Tell me if I am wrong… please do… but I just cant seem to fathom behavior of common junta over a couple of things that have come up in the past…
When Monica Lewinsky came forward with an allegation that Bill Clinton, the then President of the United States of America had had an affair with her, people all over America went berserk – right from demanding a public apology to the death of his political career caused by his impeachment.
I somehow dont get it… What exactly was his fault? Did he commit a murder or force himself upon another woman? Did he embezzle millions of dollars of tax-payer’s money? Did his affairs in any way make him any less efficient as a President? What he did was definitely not acceptable – cheating on his/her partner is an unpardonable crime… But did it deserve the kind of National importance it got? Probably not… What transpired between him and his mistresses was actually no one else’s business.. It was between him and his family… They were the only ones he was answerable to… no one else! But, seems like suddenly the whole of US was full of morality preaching pundits. I would really like to know that out of all those people, how many had never cheated on their partner??… I am pretty sure that percent would be minimal… and yet, when it came to their President, every one conveniently forgot all that he had done for the nation… All that mattered was his infidelity.
Just the other day I was watching a Golf program… All they did was talk about Tiger Woods infidelity. Oh come on! Why cant people separate a celebrity’s professional and personal lives? Tiger Woods is an excellent Golfer. Period. What he does in his personal life should not hamper his image as a Golfer… but sadly, it does! I really appreciated Obama’s statement yesterday, where he admitted that Woods was still a terrific Golfer… Suddenly, people do not remember him for all his victories – the only thing they remember about him are his affairs! A very sad state of affairs, if you ask me! Why do we have to elevate all these famous people onto a pedestal and then throw them onto the ground if they even show signs of being “human”!?
People have, in the past, committed several heinous crimes much more gruesome than an extra-marital affair. Do we see people reacting wildly to that? Well… maybe yes, but not as much as they react to a moral crime!
Whats your take on this? Am I completely wrong in thinking this way? Go on… tell me…
You do have a point. But the fact is people who reach levels of power and fame also inherit the quality of responsibility. Most people start idolizing him/her. If I have voted for CLinton, I would not want him to promote infidelity in any way. A lot of people may get ‘inspired’ incorrectly. The same reason why film stars were banned from smoking on screen.
We as fans or followers of celebrities feel cheated for liking and promoting them. How would Indians feel if tomorrow Sachin Tendulkar or SRK was found to be cheating? It is a tad unfair that celebrities lead a rather non-private life, but that is the price they pay for being so popular.
I kind of agree to your arguement. As in I dont say it is the right thing to do, but I do believe yes that with power and fame comes a truck load of social responsibilities. At the same time, why be so cruel? Why put someone on a pedestal and then throw them on the ground the very next moment? Let us not forget they are humans and not Gods!!
I agree with your point but lets reverse the situation. If a criminal enters politics and only does good work – improving the infrastructure, helping common man etc etc. Would you love him or still hate him?
The latest thing always remains in memory.
If Woods now starts playing and wins another tournament everyone will forget about the affairs.
Everyone now talks about the good things about Clinton, Monica barely every gets a mention.
I agree… People’s memories are very very short term!! Which is why people like SPS Rathore can dare to smile even after having committed a heinous crime!!
I am in complete agreement here. A moral crime for some reason takes eons to erase where as any other crime in the eyes of the public are forgotten easily.
Is it that these are given more importance by the media?? Does the media have the upper hand in driving our thoughts??
Yeah, somehow people are very touchy when it comes to Moral issues… or is it a case of “Chor ki daadhi me tinka”, roughly translated “A straw caught in a thief’s beard”
yup… i agree
It the interesting topic.
Michael Jackson maybe example though of how people can become confused as to what they think about a celebrity, some chose, and choose, to think about only his gift as entertainer and refuse to think about child abuse alegations, other people think only of the alegations against him and not recognised his musical genious, who are correct ?
Sincerely,
Marina – Ukraine.
Hi Marina, welcome to my blog
I personally believe if a good singer starts singing badly, you have the reason to criticise him, but if he starts dancing badly, will you still rebuke him/her?
Completely agree with you on this !! ..
That’s Tiger Woods’ personal life .. He has got all the right in this world to sleep with anyone he wants to.. We r concerned abt his Golfing skills and the tournament that he wins ..
But it’s a human tendency to invade in one’s privacy which is powerful and at the top !! ..
Sad but true!!
In the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky case, I think there was also the question of use/abuse of power/office since he was THE President and she a white house intern – akin to a CEO sleeping with a trainee – there are issues there beyond simply his infidelity to his wife. In the other case, I agree with you – sure, what Tiger Woods did may be morally wrong, but there is nothing “exceptionally” wrong simply because he is a celeb.
Thats a valid point. What he did was definitely an insult to his position… But what finally led to his impeachment was just the infidelity bit… He was made to resign because of that…
Firstly, a question. You said “…out of all those people, how many had never cheated on his/her partner… I am pretty sure that percent would be minimal…” How are you saying this?
Secondly, I agree with you. Personal transgressions are in the private domain, but it is the modern world where the media needs to sell newspapers, TRPs, content etc. and it is in their interests to make a mountain out of a molehill and hence they do.
Check out this website: http://www.infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html
It clearly proves that a good majority of people indulge in infidelity, whether men or women!
The facts put on this website is not relevant to the indian society.
And I am not quoting Indian society here. I have quoted 2 famous Americans and the reaction of Americans to their infidelity!!
I also felt bad, when ppl started taking on Tiger Woods, becos of his many affairs and forgot the kind of sports person he was.
