the strangers (professional prostitutes or not). This is a proven fact.
Everything else is to be proven in court.
If he is a rapist – please – maximum penalty for the crime and the power abuse.
I am writing about it only because this man (beside being an amoral IDIOT) has been already condemned by the American society - because he did it with a maid, while on a business trip, while being married. Before being proven to be guilty of a crime, he already lost the position of the Head of IMF, lost a chance to run in the elections etc.
I am not sympathetic to him in any way, but condemning him publicly for being an Idiot, before the court verdict, is wrong.
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Mentioned at the beginning of the article “wiener schnitzel” was tasty, but it’s a matter of the past.
We are still stack with the newest sex scandal of the Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner.
It would be a completely negligible, not news worthy event if it wasn’t for an absolutely idiotic attempt to hush things up by the Congressman himself.
As far as it was reported by the major networks, the Congressman Weiner (NY, D) sent an inappropriate, “revealing” image of his private areas to one of his admirers… via Twitter.
When he realized what he did, he pulled the Tweet out, and instigated a false campaign, claiming the outrage from “his Twitter account being hacked in, and a picture of the sort sent out in his name…”. How detached from reality one has to be, to attempt a cover-up like that?
Until this event I admired the Congressman Weiner for his political stand, and for the wisdom.
Well, the last term of the previous sentence, at this point is a very questionable quality.
The Twitter hacking is a crime, so the proper investigation has been conducted. The media already have learned about the history of Internet relationships he was involved in. By itself, this testosterone instigated activity of a vain, self centered individual, however disgusting it might seem, shouldn’t be neither judged publicly, nor even brought to the public knowledge.
As it is in many other countries, until the behavior is illegal, or causes harm to others, or to the cause, it should stay in the “non public” realm. Everybody is responsible to one’s peers for one’s behavior, and is judged by the peers on constant basis. There is no point to make a public Inquisition trial of a non-criminal mater, just to cause the political punishment, end of the career etc.
Congressman Weiner has been asked by the Democratic Party to resign from his post - even though 65% of his constituency opposes doing so.
What is the future of the Congressman Anthony Weiner (whose name has been always a target of tasteless jokes, and probably always will be)? What is the future of American sense of Morality and the public abuse of it? What is the future of American Political System (no matter what side it’s leaning to) if the politicians are subjected to so deep scrutiny of their private (I stress the word: private) lives?
Let’s make it clear: I do not defend a morally wrong behavior of any individual (no matter if a private citizen, or a politician). Many of the aforementioned affairs caused the families of the involved to suffer. This is not acceptable. However, moral judgment is a matter of one’s conscience, not the law, and it should remain private. It shouldn’t be used as a tool of any political leverage.
America, contrary to it’s Constitution (which clearly states the separation of the State and the Church) is a very religious country. So, “He That Is Without Sin Among You, Let Him First Cast a Stone ...”
