Setting aside the debatable moral ethic of maintaining a public façade of virtue and purity, this strikes me as a possible abuse of the 1st Amendment by the Richland County sheriff, who may well have leaked the photo to the press in an effort to drum up additional evidence. While PhotoShop may be at play here, I don't really see a real issue here as all parties are making a good show of fulfilling their roles: Press reporting, Police fighting crime, and Phelps' handlers are also doing their best to minimize the impact of the incident by touting his renewed commitment to purpose. I mean, he did apologize, didn't he?
Everyone makes mistakes, but our social mores inspire a commerce of indignation by pursuing all drug and sex acts as equally transgressive under the right circumstances. Now that I think about it, I suppose there are questions about "responsibilities" that may be posed: e.g., responsibility of the press, responsibility of law enforcement, responsibility of celebrity. However, such questions only serve to erode expectations. As long as all parties serve their roles to the best of their abilities, I see no harm done at the end of the day.
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Setting aside the debatable moral ethic of maintaining a public façade of virtue and purity, this strikes me as a possible abuse of the 1st Amendment by the Richland County sheriff, who may well have leaked the photo to the press in an effort to drum up additional evidence. While PhotoShop may be at play here, I don't really see a real issue here as all parties are making a good show of fulfilling their roles: Press reporting, Police fighting crime, and Phelps' handlers are also doing their best to minimize the impact of the incident by touting his renewed commitment to purpose. I mean, he did apologize, didn't he?
Everyone makes mistakes, but our social mores inspire a commerce of indignation by pursuing all drug and sex acts as equally transgressive under the right circumstances.
Now that I think about it, I suppose there are questions about "responsibilities" that may be posed: e.g., responsibility of the press,
responsibility of law enforcement,
responsibility of celebrity.
However, such questions only serve to erode expectations. As long as all parties serve their roles to the best of their abilities, I see no harm done at the end of the day.
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