“A picture’s worth a thousand words”. Apparently that’s not the phrase that came to mind for NY Rep. Anthony Weiner involving his “slip” tweeting a picture exposing himself to a female Seattle college student.
When the media first caught wind of this incident, Weiner denied all allegations saying that his Twitter account was hacked and that he had nothing to do with the situation.
Interestingly enough, after many days of denial, he finally came clean and took full responsibility for his actions and admitted to his mistake, but not without adding that he did not mean for the picture to go public.
As expected, he did apologize for lying and hurting the people he cared about the most, but it didn’t stop there. As a result of his frivolous actions, he resigned from office. It was not initially his intention to resign, but many pushed him to do so. Some wonder if it was the best decision he could have made and others strongly believe it was. Should one’s private actions take a toll on their professional life when the two have nothing to do with each other?
Political figures are put on a higher pedestal and are expected to act with self-control and integrity; it is impossible to forget President Bill Clinton’s highly publicized sex scandal with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
Multiple allegations of sexual contact surfaced between Clinton and Lewinsky, but, when questioned about them, Clinton denied all accusations.
Thus, the infamous phrase “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” was born. He and Weiner alike, lied to the public and tried to spin their stories (and they wonder why politicians are stereotyped as liars).
Clinton explained that when he stated he never had sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that he never did anything to sexually arouse her and that he was only the receiving party. In the end, an attempt at his impeachment was put into effect. Although, Clinton’s impeachment failed and he was acquitted, his image was forever tainted.
I find it interesting and a bit unfair that Clinton was able to continue his career, yet Weiner was not. Clinton’s incident seemed to be far more scandalous than Weiner’s and he was of a higher political position. Would things be different for Weiner if never got caught? No one would ever know of his secret life.
The problem that I have with both of these incidents is that, both officials had a great political standing and relationship with the public.
However, both Clinton and Weiner had been up to questionable activities long before the public was made aware and absolutely certain that the accusations were true. Before their secrets were brought to light, no one was doubting their ability to succeed in their profession, but once their private life was unveiled, there is suddenly a rapid increase in people who would rather see them out of office.
Even for political figures, I think that people should be able to do as they please in private as long as it does not take a toll on their professional life. Their private life should be private, but because of the position these individuals hold within society, it is unfortunate when things intended just for them are made known to everyone else.
Others believe that when the private activity of public officials become known, then it is a matter of concern and it will directly affect their work because everyone will be talking about it. Also, it will easily put doubts into the minds of the public as to whether or not they are fit to make important decisions for society, if they are unable to keep control of what is going on in their own lives.
Public officials, celebrities and other socialites are people too and people make mistakes. On the other hand, with the pedestal that others put them on I also think that they need to be more careful than the average person when making decisions.
These leaders have the same sexual urges that any regular person would have. It is understood that they need to act in a more dignified manner, but the fact that they are human needs to be taken into account as well.
Would things be any different if no one ever found out about what these political figures did in the dark? Think about it, if incidents of their private life were never reported, although
Weiner put all of his business out on one today’s biggest social networks, would there be a problem? Is it more acceptable to have a mediocre official with a squeaky clean reputation or have a great official with a reputation that’s a bit more tainted?
At the end of the day, our country’s best interest should be the first priority and not necessarily the private affairs of our leaders.
Dominique Barchus can be reached at Dominique.Barchus@Spartans.ut.edu