Added to the wreckage of celebrity personalities facing public moral outrage over past alleged sexual improprieties, NBC News announced on November 29 its termination of Matt Lauer, citing similar improprieties for its response to a single complaint.
It is therefore fitting that our discussion today includes some reflections on America’s Great Sexual “Wreckoning” – our own term derived from the wreckage of celebrities and high profile personalities who seem to have exhibited very little “self awareness” about the inappropriateness of certain sexual conduct.
That discussion with Western University Associate Professor of Political Science, Salim Mansur, begins with a greater reckoning – a “Great Reckoning” that is already underway and is being favorably influenced by the world leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The significance of Trump’s recent Asian tour and of major revolutionary developments in Saudi Arabia has been clouded by media distractions concerning domestic sexual improprieties by local celebrities. This may be more than coincidence, for sexuality too plays a significant role in the wider politics of world affairs.
Increasingly missing from the world leaders of the West – until Trump – has been a globally respected characteristic of power historically applied to male and female leaders alike: that of masculinity. Masculinity itself has come under attack on many fronts, setting the stage for a great many “Wreckonings.”
One political reckoning in this regard would suggest that the lack of masculinity in Western politics (feminization?) has led to weakness, appeasement, and to increasing international threats of violence and conflict. A return to masculine leadership may well be a powerful deterrent to these negative trends.
As historically illustrated by Salim Mansur, the hard won road to freedom and individualism has been a fragile and uncertain one. There is “no magic formula” one can follow to achieve freedom.
As we discover, though the principles remain constant, the political and cultural roads towards freedom can be many. Happily, this means there is more than one way of getting there that can be Just Right.
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