2/3/16
“In public life, some things may be interesting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re important. We’re all gonna have to seriously question a system for selecting our national leaders that reduces the press of this nation to hunters and presidential candidates to being hunted. Politics in this country—take it from me—is on the verge of becoming another form of athletic competition or sporting match. We all better do something to make this system work, or we’re all going to be soon rephrasing Jefferson to say, ‘I tremble for my country when I think we may, in fact, get the kind of leaders we deserve.”
The latest installment of the Radiolab podcast (check it out here) is--as per usual for the folks o’er at RL)--very well done. It’s about former U.S. Senator and 1988 presidential candidate Gary Hart’s exit from the ‘88 race, due to a Miami Herald article that accused Hart of adultery. By now, we’re used to personal scandals such as this being reported; but according to the podcast, the Harticle in the Herald was the first of it’s kind in the U.S.A.
The argument raised by this episode is: should the personal lives of candidates for public office influence our collective judgement on his/her qualifications for the job? Tom Fiedler, the Miami Herald reporter who penned the Harticle, confronted with the notion that his decision to go to press would/did--if the new standard implied in the publication of such an accusation is extrapolated back through the history of the USA--essentially disqualify some of the USA’s most revered ex-presidents from ever taking the oath of office, responded thusly:
“But, you know, you leap to the conclusion that the public would banish a person for that--and I don’t go there.”
We now understand that the public will banish a person very quickly indeed! The internet hordes stand at the ready, grunting low, slobbering with a hunger that is only satiated with outrage & tsk-tsking. It’s a cruel world even to have an opinion in these days, let alone to have a complex & human personal life. That being said, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Fiedler--it’s the public’s job to filter what matters & what does not, whether or not we’re privy to all the new shit. And that speaks volumes about the modern public attitude.
The rise & subsequent takeover by totalitarian feminism vis-a-vis overall public opinion has resulted in a culture based on scolding. Everything is inappropriate. Failure to express outrage at the inappropriate nature of, well, life, implicates you as a neanderthal, of the old-guard, leftover rubble from the siege on the patriarchy. I’m not anti-feminist, in theory. I’m for equality, I don’t condone rape, I don’t care if you grow body hair (though I probably won’t hit on you), I mean, do you! But feminism has evolved from activism to reactivism. Instead of promoting its own agenda, feminism has switched gears to demoting all other schools of thought. Not only does it seek to be understood or accepted, now it seeks to beobeyed.
It may as well be religion. The religion of setting people straight. At the same time that Americans, especially left-wing Americans, are turning away from a belief in God & turning toward a belief in science, we’re setting up expectations for perfections that people can’t achieve. We’re told to accept all physical deficiencies in people as unique & respectable attributes, yet refuse to cut an inch of slack for people whose moral slip-ups might be unattractive to us.
I’m not talking about pro-rape activists. If you don’t want to cut those guys slack, I get it, they don’t deserve it. What I’m talking about are guys & gals like Gary Hart. Or Tiger Woods. Or Anthony Wiener. There are many examples. (Oddly enough, you don’t read about many famous women cheating. Though I imagine if there are they’re being celebrated because, shit, the man probably deserved it, the pig!) The argument is usually the same: “He’s a womanizer! He treats women like dirt!” But does he? People use each other for sex. Men do it to women; women do it to men. Weird things attract us at weird times. If you’ve never had the joy of being swept away by the sexual energy of a chance encounter, I’m sorry! It’s amazing. Sex is great stress relief. The modern brand of feminism claims to support sexual liberation, but somehow society turns its back on people like Gary Hart, who just need to let off some steam with sexual contact with a smoking hot model. So, he lied to the press about it. Who cares? What Hart’s actions meant to his marriage & meant to & about his wife are not the concern of the American public. And look what our high & mighty nature got us! The ‘88 election went to George H.W. Bush.
