Your first thought might be what has CanadianBullshit.com got to do with the
Spitzer case which is clearly a case of American not Canadian content. The
answer is simple. Nothing!
But the case does provide a textbook example of how the American
medium especially CNN handles a story. You couldn't ask for a
better example.
There seem to be three areas of focus for the story
- That Mr. Spitzer got caught with a hooker
- That Mr. Spitzer spent a whole lot of money on hookers
- That Mr. Spitzer is a hypocrite in that he
championed anti-crime and anti-prostitution in his public life and finally
- That Mrs. Spitzer, victim, is stoically standing by her man.
Now lets take another look at it. First of all from a Canadian perspective
previous Prime Minister Trudeau pointed out that “The
government has no place in the bedroom of Canadians.”
I can't speak for all Canucks but I think a
lot of us do hold this thought to be reasonable and true. In the Spitzer case the
media and fellow government office holders have stuck their snouts into
Mr. Spitzer's bedroom(s). They have reported some of what happened -
the juicy stuff- the stuff that sells papers and gets women's
rights groups enraged and the stuff that ruins careers and
destroys lives. They have painted Mr. Spitzer as the worst cad, the
most loathsome creature in the land the man who should be beaten to
a pulp in the media and tossed into the trash bin.
Unfortunately the facts as reported lead to
several questions.
1. Was anything illegal done?
2. Why did Mr. Spitzer spend so
much money on hookers?
3. Was Mr. Spitzer's wife frigid? (This
happens)
4 If this had been going on for some
time was Mr. Spitzer aware of it? (This happens too)
5. What was the state of the marriage
between Mr. and Mrs. Spitzer
6. How was Mr. Spitzer able to take so much
money out of family accounts without Mrs. Spitzer being aware
of it?
7. Given the established level of
conduct by politicians in American up to and including the President
of the United States how does this situation fit with the rest?
8. Who will benefit by Mr.
Spitzer's resignation?
9. Up to this point has Mr. Spitzer provided
well for his family and performed well as an elected government
official?
All of these questions and more are part of
the story but will they be investigated? Is it fair to just report on
salacious parts of the story that will sell papers and attract viewers and incite
water cooler talk? CNN thinks so. Do you?
I think there is an obvious reason why Mr.
Spitzer found it necessary to pay (a lot) for sex. Eliot is
not exactly what one might call a "chick magnet" Without the
blue power suit he sort of looks like a pencil necked geek. He looks like
a balding skinny runt with floppy ears not exactly your governator type
like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It seems that people just love stories where the hero rises
to the top and then gets beaten down to worse than rat shit. In the Roman
times they had the Christians being devoured by the Lions. In modern times
we pick on our politicians first elevating them to God like status and then
hurling all sorts of rotten vegetable matter at them when they make a
mistake.
Its an interesting comment on human nature -this need to
reduce things to a lower form. Unfortunately it does set off the
On a lighter note if it was me in Mr. Switzer's place and
the choice was between a $3400 hooker and a new set of 16.5 " tires and
some parts for my 28 year old dodge ex BC ambulance - I would wave at the
girlie and head for the tire shop! What a sweet ride she is! She has saved
thousands of lives in her day and is still chugging along strong. Like a
good Dodge should. And that's a 12 foot box in the back folks not one
of those wimpy 8 foot boxes you find on pickups. She
corners like a sports car and its a bit of a thrill every time you drive
someplace. And not only that she is GREEN and runs on environmentally correct
Propane! Ha! (Actually she is painted white eh)
Rons wonderful 1980 Dodge Ex BC Ambulance
Update
March 15, 2008 An entirely predictable thing
happened. As I thought the great unwashed interest in this unfortunate case
has focused on the juicy stuff in this case the hooker that Mr. Spitzer
hired. The depravity of the average person is reflected in the fact that the
hooker "Kirsten"became the fifth most searched item on Google. Like
that would happen eh?
"
Kristen"
is 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupré. I would still go for
the set of new tires but I can see how the Governator may have been
distracted because it appears that Miss Dupre may like boats. In my books
any women who likes boats is pretty cool. But getting back to my ex ambulance
the original 360 V8 was replaced with a rebuilt 318 which is still
surprisingly powerful with the 727 tranny and that sucker can actually burn
rubber on a moist pavement. When you punch it all that propane rushing past
the OHG mixer valve sounds like something serious is going to happen and it
does with a sudden increase in the rpm and the transmission downshifting and
the G forces as you get pushed back into your seat. If poor Mr.Spitzer had
only had the use of my ambulance for a few days he would have been happy and
content and not need any other excitement. But alas that is not the case and
I would not have loaned it to him anyway.
At this point you may be
wondering ...What just happened here? You were in the bullshit zone. Where
nothing is really what it seems. Who knew?
