Dynasty and Politics

The Kennedys were lucky. In the 60’s,there were one millionth the number of media outlets than there are now. If a story is not covered in the here and now,everything later becomes conjecture and speculation,and

entirely refutable. In the days before 24-hour news television and pre-Internet,scandals could never create the outrage they do now: previously unsullied reputations can come hopelessly undone in 140 characters or less. In today’s environment,the Kennedys wouldn’t have lasted a week in the

White House.

Two very different scandals are in the news right now,including a sex CD of a nurse from Rajasthan,Bhanwari Devi,allegedly cavorting with a Congress minister,Mahipal Maderna,that’s doing the rounds. Till Saturday afternoon,the video had a 1,000 hits on YouTube. The other is the first big sleaze story of the 2012 American Presidential campaign,where Republican hopeful Herman Cain has been accused by four women of

harassing them.

In India,luckily for our politicians,somebody has to vanish in mysterious circumstances for a sex scandal to make it to prime time news. Immoral conduct,alone,doesn’t make the headlines. (Besides the case of the 86-year-old politician ND Tiwari,who looks more like a benign grandfather than a frolicking Casanova. He had to resign after a channel aired a video of his sexual escapades,but that’s been quickly forgotten since.) We don’t have particularly high standards for our politicians since we’re too busy seething with rage at daily problems like bijli,paani and corruption. Kiran Bedi fudging travel bills is a far bigger issue for us. Who cares about anybody’s bedroom exploits? Of course,that’s only till somebody is suspected of murder,when again,it becomes a battle of the rich and powerful versus the poor and vulnerable.

There’s nothing more entertaining than a good old-fashioned sex scandal involving people in power. It’s a reminder that no one’s infallible and the people in power are not necessarily smarter than the people they seek to rule. In the digital age,the only way to remain scandal free,is to abstain,because media scrutiny is bound to get you at some point. And thank god for that.

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