John Chang (
Behind every scandal there seems to be an invisible political hand. This hand sometimes spearheads the development of scandals and sometimes plays a secondary role.
While it is easy to take the offensive over matters in the public domain, it is harder to defend one's personal life from intrusions and invasions. Therefore, people alternate between making attacks over others public and personal lives.
Sometimes professional ethics are considered indicators of personal characters, sometimes personal characters are used to attack the professional ethics of others. A closer look will reveal that all of these are simply campaign strategies.
As the presidential election evolves, the line between private and public lives appears to be blurring.
Busting your spouse in the act of adultery, getting a divorce and having extra-marital affairs used to be things done behind closed doors. Now, these are open for public scrutiny and people's professional and public lives are inescapably intertwined.
It now appears that if you go to bed with someone else's wife, then you are incapable of managing a business. And if it is too humiliating to be having marital problems because of your extra-marital affairs, then simply say the problems are simply due to a misunderstanding between you and your wife over a business deal.
The explanations offered by your opponent about his bank accounts are simply beyond anyone's comprehension. Don't jump for joy just yet. Your own skeletons are being dug up.
Time after time, elections have made us lose our innocence. We no longer believe that that anyone would expose a scandal out of a sense of justice. We are being forced to look for signs and clues of political manipulation everywhere.
Love is no longer simply affection between two people. Instead, love is overshadowed by manipulation and schemes.
Why is it more and more people are incapable of facing reality when love is over?
Maybe it is because too many social leaders like to get to the bottom of things and expose forces working behind the scenes. They cannot convince themselves that marital problems happen when love is gone or when one side has simply changed his or her heart. I wonder what kind of treacherous and conniving scheme do you expect to uncover from these scandals?
We never had the chance to learn to face the coming and going of love. Once love is gone, we have to look for all kinds of reasons. No, no, someone has to be masterminding the whole scandal, someone has to be giving instructions about what to do, or someone is trying to frame me.
People cannot look at affairs of the heart without suspicion. Passion and love have become instruments for politicians.
In this political atmosphere where morals have long been gone from the center of attention, ethics have become the most powerful attack weapon.
Pong Shein is the chief editor of the China Times.
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