politics scandal and society
...endings. Profumo lost not only his high class profession but his public respect and pride also suffered. Keeler was sent to prison on account of unrelated perjury charges and was sentenced to nine months in Halloway prison and Ward was prosecuted for living on immoral earnings, which he received from Mandy Rice-Davis. After the results of the inquiry lead by Lord Denning lead to him blaming Ward for the security leaks during the war and due to the pressure and guilt he felt, he later committed suicide on the 3rd August. Politics has become an ever growing for study and so there have been numerous political theories put forward by various theorists. These include the Subversive theory, the Distraction theory and Thompson’s theory of symbolic capital. A main political theorist is John Stuart Mills. Mills was born in London and endured a rigorous childhood ringing as a child. Therefore it became no surprise that he grew up to become one of the most credited political theorists. Mills wrote a book entitled “On Liberty”. He believed the limit of power society had over an individual could be legitimately exercised. One of Mills’ main arguments was based on his ‘harm principle’. Mill’s argued the only occasion by which power could be justifiably used over a member of society, was to prevent others from harm. One may therefore not use their power for political gain as it would conflict with the ‘harm principle’. This theory coincides with the Profumo affair. Based on Mills’ liberation theory Profumo would be seen to be a political unconformity. This is due to Profumo’s use of his political means to gain success i.e. he used his high position within the government to seduce his mistress, Keeler and successfully carryout an affair for several weeks without anyone’s knowledge. He also failed to correspond with Mills’ theory as he did not fulfil his public duties as Secretary of State for War, which lead to the concerns of the general public remaining unanswered. This was due to his attention being placed on the media coverage of his affair. The media plays a vital part in the publication of scandals an depending on which angle they choose to portray, they can have an either positive or negative influence on public thinking and thus the affects can either be beneficial or cause a fatal downfall for politicians who are in the media limelight. For Profumo the media was a great cause for a fatal downfall as the media coverage he received was mostly negative. They caused Profumo great cause for concern as they brought his once hidden affair into the public light. The media slaughtered Profumo for his affair with his mistress Keeler. One of their unforgettable tactics was to place a picture of Keeler naked lying spread across a chair and needless to say this became quite the ironic picture for the free loving sixties. To some members of society, in the 1960’s, media reports were so heavily regarded it was almost as though they were passages out of the Bible. It was quite common for those in lower classes to depend on the media so heavily. Although the sixties was an era were liberation played an important role and women’s movements began to rise, most conservative ideas remained in context. This is due to the fact that Britain was under a conservative utilitarian government and so when the public were made aware of Profumo’s affair it was no surprise that it became a public outrage. Due to the amount of media coverage a politician receives, it is justifiably clear that they wish to keep their private lives private. The media is free to print whatever information it unearths or receives from other sources, be it private or not. Therefore there has been an ongoing debate as to whether or not politicians should have the right to keep their private lives to themselves or is it the publics right as a nation to know all there is to know about someone who is going to have an extremely large impact on how they live their lives and how their country is governed. Political scandals as we are aware take various forms, however it is usually those of sexual misconduct that encourage a heightened response from the public. This for a politician is an inevitable political downfall as often the public can overreact and it is not uncommon for a politician to therefore face criminal prosecution. This is due to, at the time of the Profumo affair, to the shared conservative norms and values that the public were forced to conform to, under a conservative regime. Another factor that contributes to the hyperbole caused by media, of scandals is the fact that the sexual scandals that some politicians indulge in can potentially influence credibility tests for aspiring political leaders. Not only is their potential credibility issues for potential candidates, but those who are involved in the scandal for e.g. Profumo, can encounter a high risk of a drop in public trust and their character can be placed under great scrutiny, which is fatal for anyone’s position. However it must be taken into account that the media can be an unreliable source as their reports are quite often seen to be running commentaries instead of fact and it is not uncommon for journalists to use second hand sources to report the news, especially if they are placed under pressure to do so, due to a heightened scandal. These instances have revolved around various scandals, but on scandal in particular that evidence was found t o prove the misconduct of the press was the 1998 Monica gate affair. Within the first week of the Clinton VS Lewinsky saga, it was discovered that over 41% of reported statements that came from journalists were commentary rather that fact. This high level of commentary rather than reporting fact ran for the duration of the case, even though there were resources available that were fact and could have easily have been reported. This shows that although people may regard the media as a high source, it is true when they say, ‘you can not always believe what you read’. Therefore should we start to question the amount of trust that we place on the media or should we maintain judgement and place al our trust onto politicians, as it appears that regardless of what they do the media often has a grim picture to portray. Therefore it is clear to see why there pubic private debate which politics causes controversy, as not only can it lead to the downfall of the individual themselves but it has a ripple effect on allied MPs, the government and the future candidates who hope to successfully run for government. Considering scandals have become such a widely covered subject it comes to no surprise that most have similarities and differences. In particular the Profumo affair can be linked with various other scandals. Firstly Monicagate has numerous similarities that can be made in conjunction with the Profumo affair. Monicagate refers to the infamous affair between President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. This affair shock the American nation in a state of disbelieve that their beloved President could commit such an unrighteous act. Therefore it can come to no surprise that Clinton’s affair lead to his political downfall. The similarities between these two scandals are the fact that both politicians held high ranks within their governments, both had sexual affairs on their wives, both initially denied their affairs and due to those affairs both men were forced to resign, Profumo did so willingly, whilst Clinton was impeached by the American Government. The main difference that these two scandals have is the fact that Profumo's scandal but a complete stop to his career and he lost all the trust and respect that the public an his peers had for him, yet today in the eyes of some of the American nation, he is adored, as they have clearly seen through his mistake and have given hi...