Oh, gee, Bob, you have already gotten several interesting answers to your post! I would agree with everyone who said that Monica's mother was doing a lot of good acting when she went before the grand jury. I have said from the beginning, actually, that one of the reasons Monica seems so misguided and makes such unhealthy choices in her life is because she has a mother who implied that she had sex with an opera singer to sell more copies of the book she wrote, was a social climber in Los Angeles, dates MUCH older men, and seems to have mushy moral standards in general. I think it is difficult to grow up healthy in such an environment, where moral values are obviously skewed.
Also, we have the implications from the Tripp tapes that her mother thought the strategy of Tripp injuring herself so she could not testify was "brilliant" from a telephone conversation where her mother is on call waiting. This may imply active participation in obstruction of justice.
One of the issues discussed on one of the Sunday news programs yesterday was the possible strategy of the White House defaming the Starr investigation to the extent that Billy could eventually refuse to testify, saying that it was all just a witch hunt. You can see this strategy unfolding now. What I think is sad is the degree to which that huge majority of the American public which listens to two sound bites a day for their entire news, is buying into this spin.
As far as the God stuff goes, I am not religious at all, and this is not a religious thread, so I guess all I will say about it is that I think everyone is born with the potential of being very healthy and very happy, and not born in sin at all. Why would there be a God who would construct a world like that? It sounds very dark and punitive to me. I also believe that children develop into healthy human beings without addictions--which are basically pain-killing behaviors--if they are given plenty of love and acceptance and encouragement, and are never, ever hit by their parents, which only teaches violence as a way to solve problems.
Sexual addiction is compulsive disorder that would be a less than surprising outcome in a child like Billy who lost his father before he was born, was separated from his mother for a long time during his early childhood, and then endured a stepfather who was an alcoholic and beat his mother. This is a man who cannot stand to be alone, and according to his biographers has a very limited capacity for romantic love, but who is always seeking some connection, over and over again. That sounds like a destructive pattern of behavior to me.
The fact that sexual addiction is a recognized emotional illness does not excuse the president's behavior in my mind, however--if he is a sex addict, there is effective therapy available. The president is obviously a churchgoer, and that has not in any solved the problem. We should probably just agree to disagree on this, since I don't think either one of us will end up converted to the other's point of view, and it can be really divisive to argue about it!!
Christine |
