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Jewish World Review June 10, 2011 / 8 Sivan, 5771 An Exhibitionist in an Exhibitionist Age By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
A paradigm shift is defined as a new way of thinking, driven by an agent of change. The Anthony Weiner scandal is the latest evidence that America has experienced two paradigm shifts, brought about by the same agent of change. The agent of change is the internet and, by extension, the explosion of technological devices which facilitate its access. The paradigm shifts? An unprecedented level of exhibitionism demonstrated by a society which used to prize privacy; and the rise of an alternate media that can successfully counter the established one.
If one imagines the efforts Anthony Weiner had to undertake to get to this point in time, it only serves to underscore paradigm shift number one. Before Weiner could post lewd photos of himself on the internet, it was necessary to take the pictures in the first place. The most infamous one (so far), that of an erect member hidden by gray underwear, necessitated arousing himself in some manner, pointing a camera at his crotch and snapping away. The picture then had to be uploaded to the internet, and the address of a recipient (or several recipients) had to be added to the mix. At that point, a conscious decision had to be made to execute the send command of whatever device was being used to disseminate the information.
Why is this incident considered a scandal? It certainly isn't due to the fact that what the Congressman did was a societal anomaly. In fact this type of self-perpetrated exhibitionism is now such an integral part of the American ethos, it has spawned a vocabulary word to describe it. "Sexting" has become so prevalent that, in 2009, approximately 20 percent of teenagers admitted they engaged in the practice of sending nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves over the internet, according to the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
And where do a lot of those photos end up? On the website that is a monument to America's shift away from privacy towards exhibitionism: Facebook. How culturally influential is Facebook? As of the beginning of this year, the site had 600 million-plus monthly active users, a number that is twice the entire population of the United States. Twitter, the website site that Mr. Weiner used to send his photos, as well as sexually suggestive messages, boasts a user baseof 200 million, although there is some dispute about what constitutes "active" users. And then there is YouTube, the site where one can post original video content, which has more than 400 million unique visitors per month.
Facebook was created in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006. (MySpace, which has largely declined in popularity, was created in 2003). Thus, the phenomenon which allows for cultural exhibitionism is relatively new. More importantly, and perhaps the primary reason such sites are expanding exponentially, is that they are egalitarian. Anyone with a modicum of technological knowhow can now reach unprecedented numbers of people with little or no expense involved. If one considers the fact that most people desire, at the very least, to be recognized and far more likely to be famous the attraction of social networking websites becomes irresistible.
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Yet the choices also reveal a rising level of unrealism as well. If one studies hard and applies oneself, careers in teaching, banking/finance and medicine are quite possible to attain. Becoming a professional athlete, pop star or actor requires enormous reservoirs of talent and/or luck. Since most people eventually have to deal with the fact that they're not going to be famous in the traditional sense, it is likely that social networking sites are seen as the next best thing.
Yet there is downside to such exhibitionism. While many social network users would like to think their tweets or other postings will remain private, simply because they have installed some sort of protection on their personal sites, they remain vulnerable to hacking. A leading online security firm reported that more than 40 percent of social network users have fallen victims to scams or had been sent malware. Such hacking can lead to serious problems, such as the dissemination of previously private material to millions of users, the creation of false information, or identity theft. Furthermore, each of these sites have been vulnerable to sexual predators, and thousands of these predators have been purged from each site over the years. New York state led the way in formally addressing the issue, passing the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act in 2008 (e-STOP) which has led to the removal of 24,000 social networking accounts and profiles linked to registered sex offenders.
Which brings us to the thorny aspect of Anthony Weiner's current situation. During his press conference on Tuesday, in which he finally admitted that he was behind the sexting messages sent from his account, he was unable to say with certainty how old the recipients were, contending that "to the best of my knowledge....I didn't have the sense that they were complete strangers...they are people I have developed relationships with online."
What if they're not of age? Will Mr. Weiner be forced to register as a sex offender? It is worth remembering he has said he will not resign because he contends that government resources were not used to sends the messages, nor did he break any House of Representatives rules or laws. "My home computer is usually where I did these things, said Weiner. "Nothing about this should reflect on my official duties or my time in office."
Will an investigation be forthcoming? The answer to that question is a convenient segue into the second paradigm shift which has occurred in the last few years: the rise of the alternative media. Perhaps nothing illuminates the contrast better than this exchange between mainstream media correspondent Matt Lauer, who co-hosts NBC's Today Show, and Andrew Breitbart who runs several new media websites, including BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com. Lauer questioned whether Breitbart's breaking of the story, which had earned him considerable scorn from the traditional media, violated conservative values which Lauer posited as not wanting "government in people's bedrooms." Breitbart demonstrated the inanity of such a question. "I'm not the government. You know, he tweeted to, you know, 45,000 people that image. A person sent it to me. I can't think of a world in which that isn't news," he responded.
Yet other than at Beitbart's BigGovernment.com website, it wasn't news. In ten days worth of interviews, every other media outlet was willing to buy Weiner's story that his account was "hacked," even as some were speculating that Breibart himself was the hacker. Nor is this first time Breitbart has scooped a mainstream media more than willing to ignore a big story. It was Breitbart who exposed the ACORN scandal, NPR's willingness to take funds from a Muslim front group, and the scam perpetrated by racial racketeers with respect to the Pigford Farmer scandal. Perhaps it is nothing more than a coincidence that each of these stories reveals corruption by reliably progressive constituencies.
Or perhaps not.
The next logical step for those who consider themselves investigative journalists would be to ascertain the ages of the women Mr. Weiner sexted. If even one of them turns out to be underage, Anthony's progressive apologists along with addled Beltway conservatives such as Charles Krauthammer, who think Republicans should "lay off" might be forced to re-consider. It is worth remembering six-term Florida Congressman Mark Foley resigned after sexting an underage former male page.
Weiner? Even if the scandal is just what it is now which, since I began writing this column, has been updated to include coaching at least of one the recipients to lie, Anthony has indicated he's determined to brazen it out and remain in Congress. Maybe so, but I'm betting that once Mr. Weiner realizes how this affects him going forward, the former high-profile, stand-before-the-cameras-and-pontificate point man for the Democrats will eventually be done in by the one thing that people like him can't stomach:
Democrat Party-enforced obscurity.
In the age of exhibitionism, it's a fate worse than death.
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© 2011, Arnold Ahlert |
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