Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Private Acts: The "allegations" raised in British "news stories" about "Prince Charles" has caused a bit of a "ruckus" -- even though people still aren't sure what the hubbub is about. British libel laws prevent newspapers from reporting on the unsubstantiated accusations about Prince Charles. But from what I could gather from The Daily Show on Comedy Central last night, somebody caught his Royal Highness in some homosexual act with a servant.

The titillating yet suppressed story has peaked the public's curiosity. But it bothers me that people pay so much attention to these things.

In America, too, we ravenously consume media reports that scour through politicians' sex lives. Yet, we also claim that we hold personal privacy in the highest regard.

We get upset if our government thumbs through the list of library books we checked out. We surely wouldn't want them peeking into our sex lives. But we beckon our media to routinely expose the sexual acts of government officials.

So here's a question: How can we expect politicians to respect our privacy when we never respect theirs?