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Back in 1957, on his third appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis Presley was shown only from the waist up because his twitching hips were considered too racy for the TV viewers at home. A review of the recent fiasco involving a member (ha ha) of the United States Congress shows how far we have come since then, and contains a hint as to why the Arab world finds us so despicable.

The fact is, many otherwise fine, upstanding American citizens think what Anthony Weiner did was "no big deal." Following his resignation yesterday, which many of those same citizens lament, the possibility of his becoming an on-air political pundit at CNN is being floated. When the dust settles, the former congressman will likely be rewarded for his act, which in plain language was this: After somehow managing to arouse himself to the point of having an erection, Weiner photographed his own penis with his cell phone and then sent that photo to a young woman who is not his wife. Adding stupidity to his indecency and immaturity, he "accidentally" sent it to every one of his online Twitter followers.

In how many ways was this wrong? First, imagine you are a congressman with speeches to make, votes to pass and constituents to meet. Despite being a newlywed, you're a bachelor again while your pregnant wife is out of the country on official business with the Secretary of State. You're so lonely! You think, "Hey, I'll masturbate enough to get myself hard and then take a picture of my erection, which is much better looking than my face, and send it to that hot chick I met online last week."  Second, there's his flat-out denial, as in "it wasn't me," which went on for a week before he did it again!

This behavior would be alarming in a 12-year-old, but in a 46-year-old public figure it is deplorable, depressing and downright sick. Yet many of Weiner's blind (i. e. Democratic) admirers think it is barely worth the resulting brouhaha, supporting him with platitudes like, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Of course I have sinned--who hasn't? --and had a damn good time doing it, so I'm not casting any stones. I'm just saying that it's perfectly clear to me why some in the Arab world find Americans so despicable.