Scandal. Ethics. Values. Scandal ABC.
I am always amazed at how folks hold themselves out as living one way (living with ethics), but in truth, live very different lives. There are people who do horrible things and proclaim themselves to be the good guys–the wearers of the white hats. We see it everywhere from drug dealers who claim they sell drugs to children in order support their families, to pedophiles that assert that they have sex with children because they really love and cherish them, to Dennis Hastert yet another politician who TALKS about family values, to any number of American role models. Is it any wonder why our real life role model’s behave as they do? Why would they not, when we let them know who we love on TV. We love the scandal. We love the politicians, the actors, the wall streeters who engage in scandal. In fact we celebrate them. The more scandal and debauchery, the better.
This type of hypocrisy has me thinking about the character Olivia Pope and her band of merry gladiators from the political drama series, Scandal.
During its first season I enjoyed watching Scandal, despite that I never liked the basic premise of a woman disrespecting another woman by openly sleeping with her husband. While some would see Olivia Pope as beautiful, smart, clever, and successful; I see her as a woman who can be disingenuous and makes poor choices in her life. I, in fact, see her as a women with very low self esteem. Why else would she settle for seconds in life?
I hoped in the second season Olivia would repent and at a minimum, be made to pay for her scandalous behavior. Instead, she was made to be, even more of the heroine; the wearing of the “white hat.” And all along as she brazenly had an affair with a married man, she chastised her clients for not knowing the difference between right and wrong.
As a result, I found myself tuning in to watch the drama series less and less. And while the values and beliefs her character portrays go against mine, I must admit I LOVE Shonda Rhimes. She totally rocks! She is an amazing and brilliant storyteller who knows how to keep you interested. And, she always gives me something to talk about in my blogs. I only wish I could craft a story as well as she.
This past weekend while I was resting and nursing a cold, I did however get caught up with the last 3 months of Scandal, which I did not see. That tells you how far removed from the series I had become. Three months of episodes. When the series first started, I waited with baited breath for the next episode. Anyway, while watching the episodes I had hoped to see Olivia’s character change for the better–at least a tad bit. Instead, I was reminded of the hypocrisy that Olivia Pope lives by. Her merry band of degenerates (murderers, torturers, sleazeballs, and herself at the helm) are quick to talk about what’s right, as they kill and torture anyone who gets in their way. Interestingly, when Olivia encourages Huck, who is a member of her crisis management team, to kill and torture, it’s okay, because they are the “white hats.” Yet, because Olivia hates her father, when he kills, in her eyes he is an evil person.
Then the series continues with Fitz kicking Mellie, his wife and the mother of his children, out of the White House. His reasoning: she did a bad thing. Although unbeknownst to her at the time, she accepted money from Olivia’s father for her campaign and inadvertently contributed to the death of a bus load of people. How quickly Fitz has forgotten that he shot down a plane full of civilians, murdered (smothered) a Supreme Court Justice, and continues to openly and notoriously have an affair disrespecting his wife and the Oval Office. Yet, all along he and Olivia talk about what’s right and what’s wrong. And lest we forget that the President of the Scandal United States caused a war in order to save his mistress. Hello, is something wrong with this picture?
As I watched the series, I began to think am I the only one who sees the hypocrisies of these characters?
Do you watch Scandal? What do you think? Feel free to join my conversation on Facebook, Facebook Esteemableacts Fan Page, or my Facebook Law Page, you can also interact with me on my Twitter Esteemable Acts page, Twitter Law Page, or on LinkedIn.
