Dennis RomeroHere we are, on the Western cliff of this great democratic experiment we call America, where diversity, technology and new liberties (medical marijuana, for example), keep us on the utter edge of human evolution.
And we're obsessed with … a guy who had sex with the Guatemalan help.
Sure, it ain't cool, especially for a man who wasn't especially friendly to immigrants when he was in the governor's office. But, really, this is no big deal. Here's why:
We're still looking at a $10 billion deficit, more than one in ten people unemployed, and a horrific public schools system.
These are real issues.
The other woman and the house that Arnold reportedly bought for her.; Credit: E!
Focusing on Arnold Schwarzenegger's lady problems is provincial. While we're progressive in so many ways, Europe seems light years ahead of us in terms of focusing on real issues.
We're not going to apologize for Silvio Berlusconi or say we need more philanderers in office. But we have much bigger fish to fry. And the only reason legitimate publications like the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times even care about Arnold's love child is because he held the highest office in this great state.
But here's the thing, and we know we're going to get shit for saying it:
Powerful men screw around.
In fact, men in general screw around. The nature of a male is to spread his seed. Certainly, that's not productive for men in a committed relationship, or those with children and families. But that's the absolute biological truth.
It's utterly hypocritical for this land of progress to ignore the nature of men. The focus on a man's sexual wandering is almost bizarre in the face of much more important issues like allegedly bad people who could have been in prison walking the streets, higher education costs that are pricing the middle class out of the University of California, and K-12 schools you wouldn't want to send your worst enemy to.
Schwarzenegger's biggest failing wasn't in his home life. It was promising the people of California he'd do a better job than Gray Davis — that he, as an outsider, would fix the omnipresent deficit, make the Golden State a better place for business and kick the lobbyists out of the governor's office.
He didn't do any of that. He was full of shit. And we're all the worse for it.
Arnold screwed around. And he paid for it. Literally. He can afford it. It was his choice. Get over it, California.
It's one area where Europe and Latin America have it right. It's a non-issue.
[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]
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