Our world is getting more technological. Communication in politics used to be strictly LAN phone lines. Emails were thought of as just for home computer support use. Case in point: George Bush Jr. never even used the computer at the White House for fear his personal emails were monitored.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Congressman Anthony Weiner who is in the middle of a Facebook sexting scandal. At first, Weiner pulled the classic “I cannot confirm nor deny” that was my penis. The news broke with Weiner’s well, weiner being sent via a Facebook email. Weiner didn’t come clean until a handful of young women brought their communications to the public light. The correspondence on all the Facebook texts could have gotten more X Rated, but nonetheless had plenty of sexual innuendos. Some even referred to previous phone sex encounters.
The question is posed, “Is Facebook Sexting cheating?” A resounding YES! I feel Weiner validated his acts in his own perverted mind by thinking that it’s okay since he was not physically with these women. However, he had sexual relationships, and even took it further with illicit phone sex. Just because the Internet is not fully regulated doesn’t give Weiner the right to perform unethical acts within this gray area realm. After all, he is married…or maybe was married by the time you read this.
Since this is a technology support blog, let’s examine the tech end of this. This could be a whole can of worms if Weiner is vindicated, not being asked to step down. I think he should be asked to resign since this could open the way to future politicians using the Internet for their sexual indiscretions. Imagine if President Obama knew that sex tweeting, and Facebook sexting are okay to do. His wife, Michelle, may not see him come home until very late every night! The point here is that we cannot leave it up to the interpretation of ethics whether Facebook sexting is okay to do. Doing so will allow many politicians to slant the story to their favor as they know how to do.
Instead, we have to realize social media communications on the Internet is comparable to a phone chat or in-person discussion. The point here is that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites allow for a relationship to form just like in person. So, any wrongdoings or unethical behavior must be treated in a similar fashion. Weiner’s Facebook sexting is no better than an in-person sexual chat. Of course, there was no physical acts as far as we now at this time, but we cannot trivialize his acts just because it was done from a computer. Okay, I am stepping off my soapbox for now. Feel free to let me know if you have any comments.
