Okay, so you got a guy who is the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, or the IMF. Big stuff, the IMF. Respectable stuff. The Managing Director is reputed to be a man of privilege and power. One of the world’s movers and shakers. Someone meant to inspire confidence.
And then he is arrested and yanked off an airplane for allegedly having assaulted a hotel chambermaid. This guy was possibly the next President of France, and now he is charged with attempted rape and illegal imprisonment. From president to prisoner. How far we have traveled on the overnight ride on the fame to infamy express.
So, of course, the question is, all prestige and prominence aside, did anyone conduct a background check on this man? If not, then why not? Why do we assume so much from our civic, political, and financial leaders when so many of them are sullied with sex and criminal scandals? Will we always been so naive about looking into a public figure’s potentially lurid past, or do we take secret but inexplicable delight on the surprise debacle that so luridly makes the news?
I honestly have no idea if Dominique Strauss-Kahn is guilty of such crimes or not. I really don’t know much about his past and have always considered him a fair hand as head of the IMF. A fair hand during a tough global economy with significant economic roller coaster rides is certainly praiseworthy. And at the end of the day, big media event or not, in the American Court system he is innocent until proven guilty. Under Napoleonic Law in his native France, the system is different and you can’t necessarily argue the same.
But, no matter. He is innocent here and it remains to be seen what constitutes the real story. Or at least some version of the real story. Was it an outright assault, a political setup as some of Strauss-Kahn’s supporters contest? Tough to say at this point.
But what about background checks for public figures? Given all the scandals that have transpired in recent years, it is perhaps long past time to conduct background checks where we carefully examine the past histories of those who are leading figures. If you are the head of the International Money Fund, it would be nice to know that naked skeletons don’t dangle suggestively from you moldy closet. Same goes for politicians and any public figure that is responsible for the public trust. Let’s find out who they really are or at least if they are who they say they are.
Before we are forced to admire the style of our public figures, before they submit to the time honored “perp walk,” we should maybe get to know what they are all about.
