Corrupt Power, and Our Attraction to It

This week witnessed two powerful men whose personal lives were exposed to the public spotlight. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF and a potential French presidential candidate, faces many counts of sexual crimes. His political career is all but ruined. On the other side of the nation, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems unable to extricate his marriage from media attention, and now the tabloids will be running with details about his child with his housekeeper. Who knows whether the terminator has surfaced too early for Arnold.

Let's not forget that these cases are not atypical. The French, after all, have built a stereotype in promiscuity and sexual indiscretion by their politicians hardly seems news to the French people. Likewise, adultery today probably is a widespread phenomenon, especially among the rich and glamorous. I do not want to ingrain these stereotypes or argue that they are pervasive, but merely wish to point out that what happened should not surprise us.


In fact, our obsession with the rich and powerful and the media's role in reinforcing that obsession has created what we face today. Despite our better senses, we glamorize the rich and powerful to hide our own fears and vices. When they prosper, such as winning elections or propelling the stock market, we elevate them on a pedestal. When they fall, such as immersing in sex scandals, we throw them under a microscope. Unlike a scientist whose microscopic lens helps to define the resolution of the specimen, our lens blurs the problems of the rich and powerful and keeps us blind from our personal turmoils and sins.