ANTHONY WEINER'S SHAME AND OURS

The latest American crisis that dominated what passes for news in this self-absorbed society distracted attention away from the real issues the lack of well-paying jobs, opportunity for quality education and affordable health care that affect most Americans ended when Anthony Weiner resigned from the House due to what basically amounted to this man’s predilection for engaging in sexual fantasy.


For nearly three weeks the corporate owned media fed raw meat with a side order of sex providing the public with an opportunity to vent their anger, their indignation and their moral outrage against Anthony Weiner and away from the political system that permits jobs to be shipped overseas, puts education on the budget chopping block, and remains the only industrialized nation without a universal health care system.

There is enough shame to go around for the recent Anthony Weiner sexting scandal. First and foremost former Representative Weiner who most certainly felt the brunt of that shame, humiliation and embarrassment. This is supposed to be a Christian nation yet what happened to “judge not least ye shall be judged? Put yourself in Weiner’s place. You took a picture of Mr. Johnson and sent it off to cyberspace and through the magic of modern technology the picture went viral.

One possible way to minimize the absolute embarrassment and humiliation one can expect if found out is to claim someone was out to get you. I mean really what man needs to go through that aggravation with his wife, girlfriend or lover? Anthony Weiner acted like most other men would in varying degrees in such similar straits. He lied. So did George Bush when he lied about the basis for waging war in Iraq. Weiner’s lie didn’t result in the death of over 4 thousand Americans as W’s did but no one was calling on Bush to resign. Only in America could one be forced to resign because of sex and while the one that lies to wage war gets reelected.

Thus plausible deniability is an option albeit not a very good one since the event sent the press in a puritanical society on a feeding frenzy as such the press deserves the next highest amount of shame by covering Weiner’s shame claiming it was a distraction to his party’s attempt to focus on more important political issues when in fact it was the press that was manufacturing and perpetuating that "distraction" all while appealing to the public’s prurient interests. The press could have exercised its constitutional freedom in a more responsible way by reporting that no crimes were committed. End of story.

In addition the Democratic Party deserves almost as much shame for the way they responded to the Weiner story. Rather than informing the press that Representative Weiner’s personal indiscretions were a private matter for him and his wife to resolve and not a reflection of his role as a fighter for the same middle class that the Democratic Party sold out.


Rather than inform the press that Paul Ryan’s budget will cut taxes for the wealthy at the expense of social programs for Main St. and increased taxes on the middle class while incidentally creating a financial windfall for the Ryan family itself and suggest that the press could be more responsible by informing the public about something that will affect their economic future rather than do the right thing the Democrat’s leadership chooses to publically call for Weiner to resign.

As for the Republicans they have no shame and this was certainly no time to act out of character. Their shear, utter, rank hypocrisy was on display by demanding that Weiner resign while not previously calling on their own to resign for individual indiscretions which actually did violate the law as in the family values Senators: the adulterous Ensign paying off his lover’s husband to make it go away and the diapered Vitter not just another “john” participating in the sort of prostitution which is illegal and not the sort of political prostitution with which both are all too familiar as are most of their peers. In fact these phony moralists abetted those crimes and even contributed to the reelection of those criminals. The partisan pettiness of their demands might be better explained by a simple case of penis envy.

The story line became one in which Representative Weiner’s actions brought shame to Congress and as such he should do the noble thing and resign. That no crime was actually committed didn’t seem to matter nor does the shame that Congress should feel on a daily basis when they are bought and paid for by K Street brokers for the banks and big business to legitimize the interests of the few at the expense of the common good.

Then again this is America ego tripping on the conceit of a delusional sense of exceptionalism but still hung up on sex from hey “look at my penis” to the sanctimonious scoundrels and sinners who have no problem throwing the first stone certain god that is on their side while making it legal for the public to bend over and get fucked by the society page Sopranos running the gambling casinos on Wall St.

Shame on the corporate owned media that decides what to report and what doesn’t get reported. Shame on the Democratic Party for once again failing to have the courage of their convictions. Shame on the Republican Party for another outrageous display of hypocrisy. Shame on the American people who prefer to be misinformed by “we report, you decide” and for not paying attention.

Shame on America for being a place where hundreds of thousands of children hunger for food. Shame on America where millions search for a job in this country and at this stage – any job. Shame on America where millions have no health care.  Shame on America that preaches about the importance of education in the future economy then practices education as a commodity to be consumed only by those who can afford it. Shame on America because as of this writing only Anthony Weiner apologized for his shame and if actions speak louder than words the silence of the mob is deafening.