Talking about the moral degradation of our society, US Vice President J. D. Vance said, ‘Watergate today would just be a 12-hour news story.’
Sadly, I think his point would be lost on a generation who have never heard of ‘Watergate.’
So, even for those of us who remember, a quick refresher.
The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in Washington D.C.
In 1972 the Watergate office building became the scene of (and the title of) the ‘Watergate Scandal.’
A group of burglars was (unofficially and off the books) employed the Committee to Re-Elect the President (yes, the initials did really make it CREEP!)
On June 17, 1972, those operatives were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building.
The scandal built and built over months—and eventually engulfed President Richard Nixon (whose re-election they had been conniving at).
He finally resigned in disgrace when it became apparent that he had (at the very least) been involved in attempts to cover up the scandal.
One result was that the terminal ending of the word ‘Watergate’ was adopted as a way to label any scandal that broke out.
This gave the newspapers such headline words as ‘Irangate’, ‘Dallasgate’, ‘Hollywoodgate’, ‘Koreagate’ and more.
J. D. Vance’s point seems to be that the mainstream media is no longer interested in decency, dignity, morality, and civilisation.
But, instead, mainstream media now judges everything based on which side of the political fence people are on.
Those on the left will be defended (or their actions quietly hushed up) regardless of the ethical rules they break.
But those on the right will be attacked viciously for exactly the same type of offences.
If Vance is correct, then clearly the media moral compass is swinging wildly out of control—something we are reminded of by this old word ‘Watergate.’
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* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
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* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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