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.
Of course... they also find aberrant the fact that women here drive, vote, and walk around in business suits (to say nothing of blue jeans or tank tops. So we probably want to think carefully before deciding how far we want their morality to drive our cultural norms.
ReplyDeleteAbhorrent. Auto-correct.
ReplyDeleteKeith, you are once again absolutely correct! We should not look to the Arab world for guidance but stay true to ourselves, perhaps keeping one eye open at night, understanding that our cultural norms--if texting photos of our genitalia is considered to be no big deal--may inflame some of the more prudish among them.
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