Issue 185
Scandals—whether in politics, academia, or other areas—can be useful. They focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could。
Is that the scandals contribute the benefit that sometimes draws our focus on some events we might never even knew just from speakers or reformers make them more useful. When regard of its possible harmful outcomes I would not like to agree with the statement fully for its extreme assertion. Although the scandals really reveal some underhand events, they, on the other hand, also distract our either or even mislead public.
In the first place, scandals really supply a unique window through which we can know some important aspects about the individual, the nation, or even the entire society in which we have the urgent need to adjust our opinions and the laws. The most well-known example –the Watergate scandal will illustrate this. As the investigate going on the public’s attention not only just on the event itself but also focused on the following constitutional crisis and finally led to the first, in American history, president who abdicated. Surely if not this scandal not so much notice would gathered on these kind of underhanded companion tactics. In this respect the scandals sever to the American a benefit that has crucial impacts on the following politic companions.
In the second place, however, more time the reported scandals have nothing to do our really business but just some trivial affairs with the goal to denigrate some public famous or politic rivals. When it comes to this sort of news, tittle-tattles always take the place of more important event in the front Page. Still remember the Clinton’s sex scandal which takes so long time and even the congress nearly impeached him based on some related things. But in retrospect, the scandal itself is just a private business so it did not deserve so much concentration, if not because of the political competition. Meanwhile, in the word wide the Iraq crisis, the world warming and something else were to some extent out of public view.
Last but not the least, some scandal, for attending its specific intention, would distort or make up some detail to deceive the people. We need do no more than just see the entertainment page to find this kind of case. Overwhelming private affairs everyday with the hope of more publication urge the entertainment journalists make up this affair when they could not find these things or at least make magniloquent statement to attract readers’ interests. According a survey taken by news department of Peking university, in 2006, this type of scandals take up one tenth the whole news that all over China that year which is a large number for the news which means the distract effects significantly phenomenal.
To sum up, admittedly the scandals sometimes uncover a plethora of magnificent events that influence our society as a whole in the long run. However there are more which just detract our attention and even cheat us for its political or economical profit which renders the scandal less useful regard of its likely damaging result. So whether it is useful depend on its specific situation.