Drinking, drugs or sex as a retreat from reality.

[Cleita]

You've heard the expression, "being driven to drink". It refers to when life's pressures and responsibilities become overwhelming and one starts tippling on the bottle for relief. Today, many in positions of responsibility and power take a variety of drugs whether prescription or illegal to accomplish the same thing. Then there is sex. Years ago I worked in a large chain department store as one of the assistants of a division manager who was responsible for several departments and we had a tyrant of a general manager who ruled over the whole store. There was also a head office elsewhere and a CEO who ruled over all the store's branches and who at times would arrive in his limo to look at operations and "shake things up a bit" in his words. My immediate Boss, the division manager, was under much pressure a lot of the time. When Biggest Boss, the CEO dumped on Bigger Boss the store Manager, he would dump on My Boss, the division manager in a chain reaction.

When the pressure cooker became too hot due to a variety of reasons but mostly lagging sales, My Boss would disappear for several hours into the porn theater down the street from the store. Sometimes Bigger Boss or even Biggest Boss came looking for him and we didn't know where he was. One of the salesmen eventually told me where he had seen him in the past (which made me wonder what Sales Guy was doing in the porn theater as well). So sure I found him there and convinced the movie ticket seller to let me in to get him. It got to be a regular thing, to the point that the ticket seller would nod to me, that he was in there, and would wave me in to get him. We were all complicit in covering for him both in our back office hidden behind dressing rooms and storage space and on the floor in the departments he was responsible for. He was a good guy and didn't sexually harass the women or treat any employees under him harshly. He was only twenty-six years old and very young for such a position of responsibility that usually went to men twenty or more years older than him.

So this brings me to the point about Anthony Weiner and the only post I probably will do on this. What he did is a cry for help. He's a good guy who has spoken passionately about issues important to us, the little people of America, who pay most of the taxes but are getting the shaft from the majority of our leaders out there. Instead of drowning himself in drink or pills, he immersed himself in inappropriate sex play. He was acting out. Now I hope we can show this person who has fought for our rights some compassion and hope that he gets the help he needs to repair, at least his private life, if not his political life.

This is my humble opinion on the matter.

[Arctic Dave]

1. Are we allowed to do all three?

And if so, can we lower the bar for what constitute "pressure and responsiblity"?

[Cleita]

8. Sure, it depends on how much you want to

self-destruct.

[izquierdista]

2. What he needs to repair

He needs to repair to curtain shielding his private life from the public. This is not easy, as 'reporters' focus less and less on matters of substance (that might upset their advertisers or TPTB) and more and more on gossip.

[Cleita]

5. I'm not really good at psychoanalyzing but I think

most Freudians would think that subconsciously he wanted to get caught. Maybe some of DU's professional head shrinkers could explain it better than me.

[monmouth]

3. Wonderfully written. Thank you...n/t

[Cleita]

7. You are welcome. n/t

[Solomon]

15. I got beat up for saying the same type of thing a few weeks ago.

Sex is one of the few things in the world that can make a person forget about all the shit one has to deal with even if for only a minute or two.

Drink and drugs are ineffective - you get high but still feel like shit. Sexual release makes you forget about everything, if only for a moment.

[Cleita]

21. Also, it doesn't affect your ability to think or

operate heavy equipment. On the other hand, there will be victims along the way, mostly family members but in Weiner's case his constituency.

[firehorse]

4. He's been a damned good congressman, I'd vote for him for mayor, even if he campaigned in his boxers

It's amazing to me how democrats can suddenly forget everything good he has done and judge his lies worse than Bush's lies of "weapons of mass destruction." He's being judged here worse than any of Bush's or Cheney's war crimes.

It's not like Weiners pics caused wars, millions of deaths, and destroyed our economy and our relations with other nations.

[Cleita]

6. What he did was immature

but if he were my rep I would vote again for him in a heart beat.

[damntexdem]

9. Yes, retreating from reality is such a terrible abuse of drinking, drugs, and sex.

[Cleita]

12. I think your sentence

needs to read,

"Abuse of drinking, drugs and sex is a retreat from reality."

