Schadenfreud

I think I want to mention Eliot Spitzer. I'd never heard of the guy until he hit the news this week. It seems he is (was?) a democrat and New York Governor. I don't know what governors do, but apparently Spitzer upset just about everyone in the business world with his relentless battle against unethical behaviour. Now he has been caught with his hand up the wrong dress and the sound of Wall street laughing can be heard all the way to London.

I have said before that I don't have a particular problem with people using prostitutes. Nor do I have a problem with people selling sex. I have a problem with exploitation of course, but that is not unique to, or synonymous with, the sex industry. I don't think the lady hired by Spitzer was exploited. It would seem in fact that she was paid handsomely for her services. And since she would appear to be an aspiring performer, I'm guessing the free publicity she receives will be extremely welcome. I'm not even sure I have a problem with hypocrisy exactly. Saying one thing, and then doing another is something we are all guilty of at one time or another.

Somehow I feel Spitzer is a dirt bag however. Now why would that be? I think we've established that it is not his use of prostitutes, or his hypocrisy, nor is it the fact that he was party to something exploitative. I think it's the fact that he was waving a moral flag of convenience. It wasn't so much the fact that he was preaching A and doing B. It was the fact that he was caught preaching A for entirely unethical reasons. It was the fact that he, as a man has no problem with prostitution, as is evident by his use of them, but as a politician he is prepared to compromise that belief for the sake of his career, his image, his social position, his pay packet.

I feel sorry for Spitzer's family. They must feel deeply humiliated, even if they knew and tolerated his out-of-town duvet snorkelling. I can't understand why any wife would stand by her husband in these circumstances. Hilary Clinton did much the same thing after Monica Lewinski produced a dress with tell tale signs of Bill's affection for her splashed over it. In that instance, the only reason I could find for Hilary to stick with Bill was that she thought she needed him for her future career. I find that almost as disturbing as Spitzer's moral mask.

People do odd things to try and preserve the status quo.