The Public Eye vs Private Vices

Here follows this author’s rough translation of an opinion written by Michele Serra in his column L’Amaca (The Hammock) published today, August 10, in the Italian daily La Repubblica:

“ ’Accusation’ and ‘confession’ are the precise (judicial) terms the press, including, regrettably, the Italian press, has used to report the latest news regarding John Edwards, former Democratic presidential candidate, who is ‘accused’ of having betrayed his wife and has been forced to render a public ‘confession.’ The nature of the crime is unclear, also because the charges were brought [not by the judicial authority but] by the tabloids, imagine their authority and ethical correctness… In any case, the story has been clamorously inflated into a full blown political issue.

“Contemporaneously, in Greece, a small country considered less modern and less democratic than the United States, a government official attempted suicide following a sordid scandal involving sex tapes and blackmail. In full agreement, the [Greek] government and opposition declared that an entirely private drama should remain absolutely outside the realm of political speculation, and advised discretion and respect [on the part of anyone who might consider exploiting it]. In the narrow sense, we can assume that an adulterer would be much better off living in Greece than in the United States. In the wider sense, that public opinion in the most powerful Nation on earth tends to concern itself more with the so-called ’sexual morality’ of its politicians than with the war in Iraq or other grave issues. [This is a] case of perversion of the public eye far more serious than the private vices of any public figure.”

I fully concur with Mr Serra. The American public certainly has far more important matters to contemplate than a politician’s private life. Whatever John Edwards did with the woman in question is not a “scandal” but a private matter. Mr Edwards is accountable solely to his wife and family and owes the public no explanation whatsoever.

Grow up, Americans, and open your eyes. Worry about the wars overseas and the needless loss of American lives and the financial and human resources wasted to fight these wars. Worry about the economy and the honest, hardworking Americans who are losing their jobs and their homes, and be glad you haven’t lost yours (yet). Worry about the environment and the rape of our planet’s dwindling natural resources, the decline in public education, and the current administration’s utter contempt for the Constitution. Worry that your children and grandchildren will have a worse world to live in rather than a better one.

The true scandal here is that the tabloid media have yet again hoodwinked a sizeable part of the American public into diverting its attention away from the pressing problems the nation faces and getting it into a lather about a matter that is none of the public’s business.