The puritans and the politicians
In 1492, Columbus sailed the blue and claimed to have discovered America, which was a surprise to the Native Americans who had been living here. Columbus and crew came with all of their puritan values, which is why, now a couple of centuries later, politicians and sex get so much attention in the U.S. of A.
I couldn’t believe that on CNN they were showing the emails from the Argentinian lover of this governor – what is this Tabloid news or Headline news? I spoke with my European counterparts after T said the South Carolina Governor’s public affair was something that would only happen in America, and there was a resounding response that affairs are as common as bread in Europe and people turn a deaf ear because they could care less what politicians do in their personal lives. I think the exception might be the U.K. where one European quoted an article that said more people cheat in UK than anywhere else in the world.
One European said:
– Take Italy and their PM: It’s almost a running gag there, something Berlusconi brags about and gets applauded for by members of Confindustria, their main industry association.
– Take Germany: The governor in Bavaria has acknowledged he has a child outside marriage (and is rumored to expect a set of twins!), but no one really cares. It’s not going to cost him votes from any constituency here.
Another European adds that Berlusconi’s affair was most likely with an under age woman – imagine that headline here in the U.S.
One of the Europeans added:
Rashida Dati (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachida_Dati) is a French female minister and she got pregnant and refused to reveal the name of the dad, the media have been all over her and rumors say it could be someone close to Sarkozy, like his brother.
I was forwarded a recent Newsweek article about:
Henry Fairlie who argued: “… the bedroom-snooping, morality–legislating social conservatives were just as misguided.” He was no libertarian, but he thought that much of the social agenda of the American political right (then and now) consisted of things that were nobody’s business: “Let one homosexual, coke-snorting student bum get hold of two food stamps, and the whole apparatus of government is brought into play,” he wrote.
Americans loathe regulation, so we don’t want anyone swooping in and telling us to not to splash this sort of crap all over the news, but at the same time, doesn’t anyone feel the need to quit this bullshit about politicians and their affairs?
I recall years ago attending the funeral of a man who was lauded as one of the top Bay Area architects and many important people stood up to say what a great man he was – but had his children stood up there, they might have said differently – he was a horrible father, husband, family man, but he was a great architect.
What makes a great person? Maybe everything, maybe not. But I for one am sick of the public gorging on private affairs.