Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: From Jan Bridge

Author:Kate Adams
Posted:12/15/1998; 1:48:35 PM
Topic:DaveNet comments
Msg #:1267 (In response to 1238)
Prev/Next:1266 / 1268

Hi,

Reading Dave's posting - and the replies - brought some new ideas to my mind (thanks for the great discussion).

Harassment -------

I'd almost forgotten that there was harassment involved in this issue and I wondered how that happened. Probably because the media focus was on Lewinski and Starr and Tripp, etc. The media convinced us to be upset because Clinton lied or "misled" us about a number of things. But as many people in this discussion have mentioned, that's par for the course for your average politician.

What's NOT par for the course is a person at that level being accussed of sexual harassment by several people. In my current thinking, that's what we should be angry about. As Dave points out, we have laws and rules in this area. Part of Starr's initial attempt was to get Clinton on those charges - that was worth an investigation and punishment, on a civil level at least.

Is it an impeachable offense? I don't know. We sometimes fire bosses who are accused of harassment. But most of the time we just reprimand them, at least the first time. Interesting.

It's too bad this escalated and turned into a media circus and - at least for me - confused the real issue at hand.

Misleading people --------------

Perhaps we should hold the Leader of The Free World to a higher standard that we hold ourselves, but think about all the things we mislead people about without a thought. A friend of mine doesn't want to tell men she meets that she's been married twice before. Another would rather die than admit he once got a DUI conviction. I sometimes avoid mentioning that part of me admires Dave Winer ;-)

High-tech is all about misleading people. My manager (VP of Marketing) in a company I just quit working for a couple of weeks ago used to happily announce "Wow, this product sure demos better than it really IS!". Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (not to mention, ugh, Larry Ellison) have made misleading people into an acceptable, appreciated art form.

Misleading people is human nature and occurs at all levels. Sometimes it is a form of contempt (in the world of business and politics), but at the personal level it is more often driven by simple guilt. When Clinton didn't tell his wife about Lewinski, I believe it wasn't because he contempted her. He knew he had done something very wrong and didn't want to cop to it.

I think Clinton DOES have a sense of morality; he just for whatever reasons has trouble doing the right thing *in his personal life*. He seems to be doing OK with his job, however. (Re: Jan's example - I don't think Bettie Curry, or anyone else on the Staff, ever feared going into work because of sexual harassement by Clinton!). And getting rid of Clinton would not keep the rest of the world from misleading people.

So I suppose I'm still for keeping the old pervert. Though I'd like to nail him on the harassment charges!

-Kate Adams

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