Powerful Men Behaving Badly

The past two weeks has seen a couple of well-publicized cases of powerful men being put into the shame spotlight for their sexual indiscretions. The then, now former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested on charges related to the assault of a maid in a New York hotel. A name much more familiar to the masses, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was shamed by the public revelation of the source of his recent separation with also-famous Maria Shriver: he had fathered a child out of wedlock with the former family housekeeper.

It's interesting to see two vivid examples of the corrupting nature of power. It's hard not to notice that you have two cases of very rich and powerful men who have - in some shape, degree and form - exercised their power over another less "powerful" human being. The sexual exploitation of another human being is one of the most vivid ways where one exercises dominion over another. From what I've read, this is part of the seedy underside of many prisons, where homosexual rape is one of the means of exerting and exhibiting power, shaping the social hierarchy.

Why did Strauss-Kahn and Schwarznegger do it? The obvious answer is to observe that they're both men whose morals and better judgment went unchecked because their internal voice was saying "I'm so powerful that I'll get away with this". At some point, it might not even be an issue of physical attraction. At the risk of sounding insensitive to the victims, but a common observation is the lack of physical attractiveness of at least Schwarznegger's paramour, and I haven't seen many hotel maids in my life who I'd deem as Miss Universe material.

One theory is that Strauss-Kahn and Schwarznegger really are Joe Sensitives and they are attracted to inner beauty in the servant hearts of women who work diligently. Another not-so-realistic theory is that looks notwithstanding, they picked up on the George Costanza fetish around cleaning ladies in that old episode from Seinfeld. My hunch is that it's not at all about physical attraction - it's about the prideful arrogance which states, "I have a need and as a powerful man, I will assert it at my will whenever and at whoever I want." It finds no value in the sexual partner - it's simply giving the proverbial middle finger to society and its norms.

But this is the danger of power, isn't it? Power has this intoxicating effect to create within one's mind an attractive world - at least from a hedonistic perspective - in which every demand and desire goes fulfilled and one can do no wrong. One can have a single-minded focus to make oneself happy without the consideration or objections of others.

Perhaps the truth of the matter is that all of us are vulnerable to this this temptation. Thankfully, the fact that most of us aren't multi-billionaires who wield social or political power prevents us from falling into the illusion that omnipotence and living beyond the law is our reality.