Alan Dershowitz, the well-known Harvard Law School professor, offered his profound insight into the cause of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's (NY-D) very recent downfall: It's America's fault.
I happened to catch Mr. Dershowitz's comments this afternoon on MSNBC. He was interviewed by phone not 90 minutes (it was probably within the hour) after the New York Times broke the story of Spitzer's involvement with a high-society prostitution ring. In Huffington Post blogger Sam Stein's piece posted late today, we find a video link of Dershowitz's MSNBC appearance; Stein quotes Dershowitz saying that Spitzer's fall from grace is "a uniquely American story:"
"I feel terrible for Eliot and his family ... But I feel that this was a story that we have to put in perspective. Big deal. Married man goes to prostitute. In Europe, this wouldn't even make the back pages of the newspaper."
Amazing, no? America is to blame for Gov. Spitzer's political and moral decline, or so avers Mr. Dershowitz. After all, if America could only get over its moral archaisms; if it would just show the moral maturity of France or Italy, Spitzer would not be losing all his political capital in what is really, in the proper scheme of things, no "big deal."
In short, Spitzer is a victim.
To be honest, I am grateful Spitzer is not being accused of cannibalism, for surely the American outcry would be just as embarrassing. Everybody knows eating one's neighbors is not newsworthy among certain tribes in Papua New Guinea.
Consider it another victory for European moral hegemony. And to think America is considered imperialistic, imposing its standards on the world.
©Bill Gnade 2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2008
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