What is with the recent spate of men acting inappropriately (i.e. screwing around) that has been making the news?

Random chance, kind of like people saying celebrities die in sets of three.

I’m sure many people are messing around, but for most, getting caught only means the spouse is upset. Very few people are in positions in the public eye where their private behavior gets them in trouble with their jobs.

Still, if you are in the public eye, I would imagine that fooling around might be more difficult, because you have less time. That would mean you have to take more risks in order to get together with your paramour, and thus it might increase the chances you would be caught.

Then again, the common wisdom is that you will always be caught. So don’t do it unless you are prepared for the consequences. But I guess there’s a difference between the knowledge you will get caught and actually getting caught.

But we like our public figures to be role models, so it is really bad when they behave badly. Badly, that is, according to the prevailing notions of morality. Plus people love scandal. I think it lets them take heroes off the pedestal and feel better about themselves, especially if they are cheating, too. They can tell themselves that even the high and mighty fool around, so they really aren’t doing something that bad, after all.

Bread and circuses for the masses; it distracts from the solving of our very real problems.

Yeah, it makes people feel involved and important if they can collectively point fingers and call names. It’s teamwork, really. :)

What @janbb said. These “stories” are no more news than the fact that I had a slice of mushroom pizza yesterday for lunch.

Unfortunately, men (and women) have been doing that forever. It’s just that now we hear about it more because that kind of “news” is in demand.

Why is it “unfortunate,” @JustPlainBarb?

@tom_g I should make another question where we all discuss you and your slice of pizza.

Let’s not forget the travesty in the football program in Pennsylvania. Or Congress members or conservative preachers on the far right who turn out to be gay.

As mentioned, what makes it newsworthy is that these ‘leaders’ really do think they can get away in it. In the UK, if you have £100,000, you can get aspects of your life completely off bounds to the media.

None of this should be in the news. If an affair is going to be broadcast, it should be because the spouse put a big sign in the yard saying her husband (wife) is screwing around, or she is yelling it from the rooftops. But, completely and only up to the spouse. Unless it is a politican or vocal person who has spoken out against others who have cheated or are gay, etc. Then they are fair game, and should be outed.

I blame the religious right wing for making cheating a public issue. Their hypocrisy on the topic, their desire to equate unfaithfulness to a spouse to not being able to do a job well, it is a case of thou doth protest too much, and the publics desire to see other people’s lives turn into trian wrecks, has led to this mess.

@ro_in_motion – good point, forgot about the Penn State embarrassment.

What the world needs is a couple of good juicy salacious scandals that are caused by powerful women! That would be entertaining.

Sensationalism, as always.
I am one though that does believe, like being only a “little” pregnant, that there is no such thing as being a little dishonest, or cheating a little. You’re either honest or you are not.
If one can lie and cheat in one area of their life it does open the door to being duplicitous in other circumstances as well.

If you don’t care enough about your own integrity and that of your family you sure as hell aren’t going to care about integrity in your work or other relationships either, even though it is none of our business what others choose to do.

In most cases that someone is cheating is not my business. It could only be my business if it affects me and by that I mean I am closely involved with one of the participants or if it involves a public official, that their decisions are affected by their inappropriate behaviour in some way. Mostly though, no. Between them and their partners.

It would be different if the person was involved in criminal activity and especially violent behaviour. For instance, we have coverage in the news this morning about football players who have been suspended after physically abusing women. Two players have been suspended by the National Rugby League (NRL) commission because of domestic violence situations. The attitude of the NRL is that they will not tolerate this sort of behaviour. This is a good thing and the broadcasting of such decisions is important because it sends out a message about violence against women I think.