Weinergate, et al.

TheBlackSwede

New member
Ok, it's all over the news, we've all heard about it, and while it's really nothing new (seems every-other month theres some new new scandal), I'm very curious to hear your takes on it, as opposed to the vitriolic reactionary and judgmental responses issued in the mainstream media.

For me, I view it as a tragic symptom of our cultural flaws. About the only action of his I take issue with is the lying, both to his wife and the country. I know we all (myself included) tend to prefer the whole "living openly and honestly" path, but in a culture where any sort of non-monogamy outside of "casual dating" is greatly frowned upon, it would seem we do a piss-poor job of encouraging people to be honest with their personal lives/sexuality.

As much as I want to believe that what people are taking an issue with is his lack of honesty, deep down, I know that's not the core of the problem. Hell, we still have people in government stating publicly, repeatedly, "I'm not gay!", and then finally, "Yes, I'm gay" following a damning scandal. Yet, incredibly, these sorts of scandals do not draw the same ire as things like "Weinergate", even though the person in question has been lying for years about their desires and behavior, both to the public and their families. We seem to be forgiving of this because most people are now at least somewhat accepting of homosexuality, yet amazingly, in spite of the shockingly high percentage of infidelity in couples, we cannot be forgiving of our very nature as human beings.

It's really quite tragic.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/nyregion/pelosi-calls-on-weiner-to-resign.html?hp

That's a pretty good overview so far. The whole thing started when he accidentally posted a pic of him in his underwear on Twitter instead of sending it as a private message to a girl. He deleted it immediately, and then lied and said he was hacked. Of course, he had sent other pictures in the past, and had what is being called "inappropriate communications" with women over the internet, and it all came to light. He stuck by the "I was hacked" for a few days before finally caving and admitting the whole thing.

Now Pelosi and many others are calling for his resignation, even though the people he represents don't want him to quit. He's even seeking "psychological treatment", which will probably only fuel his feelings of guilt and self-hatred and turn the poor bastard into a complete mess for decades to come.
 
Okay, just going by what you stated, I'm sure this thing is being blown way out of proportion (thanks for the link, but I didn't read it. Maybe I will, but reading the news just turns me off).

This only confirms my assertion that sending racy images of yourself electronically is the dumbest thing in the world to do. And especially when you're well-known.
 
Oh, it's being blown WAY out of proportion. He hasn't even had an affair. And yes, sending racy photos of yourself on the internet if you're well known is a totally moronic idea. Even still, why do we give a crap?
 
I'm a bit like NYCindie, I was clueless about the whole thing for quite a while on purpose :p. I agree, they are making a big F'ing deal about something that has absolutely no bearing on his ability to do his job, except that it shows that maybe his staff needs to take his cell phone away.

If he had all the regulatory/supervisory shit people in my industry are required to deal with (by the government), it never would have gotten past the required filters and would never have been posted. I guess if you want to bypass all the goverment required security protocols, just get yourself elected to congress.

PS It made great material for the comidian that I heard last week. I guess, it's just a conspiracy by the comidians and frustrated news reporters. :D
 
I think he is the poor SOB who had the incredibly bad timing of making a underwear/photo boo-boo, while 'sexting' issues are hot and at the forefront.


Much like 'rehab' being a trendy thing a few years ago, or 'sex-tapes' before that, the media jumps on any news-bits related to these trends.
Sexting and social media blunders, have become a hot trend.

Its scandalous, simply because its a trendy-bash currently.

He will walk the public-shame walk, cower and disappear.

..It`s what all lil good boys in batman-underwear do. ;)
 
I think he is the poor SOB who had the incredibly bad timing of making a underwear/photo boo-boo, while 'sexting' issues are hot and at the forefront.


Much like 'rehab' being a trendy thing a few years ago, or 'sex-tapes' before that, the media jumps on any news-bits related to these trends.
Sexting and social media blunders, have become a hot trend.

Its scandalous, simply because its a trendy-bash currently.

He will walk the public-shame walk, cower and disappear.

..It`s what all lil good boys in batman-underwear do. ;)


I think this is a little different because the gal was 17.

Also not sure how this is poly? Maybe a move to the Fireplace would be good? :)
 
Ok, it's all over the news, we've all heard about it, and while it's really nothing new (seems every-other month theres some new new scandal), I'm very curious to hear your takes on it, as opposed to the vitriolic reactionary and judgmental responses issued in the mainstream media.

For me, I view it as a tragic symptom of our cultural flaws. About the only action of his I take issue with is the lying, both to his wife and the country. I know we all (myself included) tend to prefer the whole "living openly and honestly" path, but in a culture where any sort of non-monogamy outside of "casual dating" is greatly frowned upon, it would seem we do a piss-poor job of encouraging people to be honest with their personal lives/sexuality.

As much as I want to believe that what people are taking an issue with is his lack of honesty, deep down, I know that's not the core of the problem. Hell, we still have people in government stating publicly, repeatedly, "I'm not gay!", and then finally, "Yes, I'm gay" following a damning scandal. Yet, incredibly, these sorts of scandals do not draw the same ire as things like "Weinergate", even though the person in question has been lying for years about their desires and behavior, both to the public and their families. We seem to be forgiving of this because most people are now at least somewhat accepting of homosexuality, yet amazingly, in spite of the shockingly high percentage of infidelity in couples, we cannot be forgiving of our very nature as human beings.

It's really quite tragic.

Yeah, nothing tragic about society's reaction in my opinion when he's being explicit with girls, rather than women.
 
I think this is a little different because the gal was 17.