But being in the public eye, it calls for these, tooo. Recently, I saw the pgm – Living with a superstar – SRK and I was amazed at how he putforth his thots. When he decided to become an actor, he knew very well the strings attached to it. Yes, he will be in the public eye 24*7 and that every action of his needs to be so clean and honest. There can be no private life and he agrees to it totally. He says with so much of clarity that I asked for these.
But he takes that extra effort to make it easy for his children – too much of limelight at a young age, is difficult to handle for the kids.
Being in the public eye, is indeed quite a difficult one.
I know it is difficult being in the public eye – for celebrities – film actors, etc… but sportsmen/politicians are the real heroes… why make a star out of them and then put them through this torture…
i look at it like this- wats wrong is wrong.. n just because its all over the place, it doesnt make it right or reduce its degree of “wrongness”… to me infidility is wrong whether committed by a common man or the president… of course the common man’s case may never make it to the papers and the president may have his career ruined because the entire world gets to know of it.. but thats simply because he is a public figure and the world gets to know of wat he does.. but both him n the common man are just as guilty..
People feel strongly about these personalities bcoz many of them look upto them as their idols..specially celebrities,sportsman and politicians..they are in public eyes 24/7 which makes their life accessible beyond expected limit..i guess these are just the side effects of being celebrity..otherwise who would be interested in Tina or Rina’s extra-marital affairs
- I think that this infidelity stuff is jut the tip of the iceberg … There would be a lot more which would be generally undetected.
- Also, as a “icon” or a role model kind of person usually it is human tendency to look up to them in all respects rather than only the field he/ she excels in and we judge them on that overall perception. So if they have some blemishes, then we often evaluate that. For e.g. if someone comes and tells that someone whom we consider really great (say Amitabh for example) is actually kind of a serial dater and infidel but our perception of them (and partly projected by they themselves) is something else then we tend to judge them on that overall thing – our judgement as a professional might be different but we also judge them as a person, and that might be something different. Ideally the two shouldn’t be mixed but then, ideal cases rarely exist!
The public expects their elected leaders and their celebs to be ideal persons and forget that they have come out from that same crowd only!
In Clinton’s case, the bigger issue was that he lied under oath. That surely is not what the president should do.
In Woods’ case, I feel its only the media which has destroyed his image. Most common people like you and me dont really care. He was a great golfer and will always be.
For Bill Clinton the problem was that he had this affair inside the oval office which is a kind of symbol of the USA. It would be like a religious leader having sex on an altar of his religion. He put it in the public eye in that way so to speak.
I think with Tiger Woods the problem is he is a hero to so many American kids and a hero should be so careful of their morals .
Sad but rue. For celebs there is no privacy
I think media and people both are equal culprits here. Media does it for TRP and revenue, just like everybody else. Though it’s wrong, it’s the corporate fact. But even as an educated audience people always tends to forget that responsibility also falls on their shoulder about what they promote. One reason these issues get so big because people like to watch them big. They don’t flip the channel for the same programs they will call ‘nonsense’ next day.
I agree with you, infidelity is none of our business, its between the ones involved.
But thats not the only point that their Morality suddenly comes to fore… They want laws to ban Abortion, which according to me is between the couple and their doctor and no one else’s business. They want to ban homosexuals from “marrying”, which according to me is fine as long as they dont use a different term and have laws for that too so that there is less confusion in an already confusing world. There is an on going debate on whether or not to have Prayers at schools, which to me is Ironic, they dont mind sending scores of evangelists to poor places in India on the pretext of charity, so that they can harvest more unsuspecting, choicless souls unto Christ(I bet if Christ knew what was happening he would turn in his grave) but they want to have a choice when it comes to their schools using Christ.
It is amazing to see a Nation that Boasts of Individual Freedom have people who want to curtail Freedom and completely unaware of it.
Reality is everything has a Price, nothing comes free. Freedom is an Illusion.
oops that had to be “as long as they use a different term”
Its not just Infidelity that the public is worried about. Now Sania got engaged to a Pakistani Cricker, people are protesting against it and even went to the level saying that she is anti-India.
I guess we are more interested in other people’s life and when its about a public figure the attention and the interest increase.
I agree with Mandira in her statement “what is wrong is wrong”. Infidelity isn’t right — and it is more wrong to the partner than to oneself!
BUT. While castigating a celebrity — be it a film star or a politician or a sportsman — i believe that people are just celebrating someone’s downfall.
I agree to all those comments about the ‘comon man idolising the celebrity, and feeling let down/cheated when they do wrong’. Now, does the idol-worship get affected ONLY when a celebrity does wrong? Let’s take the same examples:
Tiger Woods: people were quick to blame and throw him down from his fame when reports of his infidelity came out. But has all his fan-followers and worshipers been leading a life of hard work, commitment, dedication and passion to their job, as he had been doing to his (golf)? Not likely.
Bill Clinton: Had the country been thanking the President (for whatever they’d been idolising him for) and being good to the country and to one another? Not likely.
Now if we take SRK/Sachin: They are two of the few truly ‘passionate, committed, dedicated’ celebrities we know. They work 24×7, are committed to their ideals and maintain diplomacy, goodwill and good conduct. Do ALL their fans have this same attitude to their respective lives? Not all all. They go about living their life they way they want, being rude, non-committed to work (many a time!), not caring for others in their field or about the nation.
Idolism is not just about clapping for your idol — n in case of their wrong-doing, castigating them. It’s also about learning from them, imbibing the qualities they stand for and propagate and much more.
So, to pounce up on a celebrity the moment they are in the wrong shoe/place is UTTER NONSENSE — and mainly, HYPOCRISY!!