A Quiet Sunday
7 hours ago
Saturday, November 17, 2012
current events
So I usually avoid commenting on current events, and maybe everyone's tired of this by now but all the hoopla about Petraeus just leaves me saying what the fuck???
He's a MAN!!!
MEN CHEAT!!!
So do WOMEN!!!
OK. Enough with the exclamation points.
I was bouncing around Blogland and came upon Mama D who had something to say about it.
She's not alone in her opinion.
Why is it that people expect men who are in positions of power to have more "moral fortitude" than men who are let's say... laborers?
Or teachers, or doctors, or drug dealers, or garbage picker uppers?
It seems to me that Powerful Men might be even more likely to stray, because as you know, it's all about the woolly mammoth. Not that Powerful Men are more vain, more selfish, or more likely to believe the rules do not apply, but if a man has the genetic make-up to become King of the World, wouldn't nature and evolution want that DNA to carry on?
Survival of the Fittest and all that stuff?
And women are attracted to power. It's just the way it is.
It makes for stronger babies and more security and more woolly mammoth steaks and woolly mammoth blankets.
Over at Denise in Margaritaville it's all about hormone induced fidelity today.
The only thing oxytocin ever did for me was make my milk let down and my uterus contract.
Which I guess are both things that would immediately deter me from having sex with other men.
I'm thinking there are as many explanations for infidelity as there are colors in the big crayola box.
And we are all assholes at least once in our lives. Humans have assholes.
We also have whole souls that can manifest devotion, honesty, loyalty, respect, and love.
This Huffington Post piece makes the most sense to me.
I don't feel outrage on behalf of Mrs Petraeus. I can't claim to be glad or relieved that she's "furious" rather than stoically standing by her man. That shit is between the two of them.
To quote my brother-in-law, no one on the outside can ever really know what holds a marriage together or breaks it apart.
I think it's fucked up that the guy had to resign over it.
Who I have sex with has absolutely no bearing on how I do my job.
Just sayin'
And my guess is Mrs. Petraeus will remain Mrs. Petraeus.
I could be wrong.
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Good post, Michelle. I am with you.
ReplyDeleteI wish sex could be eliminated as a subject in politics. Totally irrelevant.
Precisely the point of the Saletan quote! We are seeing evolution in action here. And I'm not advocating holding people in power to a higher standard than anyone else...just pointing out that the powerful are more likely (paradoxically) to think they can pull something like this off without being found out. As you point out, what keeps people in a marriage is between the two of them. Maybe she will remain Mrs. P. Maybe she knew about the affair, or even sanctioned it. Who knows. But I feel for her...this public humiliation must be a bitter blow.
ReplyDeleteWe of Puritan/outlaw stock her in the good ol' USA are obsessed with sex and morality. I agree that people should not lose jobs over whom they sleep with as long as the bedding involves consenting adults---and no power plays with subordinates. But I am betting, that because there is money to be made, there could quite well be a drug offered up for sale. I just wish I could be around when they choose the name. "Dick-i-talis?" "Prozip?"
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Mama D, maybe she did sanction it--silently or not. There was so much cheating in a certain someone's workplace, I have to think that some of those wives just looked the other way. And yes, even a not-entirely-public humiliation is akin to walking around for months with vomit in your mouth.
If our culture was just a little more understanding of it all- like the French? But we pretend to be all freaked out to discover that some man in power had a lady on the side. Or, maybe we ARE freaked out.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so humiliating to the wife involved it seems to me. But that is not a reason for a person to lose a job.
You make an excellent point. I would add that character and power do not always (any maybe rarely) go together.
ReplyDeleteso nice to see your post, and hear your voice.
ReplyDeleteI read this article on slate, and it really made me sad about the entire hoopla:
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/11/the_petraeus_scandal_on_base_what_military_spouses_say_about_infidelity.html
hugs to you
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the big hoopla was that he was schtupping a news reporter while he was in a position of power and ...somehow... she had all these classified documents.
ReplyDeleteAlso:
http://gawker.com/5960199/the-petraeus-affair-explained-as-high-school-gossip-omg-this-david-and-paula-stuff-is-going-to-ruin-graduation
-Nephew Alek
sooooo, the conspiracy theorist in me goes in another direction, like, didn't patraeus have a lot to do with security at that mission in benghazi, and isn't it convenient that a "good" excuse comes along for him to have to step down from his job, and could it all be smoke and mirrors and diversion?
ReplyDeleteas for that evolution in action, thing, i totally get that. i guess that's why i'm happy to be married to a man who's content in his science research lab with no desire to be king of the world. those king of the world types never stay; i figured that out from the get. i was fortunate enough that my first bf was a king of the world type, and he cheated left and right, and i thought, well, damn, i'd rather be alone that feel this pain, and it cured me of kings forever more.
i love your attitude in this post. i love your attitude, period. xo