OT re: "Every one lies by omission "
Clinton said "I did not have sex with her". That is a lie by comission, not omission. When giving testimony to a grand jury (something I have done), you don't have to volunteer information, but you do have to answer direct questions truthfully.
He also pressured other people to lie.
re: "Thomas Jefferson had an affair with his female slave". "Affair" is not the right word. She was his property, like his horse or house. He used her, the same way he would use his horse or house or anything else he owned and had total control over. It was illegal, in the laws of his own time and place. And, no, it's not OK, even though he got away with it, and even though he wrote the Declaration of Independance.
This isn't about sex, it's about power. When two people have sex, and one of them is far, far more powerful than the other, because he's 1: a man, 2: more than twice her age, and 3: about 15 levels above her in the heirarchy they both are in, then it is inherently an unequal relationship. It raises the question of whether she had the power to say no. If she couldn't say no, then it was rape.
If I had done what Clinton has done, (and got caught), I'd lose my job. I don't see why he should be held to a lower moral standard. Is it naiive to say that society should have standards, and enforce them, the alternative being chaos? If so, them I'm naiive. |
