In the United States the damning issues of sexual indiscretions have resurged to a level that goes beyond tasteless tittle-tattle. Unfortunately, the aptly labeled Weiner Scandal in New York, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelity in California, plus the recent indictment of a former midstate presidential wannabe, have rekindled flames and turned gossip into wildfires.
The question of sexual impropriety when it involves ranking politicians or heads of powerful organizations from which critical leadership and judgment are expected impacts on valid questions of character. For that reason, indiscretions are fodder for debate on one’s fitness to govern.
After being caught posting lewd photographs and e-blasting these to at least one youngster, for nearly a week, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner first lambasted pranksters, lied to the media, and then fudged and
fiddled on questions of indecency and authorship.
For those who deny that sexual indiscretions are irrelevant in a macho society such as ours, simply ask yourself what goes through a grown man’s mind when he positions a camera within inches of his groin to take a snapshot of his crotch.
What kind of executive decision-making is involved in the choice among exhibiting the family jewels through Twitter or Facebook? Will a 15-pixel crotch close-up increase satisfaction ratings among voting constituencies? Does this make one look cool, or should he just drive around in a Porsche to impress the girls?
On a national scale, two-time presidential hopeful, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was recently indicted for malversing $925,000 of campaign contributions to keep secret an affair he had with his publicist. Edwards, who presents an image of a clean-cut, family-loving idealist, admitted to the affair, but rests his defense on the question of legal versus illegal contributions, rather than the fact that he lied.
Across the Atlantic and into Europe, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was once caught “consorting” with minors, in one instance, and, in another, with a 42-year-old prepaid escort. In other instances, the women involved were either Moroccan belly dancers or $10,000 prostitutes.
In the global financial world, the man who could nearly have been the president of France, one of the architects behind the establishment of the euro, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known among bankers as DSK, stands accused of sexual assault.
It is not his first.
In 2006 Sexus Politicus, a book by Christophe Dubois and Christophe Deloire on the relationship between sex and politics, included a section on DSK.
In 2007, while at the IMF, DSK faced accusations involving “favoritism, or any other abuse of authority” when he had an affair with one of the Fund’s economists.
It is one thing for a plain vanilla nobody to get caught in a compromising position in a hotel room with the chambermaid, thereby betraying spousal trust. It is quite another for a person installed in power by false imagery, to live out a lie, betray the public confidence and project a persona starkly disparate from that presented before constituencies who’ve bestowed both faith and trust.
The Arthurian lore on the requisites for a knight worthy to pursue the Grail says it all—when upon leading a righteous charge, one cannot live a lie.
But never mind indecency. Let us not moralize. Never mind depravity. Let us be like the French who are accustomed to having monarchs consort with anyone they choose. Let us invoke our cliché cop-out excuses and crusted self-denial defenses. Different standards are applied to Filipino males. More so for unattached bachelors.
Having said that, let us, however, refocus on questions of righteous character where we rallied and reposed upon our current leaders the mantle and the mace to mount a white steed and run after those who had previously betrayed our trust.
More than questions of sexual indiscretions, let us focus on how character plays out in decision-making. Note that the men in our litany were aggressive movers and shakers. They were driven workaholics. Wouldn’t it be a pity if they were sluggards and the only thing on top of their desk were their feet?
To belabor the obvious, imagine a leader, God-fearing and prayerful, simple in tastes, and almost Spartan in lifestyle. Imagine him once more, pure of heart, honest and innocent of worldly wiles. Imagine him thrown into the ring by a divine hand and there installed with great power and responsibility by a public worn and weary of political fabrication.
Now imagine a person attracted to cheap and prurient pleasures that might border on deviant behavior. Imagine the same, slick and glib, with a propensity for self-indulgence and toys for big boys.
Now superimpose these dichotomies, and start praying that the whispers heard in the far corners of newsrooms do not reach the ears of those with bragging rights.
