Social Media Case 7

Being in the public eye can mean your every move will be scrutinized. If you are in a position where you know people are going to be watching you, you have to be very careful about what you do and say. I think this is especially true if you are in politics because not only are people going to be carefully watching you, there are those people who are going to be watching specifically for mistakes. I feel like we live in a society where the higher your reputation, the harder you have to fall. I think this is the case with Anthony Weiner.

He was in a high position of power by being a Democratic representative. Because he had such a big reputation he had a lot to lose, and that he did. When he was investigated and later charged for texting explicit images of himself to a young woman who was a minor, he lost everything. You can read about his court case here. It details what happened, and how the sentencing was judged. Not only did he lose his position, his wife filed for divorce, he was sent to prison, and had to be registered as a sex offender.

At first he denied what he had done, but the truth eventually came out. I think that although he eventually came clean to what he had sent, the damage was already done. When I hear about a public figure denying any sort of scandal and trying their best to cover it up, only to realize they can’t so they tell the truth, I tend to not accept their apologies. To me it seems that they are not remorseful about what they did, they are remorseful about being caught. Anthony had several cases of sexting scandals  and only after he realized he was going to be charged did he stop denying what he had done and start apologizing. When your every move is being watched, I do not think trying to hide what you have done will do you any favors. It will only make you seem guiltier.