Foley: A Feeding Frenzy With A Little Something For Everyone
Megan Donovan
October 10, 2006
I applaud the growing success of all those dedicated to pushing the boundaries of just how sickened we can be by scandal.
When the Foley story broke, I gasped, was glued to the initial reports and I even plead guilty to - somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind - whispering "thank heavens it was a Republican". When my political knee jerk reaction was over, I settled somewhere between a need for justice and a hope for decorum. I don't fully understand the need to make a disgraceful situation worse.
If this was ignored, then those who did so for political (or any other) reasons should be held accountable. A bipartisan Congressional investigation has been launched. That may or may not weed out any alleged cover-up. The FBI will (finally) perform an investigation and FDLE will investigate it from a state standpoint. Those are the methods we have available to us ferret out any wrong doing and punish it. Is that good enough for us? Of course not.
We need to read all of these emails and IM messages. Where ever we click, every lurid detail is available to us in downloadable PDF. When did it become acceptable that the public peruse evidence of a possible crime before an investigation could be completed?
Right now, Foley is an alleged criminal perpetrator. I say alleged because whether this rises to the level of a crime remains to be seen. At the very least, he is perverse, reckless and despicable.
Right now, the young man who had been a Congressional Page and the recipient of the Foley messages is an alleged victim.
Both have rights.
As far as Foley goes: I will win no popularity contests by saying this. A few of my fellow Democrats who scream about prisoner torture and degrading treatment should apply some of that diplomacy here at home when they are deciding just how deep the degradation to Foley should be. I am beginning to think some will not be satisfied until the man attempts suicide. He should and will pay for this act without any self-righteous outcries for a lynching.
And the young man. Did ABC mistakenly show his screen name? I am not too sure of that. An atrocious error or error in judgment. That was furthered to an astonishing extent when "Wild Bill" of Passionate America blog ran with it. While I suppose I should be impressed by Wild Bill's sleuthing, I am appalled at his irresponsible decision to publish the young man's personal information. I saw a statement from Wild Bill on a video clip he provides on his blog where he says "it's coming out today that he [the young page] was not a victim" Oh really? You have that all figured out Wild Bill? Well thank you because we were all just waiting to hear from the reigning authority on criminality in this case...Wild Bill. Someone let Congress and the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement know they can just stop their investigations - Wild Bill of Passionate America blog has concluded the matter!
The actions taken by Passionate America blog may well be illegal (that is now being looked into). If not, it was at the very least a gross violation of privacy and plows right over all lines of human decency. Wild Bill / Passionate America have caused irreparable harm to the alleged victim and endangered him as well.
It's inexcusable to assume this kind of entitlement. We are not entitled to run rampant doing whatever we please to destroy the lives of those who find themselves in the eye of the media. It's obscene, what we are willing to do to other people in our desperate devouring of scandal.
Who has a more perverse need for the "dirty", "naughty" or "salacious"? Someone like Foley? Or the masses who would forever delight in sucking every morsel of it from their fingertips?
When the Foley story broke, I gasped, was glued to the initial reports and I even plead guilty to - somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind - whispering "thank heavens it was a Republican". When my political knee jerk reaction was over, I settled somewhere between a need for justice and a hope for decorum. I don't fully understand the need to make a disgraceful situation worse.
If this was ignored, then those who did so for political (or any other) reasons should be held accountable. A bipartisan Congressional investigation has been launched. That may or may not weed out any alleged cover-up. The FBI will (finally) perform an investigation and FDLE will investigate it from a state standpoint. Those are the methods we have available to us ferret out any wrong doing and punish it. Is that good enough for us? Of course not.
We need to read all of these emails and IM messages. Where ever we click, every lurid detail is available to us in downloadable PDF. When did it become acceptable that the public peruse evidence of a possible crime before an investigation could be completed?
Right now, Foley is an alleged criminal perpetrator. I say alleged because whether this rises to the level of a crime remains to be seen. At the very least, he is perverse, reckless and despicable.
Right now, the young man who had been a Congressional Page and the recipient of the Foley messages is an alleged victim.
Both have rights.
As far as Foley goes: I will win no popularity contests by saying this. A few of my fellow Democrats who scream about prisoner torture and degrading treatment should apply some of that diplomacy here at home when they are deciding just how deep the degradation to Foley should be. I am beginning to think some will not be satisfied until the man attempts suicide. He should and will pay for this act without any self-righteous outcries for a lynching.
And the young man. Did ABC mistakenly show his screen name? I am not too sure of that. An atrocious error or error in judgment. That was furthered to an astonishing extent when "Wild Bill" of Passionate America blog ran with it. While I suppose I should be impressed by Wild Bill's sleuthing, I am appalled at his irresponsible decision to publish the young man's personal information. I saw a statement from Wild Bill on a video clip he provides on his blog where he says "it's coming out today that he [the young page] was not a victim" Oh really? You have that all figured out Wild Bill? Well thank you because we were all just waiting to hear from the reigning authority on criminality in this case...Wild Bill. Someone let Congress and the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement know they can just stop their investigations - Wild Bill of Passionate America blog has concluded the matter!
The actions taken by Passionate America blog may well be illegal (that is now being looked into). If not, it was at the very least a gross violation of privacy and plows right over all lines of human decency. Wild Bill / Passionate America have caused irreparable harm to the alleged victim and endangered him as well.
It's inexcusable to assume this kind of entitlement. We are not entitled to run rampant doing whatever we please to destroy the lives of those who find themselves in the eye of the media. It's obscene, what we are willing to do to other people in our desperate devouring of scandal.
Who has a more perverse need for the "dirty", "naughty" or "salacious"? Someone like Foley? Or the masses who would forever delight in sucking every morsel of it from their fingertips?