Off topic - Zippergate
Addi,
thanks a lot for your post. Finally, someone comes up with a good analysis of this witch hunt. I always thought that the US had a justice system and followed the rule that someone is regarded innocent until proven guilty. Right now it seems to me that everyone is either a saint or a judge. Why don't they give this man a break and just wait for the outcome of the investigation.
BTW, you already mentioned the situation in Algeria and the fact that no one seems to care about it. This situation is getting worse every day but the media has decided to focus on some soap opera story.
Why is it that the US is so preoccupied with sexual stuff? Except for Britain I have almost never heard of sex scandals in European politics. Isn't it more important what a politician does in his job than what he does in his private life? Why do people care about that? When I ask a mechanic to fix my car, I don't care if he has a mistress and I don't care if he cheats on his wife. This is personal stuff, all I care about is if he is doing his job properly. Are politicians judged by any different standards?
Being a European, I attach a note from Reuters about the emotions in Europe:
By Ralph Boulton
LONDON (Reuters) - European media viewed President Clinton's torments Friday with a mixture of pessimism for the leadership of the democratic world and puzzlement that the cocktail of sex and politics should so preoccupy America.
''The American public's childish obsession with smut and scandals is not compatible with a well-functioning democracy,'' the Danish daily Politiken said in a stern stricture.
Sweden's Expressen said that in European countries, with the possible exception of Britain, it was financial rather than sexual scandals that forked political lightning.
The British Guardian newspaper said too much was at stake in the world for Clinton to lose his job because of that ''loose presidential zipper.''
''Impeachment is a deadly serious matter, best reserved for deadly serious offenses,'' it added. ''That 'droit de seigneur' White House tradition of serial infidelity, as established by John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, may be as gross as it is foolish. But it is not yet the stuff of impeachment.''
''If Clinton goes, it will demonstrate in the most dramatic possible fashion that today the personal really is political,'' David Aaronovitch wrote in the Independent. ''It will represent the greatest victory yet for monstrous triviality over reasoned debate in the political life of the West.''
But most newspapers in Britain, which has a long history of sexual scandals, seemed scarcely able to contain a vicarious glee. The Daily Star has already dubbed the affair ''Naughtygate'' in reference to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.
Both tabloids and heavyweights published lurid detail of the accusations Friday.
The Express said Clinton and his wife Hillary were ''badly flawed and empty people... unfit for the high task placed on their shoulders,'' while the Sun said Clinton's repeated claims of innocence did not ring true.
''His lips say one thing but his eyes say another,'' the best-selling paper said. ''We have to be able to trust the man at the top. And we don't.''
But the degree of indignation broadly reflected general attitudes in individual countries to the sexual morality, or immorality, of political leaders.
The French daily Liberation was as incredulous as Scandinavian media about the commotion but took a less censorious line.
''As usual, many French people are laughing about what they see as a lot of noise for a few illicit frolics...In our country we have a lot of indulgence for the (private) escapades of our leaders which we simply see as the consequence of a refined way of life,'' it said.
The sex lives of French politicians have traditionally been a matter of public indifference. The late President Francois Mitterrand kept a mistress and had a child by her without the faintest whiff of scandal or public disapproval.
''We should not assume Americans are more foolish than they are,'' Liberation said. ''The ferocity with which American politicians are grilled about their private lives has less to do with sex and good morals than it does with telling the truth.''
Enough of this topic. It wouldn't have even been worth mentioning on this thread but right now I feel that the financial markets will overreact and thus Sun will also be affected. This IMO creates a great buying opportunity because political stock markets never lasted long.
Holger
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