I, MC Spanky McGee, don’t have time to convince you that all my views are correct. But let’s get dirty with some “Since the beginning of time”-type questions.
MSNBC (who’s booting Tucker Carlson) asks:Why do smart people do dumb things?
“We’re all human,” said Leon Hoffman, a psychoanalyst in New York. “These urges are so, so common. Whether it’s a prostitute or a mistress that one chooses, that’s another question.”
And yet, Hoffman said, there may be something about the aura of power surrounding a prominent politician that makes him feel potentially immune from consequences.
Political analyst Steven Cohen was wary of trying to draw any conclusions about the corrupting influence of power.
“The problem is we don’t know when this behavior started for this person,” said Cohen, a professor of public administration at Columbia University. “Politicians are like the rest of us. The fact that they’re flawed and do stupid things shouldn’t surprise us.”
Held to a higher standard?
The real question, Cohen said, is whether Spitzer should be held to a different ethical standard. And his answer is yes.
Ok, let’s talk about this ethics stuff.
I’ll bypass the question of whether hard determinism implies that ethical standards are rendered invalidated, and move on to discuss one of the double-standards we have for public celebrities.
We love to build certain people up, to give them power, to give them the fame and fortune, but we get tack on the requirement of the “higher ethical standard.” However, we set the bar high, and we get super-excited when those celebrities fail, and we praise our own moral rectitude at the same time. “Oh, my goodness, I wouldn’t have done that if I were Guvna…” Never mind that so many of us would fail these same circumstances. He might be a hypocrite, but wouldn’t so many of us be??? Make sure to imagine yourself in the same intoxicating power-position, surrounded by such temptations…
Now, I’m not saying that some of the Ol’ Soupy Trumpet crew is innocent–after all, we are clowning Eliot Spitzer. But I am capable of knowing what a douchebag I can be. I’m not going to tell you that I could best Spitzer. Who knows? I couldn’t even rise to his heights in the beginning. I’ll clown Spitzer at the same time I clown myself.
The point is not to prop up Spitzer. It’s to drag the rest of us self-righteous types down. (Ted Haggard, anyone? Anyone?)
-MC Spanky McGee
P.S. Eliot: do you want to save your ass? Pull a Swaggart. Get sweaty, teary, and REBORN. That’s not the path to salvation with Baby Jesus. But it might still work as American Salvation.
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11 Mar 2008 MC Spanky McGee
I wonder what difference it might have made if he were caught in some other kind of ring (maybe one that smuggled guns–of course, it would depend where the guns were going). It would be difficult to contest the idea that Americans are easily appalled by sexual matters, whereas they are not so appalled by violent matters. Throwing in another counter-factual, it would be interesting to see how the Spitzer thing would go down in Germany, France, or Spain. When I was in Germany, there was a naked woman in a commercial for margarine. I believe prostitution is legal in Germany; that’s part of the point. Of course, if Spitzer did some illegal “stuff,” (aside from consorting with prostitutes, e.g., torturing them) then fine. So, not only should we perhaps be a bit more self-critical and self-aware, but we should also reexamine what it is exactly that is pissing people off and ask whether it is justified. Should we want someone who is a philanderer in public office? Does such a person become automatically unqualified to govern or serve? Surely not. Ignoring the illegal prostitution aspect, shouldn’t a person’s love/sex life be inconsequential to public office–as in it’s none of our business (unless of course there is some illegality such as pedophilia or the like involved).
Here’s a great clip of Bill Maher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ0CQ2d-SBE
go to around 2:35 for a funny bit about Clinton and Kennedy.
As far as how things go down in Europe, let’s not forget Nicolas Sarkozy, who publicly had a mistress while separated from his wife, and who recently married a hot model to make her the first lady of (where else?) France. Prostitution is not legal everywhere in Germany, but it is looked on with much less scorn, and while it might still be a scandal should a politician be caught visiting one, it probably wouldn’t ruin his (I’m gonna stick with the masculine here) career. A question: Can we think of famous high-powered women who have fallen this way? I guess Princess Di, sort of…but the people still loved her. Tammy Faye? Well, Jimmy f*ed up too (and maybe first). Others?