And it’s called The Europe. [Time]
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And it’s called The Europe. [Time]
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romeo
Click on “Time” not the other link for the story. Well worth reading. America will get there,too. We just have to persevere. The hypocrisy is catching up with the culture here, and Religion, Inc. is running out of steam. They needed to pull off a rapture before this. LOL
miguel soares
The article is good, but I think it misses one point. American politics is, at least from my European perspective, obssessed with politicians’ family lives. You don’t see many single American top policians, and most of Europeans know more about the family of the American president then of their own. In the last few years I think there has been a tendency in Europe to copy this American attitude, and people know more about Sarkozy life, then any other french president before him, for instance. But still, there’s a long way till reach the American obssession, where people do seem to make demands about politicians family life – something you wouldn’t see in Europe.
I still remember once in the 70’s when the Portuguese left tryed to make a scandal of the right wing leader’s divorce and affair with a Swedish woman – the right candidate ended up wining for a landslide. For some decades politicians in the country seemed to have learn the lesson, till beggining of 2000’s when the right created a rumour that the left candidate, a single guy, was gay – again, the target of the rumour wan by a landslide. In both situations the answear of the targets was “i won’t confirm or deny, this is my private life”. And that’s the way it should be. We vote for single candidates, not for the all family. It’s, among other things, the cult and importance given for instance to the “roll of the first lady” that leads to these situations..
tavdy79
@ No. 2 Miguel Soares
There’s a great deal of importance that needs to be placed upon context. In some cases an affair doesn’t (or shouldn’t) actually carry much political significance.
But equally there are some instances where an affair does have political significance. The UK’s ongoing “Iris Robinson Affair” scandal is a prime example. In this case the scandal isn’t just about Iris Robins’s sex life as there were some serious finanical improprieties and abuses of political power by both herself and her husband. However there’s good reason for public anger at Mrs Robinson’s affair itself: she set herself up as a moral authority on sexuality, and came to prominence within the gay community here for her vitriolic moralising and condemnation of homosexuality, yet those same condemnations came eighteen months ago, during the time she was having an affair with a teenager less than a third her age. She was willing to use the Bible to condemn homosexuality at the same time as she was committing adultery, which is far more resoundly condemned in the Bible. Hypocrisy can never be allowed to become an acceptable trait in a politician.
miguel soares
I’m really not much aware of the irish scandal going on.. I admit if the sexual affairs involve also corruption etc, of course it should go public. But in general, and in doubt, i prefer politicians to have their right to privacy untouched.
Thom
@miguel soares:
A lot of the sex scandals in the US involve politicians who claim to be family oriented and oppose such things as gay marriage saying it destroys family. Its exposing the hypocrisy and downright lies of the politician and his political ideology. Other than that I do agree, Europe cares much less about the personal life of their political leaders, mostly for the better