Prostitutes Speak
My, my; it seems that the American media have finally found a story they want to cover. Instead of spending time talking about, say, the latest crisis in South America; politics in Europe; Africa; Pakistan; the upcoming elections in Iran, they use their education, knowledge and contacts to… here it comes: talk to prostitutes.
Here’s the New York Times (making the top spot at Memeorandum):
She left a broken home on the Jersey Shore at 17 and came to New York City to work the nightclubs as a rhythm and blues singer. Now, at 22, she is the unwitting, and as yet unseen, star of the seamy drama that is the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York.
Kristen, the prostitute described in a federal affidavit as having had a rendezvous with Mr. Spitzer on Feb. 13 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, has spent the last few days in her ninth-floor apartment in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. On Monday, she made a brief appearance in federal court, where a lawyer was appointed to represent her. She is expected to be a witness in the case against four people charged with operating a prostitution ring called the Emperor’s Club V.I.P.
In a series of telephone interviews on Tuesday night, she said she had slept very little over the past week, with all the stress of the case.
Yeah. Exactly. Fascinating stuff.
How about doing your job for once NYT and covering issues that actually matter?
This is pathetic. The NYT has become Playboy-light.
And ABC News’ The Blotter also weighs in:
The Web site ExploreTalent.com features a profile of a 5-foot-3-inch 22-year-old Ashley DiPietro from New York City, with brown hair and brown eyes. The profile included two pictures but no resume or other information.
Calls to DiPietro’s lawyer were not immediately returned.
Ah, too bad. What do you think, perhaps you’ve got time now to talk to experts in South America? You know, South America on the brink of war and all that?
And then, there’s also the AP!
A man who answered the phone at the home of the woman’s mother in New Jersey and identified himself as Dupre’s brother, Kyle, told the AP he did not know why Dupre would agree to be interviewed about the scandal.
You don’t say?! Hey, purely as an aside of course, how’s it going with the peace process in the Middle East?
I had MSNBC on briefly last night and Abrams was touting some new development in the Spitzer story. I half listened as he went on to say that this new ‘development’ was that the MySpace page of the prostitute was now known, and then they began showing the images and discussing the, um, resume….
Yeah, that’s hard news. Well, I guess for some members of the viewing audience it is (pun regrettably intended.)
Agreed, the latest diversion from the real news.
Cable news is fixated on the "white woman as victim". Now we hear that the UNC murder case had two victims, one blond girl and a dark skinned Indian male student. Why doesn’t the first victim deserve any attention?
I disagree. This is truly fascinating stuff. Captivates the imagination. Human realities and psychology, power, hypocrisy, etc. One has to think why it is that, on political stage, the most ardent denouncers of certain ‘vices’ turn out to be practicioners of those very ‘vices.’ This is but one example, though a striking one for sure. You’d recall many others about gayness.
I happen to think that the society, media and all, place unreal standards of perfection and virtue on political leaders, and then relieve themselves by an ‘Awww!..‘ upon seeing fumbled words and folksy swaggers. What a joke! Hypocrisy stain is on the people at large as much as it is on Spitzers who, for some sick reason, make political capital by pandering to this human feeling of guilt or something, and the urge to hide it. By the same token, I also agree with a madam I saw on TV the other day; she was saying, basically, that Spitzer is the scum that he is and had to go not because he was in the habit of banging prostitutes but because he was an ardent prosecutor of others doing the same.
You don’t need people in political office who have such deep personal issues that they hide. They clearly are not themselves when dishing out governence or legislation. Imagine KS attorney general having at one time escorted his wife or daughter to a planned parenthood clinic to get an abortion.
Oh, I don’t disagree with that, Nihat- the story is positively a reality show version of Shakespeare, and it’s not a bad thing for the dramas of real life to stimulate public discussions on our societal mores and on human foibles.
I just think the tawdry angle that the story has taken in the media over the last 24 hours is ridiculous- supposed journalists presenting a call girl’s webpage as some sort of documentary evidence, and pretending that they’re showing these images "purely for public interest". It’s like a bunch of grown professional men trying to pretend they’re reading Playboy for the articles.
And, I forgot…
What makes me laugh the most is how these guys purport moral uprightness when they apologize. I made a mistake, and I am sorry, but I am in fact so morally strong that I cannot and will not ask any less of myself… and some such speech.
Christine, your point is taken. What pushed me to say these things, I guess, was the ‘How about South America?’ tone of this thread.