I hope that's what you wanted to say, otherwise it makes no sense.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. And here I though drinking, drugs and sex WAS reality.

From which I retreat into video games.

[Cleita]

11. I think obsession with video games like with gambling

can also be a symptom. I did forget to put destructive gambling on my list.

[Occulus]

16. What would you call "obsession with video games"? n/t

[Cleita]

20. When every free moment you have is taken with

playing them, kind of like watching TV all day if you have nothing else to do. But sometimes it goes beyond that to where people neglect their lives to play video games or enter virtual worlds like the couple who starved their baby to death because they were to busy doing things in Second Life. That is obsession.

[mntleo2]

13. Can I recommends this X 1000?

It must be a horrible job in many ways to have the fate of thousands of people in every vote you make. I am sure people who run for this office know this on some level but like many things in my life where I thought I would do this or that but when it came to the reality, it was quite different, I think people of conscience especially must take this job pretty hard when they cannot turn off the consequences. People with no such conscience can do it with ease and sleep well because they don't care.

I too want to show some mercy because while what he did was not smart, HE is quite intelligent, but this does not equate with the emotional ability to deal with all he has. He has gotten death threats for speaking out against crooked SCOTUS judges, this alone would give the most stoic person some pressure and fear. And we all know fear is the basis for anger, which in turn causes many mental challenges.

Cat in Seattle

[Cleita]

14. Thanks Cat.

We need to do this.

[MilesColtrane]

17. The problem comes when the extracurricular activity impinges on ones' ability to do ones' job.

In your anecdote, your boss was not doing his job when he was watching nudie flicks.

The job of a Representative is not just to cast votes. It is also to persuade others to cast votes to implement policies favorable to his constituents.

When a politician has been caught lying it not only breaks the trust between himself and the people he represents, it also makes him untrustworthy to his fellow pols.

The fact that this was a sexual scandal makes it even less likely that he'll be taken seriously in the House.

He can stand up and give a great, impassioned speech about single payer, but the whole time, the people he is trying to persuade are thinking, "That's the dumbass who emails pictures of his dick."

[Cleita]

22. I didn't condone what he did and I think

I mentioned he may not regain his political clout to do his job. I just want people to show some compassion and understanding.

[MilesColtrane]

25. Hard times make for hard feelings for anyone in office these days.

I certainly won't excoriate Weiner. In fact if he doesn't resign, and if the people in his district see fit to reelect him, I disagree with them, but it's their vote.

On the other hand, I can see how someone could really be angry at the guy. I supported Edwards in the primaries leading to 2008 and his monumental betrayal still chaps my ass.

[Jumping John]

18. So then our congress critters who do not indulge in

Drink, drugs and sex can be seen as under-achievers?

[Cleita]

24. Wow, I don't know where you pulled that

conclusion out of my post. I didn't condone what he did. I tried to explain a possibility as to why and asked for people to show some compassion.

[JoePhilly]

19. If you want to retreat from reality ... join the GOP.

Reality is softer that play-doh for them.

[Cleita]

23. We know that there is a separate set of rules for them

and for us. Bristol Palin can be an unwed mother, but I bet if Chelsea Clinton had done so, the outrage would have been screeching and all over the media all the time

[Fuzz]

26. We're around for such a short period of time, and most of us take ourselves too fucking seriously,

we're not important, we're just a speck, a grain of sand, no even less than that in the grand scheme of things. Even those who Have great things written about them here on Earth and are revered will fade in the long run. Just enjoy yourself, love, live and experience whatever makes you happy. All the rest is bullshit.

[LetTimmySmoke]

27. I prefer pot and sex for fun

And shrooms/acid for special occasions

[Kind of Blue]

28. Agreed and KnR. Sounds like a cry for help.

Help from what, I'm not sure. Sometimes I think getting amped up as he does and frustrated with the political process, seems like a sign to me that he hasn't found a healthy way to spend and/or control his frenetic energy.