The Pants Of Power

There is no need for you Bible scholars to check.

I am fairly certain that my name is not mentioned in the Bible. But I am just as certain that if it was it would be in the final chapter Revelations. It would be included as an ominous warning of the impending end of times and as a sign of the arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It would read something like “Verily I say unto thee that when Big Frick becomes the moral compass for a great nation you can kisseth your taileth goodbyeth.”

I am not a prude and I am certainly not a saint. I understand that there are situations and circumstances that lead people to do things that are not within the socially acceptable norm. But this whole David Letterman thing has me confused and perhaps even more than that concerned.

Letterman got caught dipping his pen in the company ink well having had sex with a number of his employees. I don’t know the details nor do I care to learn them. I don’t know if they occurred before or after he got married or both. I didn’t watch his show because quite frankly he has become an incredible bore, but from what I have read about his less than remorseful admission and apology I can only assume it was the latter.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger nailed it when he said “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”. That’s what this all comes down to. Letterman had the power and he used it his advantage over those he had power over. I’m not saying that the women he had the affairs with were innocent bystanders. But when you head up a major corporation like Letterman’s World Wide Pants, and are paid hundreds of millions of dollars to not only entertain but run that company, you are going to be held to a higher standard.

Letterman is human and is certainly entitled to the compassion of forgiveness for human mistakes. But that is not what I am seeing. Instead what I am seeing is a complete disregard of any guilt and instead the framing of Letterman as the victim.

There is no one coming out and saying that what Letterman did was even distasteful. It is as if this is the new standard. When asked for a comment Dick Cavett replied in writing saying "To me, it seems Dave Letterman's handling of this is impeccable. Brave, direct, and — dare I say it? — manly. He has set a real example here of exactly how to behave when assaulted in such a sleazy operation."

Impeccable, brave, direct and manly in the face of an assault. Wow!

If it was just the Letterman incident that received such a yawn from feminist women’s groups like NOW and the public in general I would be disappointed with the obvious degeneration of moral standards in this country. But when you couple Letterman’s love fest with the overwhelming support of Roman Polanski in his battle to avoid sentencing for drugging and having sex with a 13 year old, the complete disregard conservatives paid to Bill O’Reily when he paid millions to an employee he had been sexually harassing, the seeming total forgiveness of the sleazeball Woody Allen who had a sexual relationship with his adopted daughter before marrying her, and the liberal disregard for a President of the United States who carried on a perverse sexual relationship in the oval office with a cherubic intern I have to say that we may indeed be seeing the beginning of the end of a great nation.

There is definitely something wrong when the vast majority of the population is comfortable with nothing being considered wrong. Every great civilization collapsed under the weight of its own moral failures long before they were defeated by invading outsiders.

If you want to say that Letterman should be forgiven and allowed the opportunity to learn from his sordid past, I’m on board. If you want to say that this is a private matter and should be left to Letterman and his wife to sort out, I’m good with that too. But if you want me to believe that this is somehow acceptable behavior and that it doesn’t matter, well, that’s where I get off the bus.

Letterman has some explaining to do at home and to the other members of his World Wide Pants family. It would be far better for all concerned if he kept them pulled up in the future.