Also not sure how this is poly? Maybe a move to the Fireplace would be good? :)

No, not different. For the point I made, actually, you just proved it.

The media is not concentrating on the age association, they are concentrating on the fact that it was a 'social media' infidelity.

The shocker should be the age, but it isn`t. Its the fact he was pervy via social networks.
 
No, not different. For the point I made, actually, you just proved it.

The media is not concentrating on the age association, they are concentrating on the fact that it was a 'social media' infidelity.

The shocker should be the age, but it isn`t. Its the fact he was pervy via social networks.

I must have misinterpreted your tone as feeling a bit bad for him.
 
I don't condone going after minors, not at all... But that was a secondary development - initially he got busted sending a pic to a college student, definitely not a minor. Also, I do recall reading that the girl's parents said that he hadn't sent her anything really explicit, and the feeling I got from their statements was that they didn't think it was a big deal.

And I know it's not exactly poly per-se, but I think it bears discussion within the context of polyamory - if he hadn't been lying about it, would the reaction have been the same? And in a world where poly was not so unheard-of and un-accepted, wouldn't people have more incentive to be honest about these things? (that being said, if the mods think this fits better in the fireplace, then please move ahead)
 
I don't condone going after minors, not at all... But that was a secondary development - initially he got busted sending a pic to a college student, definitely not a minor. Also, I do recall reading that the girl's parents said that he hadn't sent her anything really explicit, and the feeling I got from their statements was that they didn't think it was a big deal.

And I know it's not exactly poly per-se, but I think it bears discussion within the context of polyamory - if he hadn't been lying about it, would the reaction have been the same? And in a world where poly was not so unheard-of and un-accepted, wouldn't people have more incentive to be honest about these things? (that being said, if the mods think this fits better in the fireplace, then please move ahead)

Even if poly was heard of, and he wasn't lying, and wasn't pursuing minors, then yes, I'm sure everything would have been fine, because our societal mob is pretty awesome at accepting things outside the norm. :rolleyes:
 
I've seen a bit more of the story than I really wanted to because a few of the blogs that I read to pass the time got into it. I would read the backs of cereal boxes if that's all I had to read, so ....

He tweeted something publicly that he intended to send privately. The pic that I saw was mostly a bulge in underwear and I seriously wondered what the fuss was about.

Pictures have apparently gone out to women over 18, deliberately, in the past. The 17 year old has apparently gotten pulled into it by association. (OMG he sends x rated pics to his female twitter followers and one of them is 17!!!! .....) However, from what I have seen the sexy stuff was not deliberately sent to a minor.

A couple pics may or may not have been asked for by the woman that received them. THIS is the pArt that I actually care about, since getting unsolicited crotch shots( with underwear or not) is creepy. So says the female dating guys from OKCupid.

The consent issue has been completely and utterly obscured by the OMG SEXTING! I really think the women directly involved and the wife are the ones who should be in charge of saying whether it's a big deal or violated any agreements. His wife may feel that it was a violation of a boundary, or she may not....but, since he's in congress, she's not going to be telling the press that it's ok with her. Not going to happen.
 
I read several of his exchanges with his female counterparts early in this mess and they all seemed creepy to me ....however they may have cherry picked those. I live in the Midwest so he does not represent me directly...he is from NYC.

My problem with this is judgement. I think his constituents and congress and the American people deserve and expect to have someone with better judgement. And on top of that he's an arrogant scum bag .....once caught he lies and trys to spin his way out .... he accuses another guy of smear campaign...he lashed out at a reporter ...calling the guy a jackass for asking a good question. From what I've seen and read the guy is an unlikable arrogant loud mouth. A very unsympathetic figure. The people in his district could have just as well elected the creepy guy that uses the public library computers and gets caught exposing himself.

I have a real problem thinking this creepy fuck has and will create or vote on laws that will impact me and my family. His judgement and problem solving skills are relied upon to do the peoples business.... what a joke. This is why Congress has a 69% disapproval rating.

"If" it is true that his wife of 8 months is pregnant I would divorce him as fast as possible and tell the child that the sperm came from a sperm bank. I wouldn't want my kid googling daddy's name and reading and seeing all that shit ....trust me I know what I'm talking about. Plus there are way too many wieners in the world as is.
 
I must have misinterpreted your tone as feeling a bit bad for him.

It wasn`t,...but if it had ?

So what ?

This is a politician we are talking about. There are very little facts yet.
If,..ever.
Those against him, will spin, warp, embellish, and edit things to suit their purpose.
Those for him, will make him look like the saint he clearly isn`t.

So,..good luck finding the actual truth.

I see someone has already posted the story on the 'underage' issue. So that settles that.
 
I think a big part of the reason I brought this up for discussion is the fact that we as a society can't seem to handle any sort of extramarital action, even though we as a species need it. Somehow, we're ok with people being gay and living life as a straight person only to come out decades later, yet we levy guilt and shame in abundance on anyone who even shows their wiener to another woman on the damned INTERNET. Sure, it's kinda creepy what he did. Sure, it sucks that he lied about it. Sure, there's no way in hell he should have sent ANY body shots of ANY kind (even just shirtless) to a 17 year old girl, but that's not what got people all riled up. Not the lies. Not the underage. Not the lack of consent as someone brought up earlier (though I don't think that's part of this issue, I believe these were pretty much solicited). Those things were all more poop on the pile, but what provoked the strongest response was the "infidelity". The "betrayal".

We've finally figured out that gay people can't choose their sexuality (and thank god for that) - I think it's time we figure out that straight people can't either.
 
Back
Top