The Spitzer affair and the dearth of values
Monday, March 17th, 2008Elliot Spitzer, the former Governor of New York, pegged as “Mr. Clean”, and the prostitution scandal that swirled around him last week, deserves some more reflection this week.
Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler Magazine, has just offered Spitzer’s former prostitute one million dollars to pose nude. She has already received book deals and reality TV show offers from sleazy, on-the-make producers (is there any other kind?).
The 22 year old woman from the broken home (it is always such, or, at least, love-less and dysfunctional) who was “outed” as an over-priced, common, hooker is now rewarded due to notoriety in the same fashion that the home movies of Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson helped their careers. The only God is that which grabs headlines. Apparently, there is no such thing as shame or scandal for them.
Why? Why do we reward those who do wrong? In fact, transgressors, moral or otherwise, hide behind the “don’t judge me” rule: unless you are without sin, don’t apply standards or remind anyone of them. This is clearly false. Yet, many are subdued by the false argument that “anything goes” so, don’t judge me. “Who are you to judge”? say they.
Well, moral standards do exist. So do issues of ethics and self-respect.
What was also truly shocking about the Spitzer affair is that he made/allowed his wife to join him on the pedestal of shame as he stood down. Did she really need to be there? Can’t the good/bad Governor carry his own water? Hasn’t his poor wife been through enough?
Dr. Robert Epstein, a prominent behavioral researcher at the University of California at San Diego told us today on air that the gap between young people (Spitzer’s hooker was 22) and older adults is getting wider – it’s worse for teens. The average farther spends only 30 minutes per week with his kids, and half of that time is spent watching TV; the disconnection between generations is even worse than during the height of the Hippy era.
The only moral guidance and cultural instruction kids get these days is through the fashion and entertainment industries and the media.
Do you trust me, or any other talk show host, to raise your kids? How about Oprah?
No wonder 50 percent of African American girls have a sexually transmitted disease and more than a quarter of white girls aged 14—19 have the same.
But there we are, traipsing around the world with the Americans telling other societies and civilizations how to do conduct a culture — teaching them “our values”.
Maybe we should just send them the DVD.