Oh, boy, here we go again.
Let it be said here, that the media will once again miss the important point to a sex scandal like this. Here are what should be the real headlines and leads.
Politicians like sex
In a stunning admission it has become apparent that against all odds, a politician has a sex drive. The nation is stunned.
Consensual sex is still a crime
Although this company has come quite a distance in the last generation in terms of eradicating consensual sex crimes, some consensual acts are still crimes, including prostitution.
U.S. government wastes money investigating sex
In a major scandal, it has been learned that while a war rages on and people and the economy crumbles, our Justice Department has spent time and assets investigating sex.
Scandals like this make me a little crazy. I can't believe that prostitution is still illegal. I don't care if they want to regulate it so that we can protect the women from sexual slavery, disease and abuse, but why in the world should a non-sexual massage be permitted to be exchanged for money, but a sexual one cannot. The only answer is that we are all still so hung up on sex.
It also amazes me that we still get stirred up when a politician has sex. I loved the French P.M. Sarkozy coming out and saying, yes, I'm having sex with someone. Leave me alone. Why in the world is this still news. George Bush, Dick Cheney, Harry Reid and Barack Obama all have sex fantasies, whether they act on them or not. And, as we learn over and over again, they do have them, and would act on them if they could get away with it.
More than that, what kind of money are we spending investigating sex. What have we done if we convict Spitzer of a crime for going to a prostitute? Have we made the world safer, or just poured money down the drain. People hate it when the government spends money on things that they don't approve of. Put this in my column. I hate it when the government spends money on sex.
If the story was only about hypocrisy, fine. I never like Spitzer. He reminded me of Giuliani, an overzealous prosecutor who will go overboard to put someone down. Predator is the best word for it. Learning that he has prosecuted prostitution rings makes me sad. But I am sorry that anyone does.
I was really irritated today when Spitzer spoke. But what irritated me is that he said that what he did was against any sense of right or wrong. Not necessarily mine (except for the cheating on his spouse part). I have never been to a prostitute, but I know people who have. And sorry, some of them are very good people who instead of spending money on a women for the possibility of sex, and even misleading the women in doing so, they instead spent money on a consensual act, where everyone knew where they stood.
Everyone knows that cheating on your spouse is wrong. But, it has ceased to be a reason that someone can't get elected president. Like with going to prostitutes, there are people who cheat for no good reason who are really good people. It is a human weakness, and although still technically a crime in most places, no one gets prosecuted. We ignore it.
I wonder how many journalists who report on this story have been to prostitutes. I wonder how many of them have cheated on their spouses. How many are involved in sex, even with their wives, which is defined as sodomy?
The real hypocrisy here is in the reporting of the story.
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About Me
- David
- I started this blog in September, 2006. Mostly, it is where I can talk about things that interest me, which I otherwise don't get to do all that much, about some remarkable people who should not be forgotten, philosophy and theories (like Don Foster's on who wrote A Visit From St. Nicholas and my own on whether Santa is mostly derived from a Norse god) and analysis of issues that concern me. Often it is about books. I try to quote accurately and to say when I am paraphrasing (more and more). Sometimes I blow the first name of even very famous people, often entertainers. I'm much better at history, but once in a while I see I have written something I later learned was not true. Sometimes I fix them, sometimes not. My worst mistake was writing that Beethoven went blind, when he actually went deaf. Feel free to point out an error. I either leave in the mistake, or, if I clean it up, the comment pointing it out. From time to time I do clean up grammar in old posts as, over time I have become more conventional in my grammar, and I very often write these when I am falling asleep and just make dumb mistakes. It be nice to have an editor, but . . . .
I agree with most of what you say Dave. However, I think that we should be more concerned that his "relations" with this company and these women will open him up to blackmail and bribery etc. down the road. Given his position and the power that goes with it, probably not a great thing.
ReplyDeleteAh, but that is my point. It used to be that our government did not want to give sensitive positions to homosexuals because they were afraid that they would be subject to blackmail and the like from foreign governments.
ReplyDeleteWe demonize and criminalize something like having sex for money (but not buying dinner for dates or girlfriends) and make them subject to blackmail and bribery. We have got to grow up about things like this.
Besides, who is going to blackmail him now? It is out in the open.
Don't get me wrong. I never liked the guy. Some of it is visceral. He just look mean to me. Have you heard anyone say anything nice about him so far?
And, the fact that he has prosecuted prostitution rings makes him a major league hyprocrite. But, it shouldn't have been a crime that he could have prosecuted. And even this jerk shouldn't be in trouble for it (except from his wife and her friends).