The news has been rife with sex scandals lately–something you’d think our society would finally be mature enough to shrug off.
The affair of General David Petraus, and the somehow related affair of General John Allen, don’t make sense to a lot of us. It’s true that high testosterone guys who like to take risks, such as politicians and soldiers, often get caught up in this sort of thing, but I, for one, can’t figure out what this has to do (in Petraus’ case) with an ability to lead troops abroad or head the CIA. It’s not as if he was bedding some jihadist spy.
Speaking of high testosterone pols, we all remember the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. That was a puzzler for me too–it was poor judgment on his part, but I didn’t see why that should lead to impeachment. We almost lost an excellent President who still plays an important role in National affairs.
I later thought that Hillary Clinton’s diplomacy during the whole scandal was an indication of how capable she’d be as Secretary of State.
But burley "he-men" aren’t the only ones fooling around. I remember when the children’s entertainer Pee Wee Herman got caught masturbating in a theater that was showing a porn film. I thought the whole thing was silly–WHAT ELSE did anyone expect him to do there? And why did anyone care that he was there in the first place? None of the kids who watched his show knew anything about it.
I guess the lesson here is that if you want to watch porn, do it in the safety of your living room.
Lately the actor who is the voice of "Elmo" on Sesame Street was accused of being a pederast (although the accuser later recanted and said the sex was mutual). Like the Generals, the internet (in this case, Facebook) was his downfall. When will everybody learn that you shouldn’t send ANYTHING out on the ‘net that you don’t want broadcast on the TV news? If you want to gossip, pick up the phone.
To me, all these sexual peccadilloes reveal how naïve–and at the same time fascinated–the American public is with sex. When it comes to interest in who does it with whom–and how and why–we’re about at the sixth grade level mentally.
Is there a "cure" for this? After all, we’re losing valuable leaders this way, and we may not be able to afford to lose (or almost lose) many more. Also, we need to focus on what these guys are doing OUTSIDE of their bedrooms (like leading the country or running a war). All this obsession with their sex lives just diverts us from what’s important.
My advice to the media and the folks who care about this silly stuff: Get your own sex life, so you’ll be less obsessed with everyone else’s.
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I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU ANNE
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU ANNE ,I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT THINKS THIS WAY. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE THE BEGINING OF TIME . ITS A SHAME THAT PETRAUS WOULD BE REMOVED , BECAUSE OF A MORAL JUDGEMENT . HOW ABOUT THE FEMALE , IS SHE GONNA GET HER 15 MINUTES OF FAME ,THEN A BOOK DEAL THERE OUGHT TO BE SOMETHING IN PLACE FOR WOMEN , THAT GET INVOLVE WITH PUBLIC OFFICIAL. STOP THEM FROM GOING PUBLIC AND CRYING WOLF .
Who beds who, providing they
Who beds who, providing they are adults, is none of anyone else’s business, however the behaviour could indicate an obsessive / compulsive psychology. In the case of people in positions of great power, the obsessive behaviour may cause them to make errors of judgement which can, and often does, have dire consequences for others affected by the decisions. This is not a sexual moral issue but a leadership issue.
What adults do on their own
What adults do on their own is their own business as long as they don’t harm others, however if an adult does have an affair it shows a lack of commitment to the person they supposedly care about, if they can’t be trusted by someone they have a commitment to, why should we trust them. If you found out Whitley had an ongoing affair, could you ever completely trust him again, I doubt it.
“To me, all these sexual
“To me, all these sexual peccadilloes reveal how naïve–and at the same time fascinated–the American public is with sex.” I agree completely. America has a real hang up over sex… which when you think about it is not that surprising. After all, we were a nation founded by Puritans who (if the pictures are to be believed) were so uptight they wore buckles on their hats! A friend of mine has a theory about American politics that I’d really like to see implemented: when a pol is elected to office, they should issue mistresses/poolboys at the door. Then we can just get the inevitable sex scandal out of the way right up front, so that the pols can get down to the business of running the country without having to worry about when their libido is going to get them in trouble. At this point, how can we still be surprised when a pol has someone on the side? Honestly, I’m more surprised to learn when they don’t!