Sex, Scandal and Photoshop

Sex, Lies and Photoshop: China's Racy-Photo Scandals

So! This Times Magazine article is about how activists are blackmailing Chinese government officials with Photoshoped pornographic photos of the officials.

"In mid-March, police arrested eight suspects from four gangs that were accused of trying to raise $7.35 million through doctored pornography. Since last year, 37 suspects have been arrested in connection with 127 such extortion cases, according to local media."

By that quote, I can only say these guys have a lot of time on their hands. But here's the snag. Some photos of officials shown on online shows and "shame campaigns" are apparently real. There is even a video of Lei Zhengfu, a district-level official having sex with an 18-year-old woman. The video was uploaded by a journalist, can you say someone is going to get sued for libel.

So what should we, the public, believe? Do we believe the activist who is trying to expose the government officials ditry side or the government official who can easily say "I've been framed!"? (Pun intended)

This brings me back to my fellow alumni and former congressman, Anthony Weiner who had a sexting scandal back in 2011.

Via Twitter, Weiner accidentally posted a sexually suggestive photo of himself meaning to send it privately to a female follower of his. In a panic, he took it down and told the media he had been hacked. But instead of calling on an investigation, he hired a lawyer. This is when everyone groaned and said, "It's Elliot Spitzer all over again," minus the prostitution.

Before Weiner's scandal, I really liked his attitude. He wasn't afraid to yell at a reporter or two who was trying to flip a situation and many officials try to stay calm with the media to show they were collected, but Weiner was passionate. Although he didn't handle his sex scandal well at all, but sex in politics is always scandalous. It's even worse when government officials have wives.

In these types of situatutions, people panic and they start the blame game. Their careers and their families happiness are on the line, but maybe they should have thought of those before they gave someone a reason to blackmail them.

Wed or Not to Wed

The Non-Starter Marriage

Obviously, this blog post is about marriage. Elle Magazine published an article on why newlyweds cannot make it through their first year of marriage. I found this article cute. It touched on a subject I've always thought about when I see people divorce soon after they wed. Although, I feel the writer Mickey Rapkin took  too long to answer why newly weds suddenly cannot make it to their first anniversary. 

The example was a man who left his wife six months after they married, but prior to the marriage they had been dating for three years. In these kind of situations, I don't get what the problem is. The relationship was good for three years, how did marriage change it? And I feel Rapkin failed to answer why the groom left his wife. All I know it was the best decision the groom ever made, but this unanswered question is killing me. There is always a reason! 

Some people acknowledge one day maybe it was a mistake and realize it wasn't what they wanted. It was only what was expected. Some people just jump the gun, like my mother and my ex-step father, thinking they have it right. Granted September 11 occurred a few days after they married in Dominican Republic, so you can imagine my ex-step dad's skepticism about moving to New York City. From what I understand, moving was the only problem. My mother didn't want to force my brother and I to uproot our lives and start a new one in Dominican Republic, and my step dad was too shaken up. The divorce was settled two years after their marriage, but I still feel there was more to the story. My first marriage cliff hanger. If only they could have smelled the coffee sooner. 

Back to present day.

The writer uses celebrities to exemplify short lived marriages. He speaks in narrative tone through most of the article and he gets two experts. For one of the sources, Rapkin used a very vague quote: "But people get married for certain reasons and they want to move on with their life. I don't want to judge that either way." I believe he included it just to add more to the word count.  Rapkin adds a little fluff, information and quotes here and there.

This was definitely a short feature article. It could have been so much better if he had gotten to the point faster. I wanted to know why marriages end so quickly right after the second paragraph, but I was not blessed with the answer until the LAST paragraph.

In college were are taught to entice and get to the point! Well Rapkin, get to the point and stop teasing your readers.