School for scandal
What would it take to have another juicy scandal in this Age of the Internet? With the exhibitionist celebrities that we read about today, it seems that no event can surprise us, solely based on the event. For evidence, I present the bizarre sage of the self-destruction of Britney Spears, who craves media attention so badly that she's been photographed repeatedly sliding out of cars while wearing miniskirts and no panties and most recently shaved her head bald. How about Mel Gibson ranting about Jews when pulled over in his car or Michael Richards using the 'N' word more than a rap song? Any of these would have destroyed a career before say, 1990.
It's not the event that causes a scandal, IMHO, it's the person. No one was surprised at Mel Gibson's anti-semitic sweet talk because of Passion of the Christ. The richness of the scandal comes from hypocricy.
The more that a person holds themselves morally above others, the more that we want to see them fall...hard. Robert Downey, Jr gets our sympathy for his drug usage, while Rush Limbaugh did not. Bill Clinton was shredded for his sexual proclivities whereas Paris Hilton is celebrated for it.
Now I'm thinking about how this applies to politics. When politicans position themselves as against something, they become vulnerable to an attack at that spot. That's why so many scandals involve politicians. Now that we're moving into an election year, what would be scandal worthy?
Firstly, it must involve a front-runner. The other thing about scandals is that no one cares about an unknown miscreant. If Nicole Ritchie gets pulled over for DUI over the weekend (she did), it's a scandal. If it happens to me, it's a crime.
Secondly, it must be something that if true, derides the target's character and makes them seem at best a hypocrite, at worst a crook.
Thirdly, it must play into our popular perception of their weaknesses. Many people claim that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian, so a scandal with another woman would be the sweet spot. An allegation that she had a male friend would probably not derail her campaign--some might even call it justified.
The Internet has raised the bar for scandals...we now want proof. There are so many video cameras out there, that we expect to see pictures and video or we will not believe it. Therefore the good scandals will have video.
I expect to see some good scandals in this election year...stay tuned.
Posted on February 19, 2007
