issue185 为我所用小组第五次作业

guoshishuoUID: 2467577

TOPIC: ISSUE185 - "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."
WORDS: 590          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2008-3-28 23:13:21

The speaker concludes that scandals are useful because they can draw our attention to the problems in ways no speaker or reformer can. I agree that scandals are really impressive and can reveal many problems that have been hidden from us. However, it will be harmful if too much emphasis is placed on scandals.
To begin with, as more scandals appeared in our vision, we are informed of various problems that we have not imagined before. For instance, former New York Governor, Spitzer, who gained national prominence in pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a prostitute at a Washington hotel, which was a shock to many people. If this scandal has not been exposed, no one would ever considered him like that. Another example is that the winner of Olympic 100 meters in Athens, Justin Gathlin, has been implicated in taking in performance-enhancing drugs, who is banned from athletics for several years and is now struggling to attend the 2008 Olympics. From these examples, people can learn the truths hidden from their glorious appearances. And because the scandals often come suddenly and beyond people's imagination, they always attract most attention.
As these surprising scandals being revealed, they do not only serve as the large title on newspapers but also call for warning and are helpful to the stability of our society. It is entirely possible that those who have been reported are only a piece of iceberg and a lot of other scandals have not been revealed. Thus, the exposed ones can be a warning to those who have done something secretly and have not been discovered yet. They would learn how they would be if the things they have tried to hide behind are exposed some day and consequently think over what they have done and may stop their wrong behaviors, which is the best benefit that scandals bring to the society.
However, we have to concede that sometimes scandals would distract us from more important social problems. Because media have found out that people incline to pay more attention to scandals of politiciants and stars, they often place great importance on reporting the scandals as much as they can to gain profits. Moreover, they even try to fabricate some scandals to draw attention at cost of others' interest. As they put so much importance on scandals, they will overlook some social problems that are really emergent and need more attention from people to combine their efforts to solve these problems, such as famine, flood, or deficiencies in education.
What's more, too much emphasis on scandals may also do harm to those who are involved. Take Edison Chen's photo scandal for example. Although he has already apologized to the public and left the ring, the other stars who are implicated in the scandal are still being affected. Some of them have gone abroad, some are banned from attending public activities, and some are even threatened by divorce. They have already recognized what they have done was not right and the photos were actually taken years ago, maybe the punishment should go to an end. If the scandal would affect them for a long time and even make them unhappy all life long or thus even make them give up themselves, then it is too serious and does great harm to those who are involved.
In conclusion, scandals can let people know many things which have been hidden from them, but if too much attention are placed on scandals, it will do harm to the society.