issue185【为我所用小组】第五次作业 By usaya

usayaUID: 2374023

TOPIC: ISSUE185 - "Scandals-whether inpolitics, academia, or other areas-can be useful. They focus our attention onproblems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could."
WORDS: 475          TIME: 00:00:00         


Can scandals call our attention useful toimportant problems, as statement claims? In my point of view, to judge whetherthe scandals can be available is dependent on whether （in）such areas, as politics,economy, and so on, can be advanced in the process of scandals. In some cases,scandals have merits in revealing problems which deserve attention. In othercases, however, scandals merely bring some negative impacts to distract publicconcerns from more important issues.

On the one hand, scandals do indeed havemerits to call our attention to pervasive political oreconomic problems that we would otherwise neglect. The typical instancein political realm is the Watergate Scandal. By two reporters working forWashington Post exposed this important event, the public were apprised of thetruth about the abuse of power by public officials. Meanwhile, the WatergateScandal was directly leading to the resignationof President Richard Nixon. Similar to the Watergate Scandal, another well-knownscandal in the failed of economy is Enron Scandal. Enron, one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas,and communications companies, was revealed that its financial condition reportwas planned accounting fraud continuously and systematically. Enron Scandalhelp people realize the deception and make the market competition more purelyand fairly.

On the other hand, scandals can sometimesserve chiefly to distract us more society problems. Scandals are alwayssensational, a characteristics that attract people, not only the public, butalso the media, as a result of human nature of curiosity. To this end, theprivate lives of celebrities and public figures become fair game. For example,when Bill Clinton was clouded by the sexual scandal with Monica Lewinsky,people never stopped the paces of reporting. Besides news programs, all thetalk shows and there are many, had commentators discussing it. The talks betweencolleagues and classmates are almost all scandals insteadof the work and study. Another public figures, Britney Spears, a worldwidefamous dancer, were reported that she was fond of  drug-taking when her career fell into thebottom. Although some of her fans are still support their idol, it is undoubtedthat a lot of people have given up a continuous supporting to Britney.Moreover, a ruthless rebuke to Britney by the public because they agree thatthe Britney’s behavior will possibly affect their children, while all Britney’sbehaviors just belong to a personal affairs of herself. Do the public really haverights to condemn her? While it was just a story the public needed to know.However, whether the adulterous scandal will benefit the society isproblematic.

In sum, I agree that while scandals do, insome cases, exert merits in calling our attention to social problems, they alsodistract us from more important societal issues. Whether a scandal works morebenefit than harm to a society should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.