Wednesday, October 4, 2006
vive les differences
I still don't understand how the Foley mess is playing out because of these things:
--Sixteen-year-olds are not children, strictly speaking

--Alan Sullivan wonders that the reaction is as if Foley were a pedophile, though he's not (partly because they're >16 and partly because he "only" had words with them (at least as far as we know)

--Words can be abusive and have horrible effects, but sticks, stones and body parts really are in a different league

--Representatives on both sides of the proverbial congressional aisle knew about the email and im's but did not act on their knowledge, so (a) quit the hypocritical handwringing about children, (b) shame on them, and (c) why did they wait over a year

--Remember Monica Lewinsky? She was only a very few years older than the pages. Where's the sympathy for her? After all, Clinton had actual sex with her (whatever linguistic games he wants to play) and he was president. Yet, after the initial shock, the consensus was basically "gee it's his private life".
And don't forget Jack Kennedy and Teddy Kennedy and godknowshowmany women in godknowshowmany restaurants and cars (not to mention murder, accidental though it may have been)

I find myself wondering if there's a homophobic component to all this. As in, I doubt there'd be as much fuss if the emailed and im'ed pages were girls. As in #2, pretty women teachers who have sex with students receive milder reprimands (if any) than men teachers who do the same. As in #3, several other unsavory examples that earned wrist slaps or bemusement or nothing much at all ( ht's: Sister Toldjah and Fresh Bilge).
-Jesse Jackson and Karin Stanford and their affair and child
-Mel Reynolds, a 16-year-old and "real" sex (then he went to work, believe it or not, for Jesse Jackson)
-Mike Acuri and phone sex
-Gerry Studds and a16-year-old Congressional page (after which he served 13 more years in Congress)
-Barney Frank and his roomate/male prostitute (and the latter's 33 parking tickets; he's still in Congress)
Also, as sad as I am that Mark Foley was molested as a teenager, I'm not sure what he'd like that to buy him. It's appalling but true that many many many of us (some reports say five of every six girls) were groped or seriously mistreated (for want of a more intense word). Perhaps without therapy one can vow never to do such things to anyone, ever, but be unable to put that vow into effect. It's good that "all" he did (as far as we know) was write and say lewd things, and maybe I should feel sorry for him and regret that he was unable to separate his own unhappiness from what he did to others, but mostly I feel repelled.

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 9:21 AM


2 more:
Blogger DADvocate — at 2:30 PM, October 04, 2006:
The Anchoress, who you introduced me to, had some thoughts concerning the homophobic aspect of this. She points out some Democratic homophobic reaction.

In comparison to Studds and Frank, Foley's actions were minor. As I read somewhere, it seems Foley's real mistake was not being a Democrat.
 

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Blogger jau — at 3:37 PM, October 04, 2006:
Isn't it heartwarming how much the party that clearly thinks of themselves as the super good guys are really prejudiced about all kinds of things?
 

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