Have you no shame, Sir?

Right, there is only so much I can take, and I lose it when confronted with brazen misbehavior. Call me a romantic, but I feel that in the past the bastards of the world had a sense of shame that would prevent them from publicly displaying their dastardly behavior. Not that in the past human beings, leaders included, were better, but they had “fear” that inserted a certain sense of humility in them. Nowadays that fear seems to have dissipated from the public sphere.

Two recent events have instigated my wrath, and earned this rant. First is the soon-to-be-former President of Israel, Moshe Katsav. Allegations that began earlier this summer of sexual impropriety, have recently culminated in official police charges of several charges of rape and sexual assault. The charges have been floating for several months, yet it took a police indictment to cause the soon-to-be-former-President to think, maybe it isn’t appropriate for an accused rapist to be opening the winter session of the parliament. He should have stepped down in August to face the music, instead of submitting us to his shame yet he didn’t. Even after the police indictment the soon-to-be-former-President has not resigned, just keeping a low profile, hopping that maybe rape charges can blow over as the world, and politicians, continue to spin.

The second has been the recent banning of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) from Singapore. This was brought on after they published an article in which they quoted Chee Soon Juan, a local opposition party member, who was openly critical of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Now, what grinds my gears is not the defamation suite itself, which is not new here, but rather the content of the suit itself. FEER is charged with not only quoting the “scandalous” remarks made by Chee ("How many libel suits have Singapore's great and good wrongly won, covering up real misdeeds?") but also publishing the article on their website, offering free access to their readers (see Article 20 of the writ).

Now to most people this would seem to be the common mode of operation of a free press, one that strives to “generate interest and discussion”, rather then a reason for a lawsuit. In Singapore, where dissenting views are intimidated by lawsuits and restricted by laws, there is no room apparently for such debates. LKY success in eradicating all forms of meaningful public discourse in Singapore has been so great, that when an uppity foreign newspaper publishes their “sensational remarks”, they must be removed from the public domain. Where dissent does not exist, that is the only way.

Where in most places the laws defend the weak, here they protect the powerful. Where constitutions are erected to protect the governed from the governors, here it is reversed. When enough time has passed, this abnormal relationship becomes the norm, and the politicians lose their shame. And here is where the shamelessness comes in, LKY will win the lawsuit. He can openly sue FEER for doing what a news media should do, providing information and a free platform for all opinions, and win. Free speech, freedom of information, and public scrutiny are being attacked and violated, not in the backrooms of censors, but in plain view, without contention.

When someone hides their actions, they acknowledge that those deeds are foul and should be kept from view. It would seem today that politicians no longer appreciate when their behavior is in the wrong, and don’t bother veiling it. These last vestiges of shame protected the public sphere from the onslaught of depravity, yet sadly seem to have eroded away.