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Self-hating Spitzer--Why do men who seem to have everything throw it all away?
Jerusalem Post ^ | 3-16-08 | SHMULEY BOTEACH

Posted on 03/16/2008 12:41:03 PM PDT by SJackson

Dr. Laura Schlesinger has a penchant for inane and knee-jerk moralizing. But last week even she outdid herself, as she blamed Elliot Spitzer's long-suffering wife, Silda, for her husband's unfaithfulness with a prostitute.

Speaking on the Today show, Dr. Laura opined: "When the wife does not focus in on the needs and the feelings sexually, personally, to make him feel like a man, to make him feel like a success, to make him feel like our hero, he's very susceptible to the charm of some other woman making him feel what he needs. These days, women don't spend a lot of time thinking about how they can give their men what they need."

According to Dr. Laura's approach, these poor, neglected husbands have been pushed by their rebellious wives into being porn and sex addicts. How sad that in the wake of the Elliot Spitzer tragedy we get Dr. Laura's blame-the-victim drivel rather than an honest discussion on the downfall of the American Male.

Men today are cheating not because their wives do not love them, but because they do not love themselves; not because their wives are not caring, but because their perforated sense of self is immune to affection. Were their wives to shower them with all the love in the world, it would simply seep through the shards of their shattered egos.

Propelled to succeed by an all-encompassing fear of failure and thrown into a rat race without limit, the broken American male never feels like he is ever good enough and chooses destructive escapes to compensate.

Powerful men like Spitzer are especially susceptible to the irrational self-loathing that is increasingly affecting the American male. Whatever level of achievement he attains, it is never enough to quiet the inner demons that tell him he is worthless. A culture built on soulless success has raised a generation of men to believe they are anonymous unless they accumulate money or fame, with women being yet another prized possession that accrues to the alpha male.

TRAINED TO feel like they are important only through professional achievement, these men are clueless about being in a relationship. They know how to master rather than relate, how to conquer rather than open up, how to manipulate rather than connect.

For the man to whom power is an aphrodisiac, paying a woman for sex becomes an erotic thrill. And men with low self-esteem are profoundly susceptible to women who are not their wives.

The man who sees himself as a loser sees the woman dumb enough to marry him as a loser squared. His wife's affection, therefore, cannot make him feel like a winner. It is only the woman to whom he is not married, the one that has not been devalued through a merger with a failure, that can make him feel consequential. And a woman who is so desirable that a night with her can set you back thousands of dollars can make a guy feel like a million bucks.

Bill Clinton may have been the most powerful man in the world. But all that power could not inflate an ego so punctured that it sought significance in a liaison with an all-too-ordinary intern who understood the depth of his need to feel good about himself.

LAST WEEK in Los Angeles I debated my dear friend Dennis Prager, the brilliant radio host and public intellectual, on whether men or women are more responsible for the breakdown of the American family. I argued that broken men are undermining their families; Dennis claimed that the blame was equally shared.

Now Dennis has always been a mentor to me. But, come on! You have to be blind not to see that men are in crisis. They are three times more likely to cheat on a spouse, eight times more likely to abandon their children (how often do you hear of a dead-beat Mom?), commit 98 percent of all violent crimes, and stand a decent chance of becoming porn addicts.

Even if they overcome the porn, they usually end up sports and TV addicts, who spend, on average, three hours per day in front of the tube. And that's three hours where they are not helping with the dishes, putting the kids to sleep, or being with their wives.

Sex for men has become a game of mastery rather than intimacy. A shocking statistic from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, published providentially on the same day of the outbreak of the Spitzer scandal, showed that one in four female American teens has an STD. Millions of teenage boys are pushing girls to have sex well before their bodies are ready, and without any kind of protection. Sexual scandals among powerful men should likewise spur us to action.

THE SOLUTION is to set a new definition of success among American men that is dependent not on becoming the competent governor of a state, but on becoming the responsible head of a household. The great man is not only he who can balance state budgets but he who helps his children with their algebra. Not he who hits home runs, but he who runs home to be with his family. Not he who wins primaries, but he who makes his wife and his children primary.

In this political season, it is in vogue to believe that pulling a lever for a particular candidate will bring us the change we desire. But it is we who have to change. America is not wanting in talented senators and industrious politicians. Rather, it is wanting in loving husbands and devoted fathers.

In the final analysis, what the people of New York think of Elliot Spitzer is not nearly as important as what his wife and children think of him. Because you are not a success in life if the people who mean the most to you think the least of you.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: boteach; drlaura; psychology; rabbishmuley; rabbishmuleyboteach; shmuleyboteach; spitzer
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To: SJackson
"Powerful men like Spitzer are especially susceptible to the irrational self-loathing that is increasingly affecting the American male.

O'Reilly is spouting the same psychobabble; that Spitzer has a "self-destructive" personality and "wanted" to crash and burn.

Bull!

IMHO, which is as valid as Bill's and Shmuley's, I am convinced that Spitzer's ego got so big, he believed himself to be Omnipotent (as opposed to impotent lol) and was convinced he would not get caught and even if he did, would be immune from exposure and retribution.

21 posted on 03/16/2008 1:13:09 PM PDT by Conservative Vermont Vet (One of ONLY 37 Conservatives in the People's Republic of Vermont. Socialists and Progressives All)
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To: SJackson
God's way of saying Hello.....
22 posted on 03/16/2008 1:15:27 PM PDT by eyedigress
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To: SJackson

Schmuly called a Catholic woman a PEASANT on TV during “The Passion” movie debate....he is below whale crap to me....plus being Michael Jacksons; good friend...YUK.


23 posted on 03/16/2008 1:16:09 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Conservative Vermont Vet

Yes to ALL that....plus Daddy Spitzer CHEATED to get his some the AG job and probably the Gov. job, so Eliot the John KNEW he didn’t really earn those positions.


24 posted on 03/16/2008 1:17:44 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: SJackson

Heck, he was just ministering to her ala Jesse Jackson. hehe


25 posted on 03/16/2008 1:19:00 PM PDT by VRWC For Truth (No mas Juan "Traitor Rat" McAmnesty)
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To: SJackson
Geeez.... The answer is far more simple than this. Men are biologically driven to spread their seed.

All else, is just an excuse and pointless exercise to explain away the affect of nature and evolution. That need can be controlled through force of will, but the will can be weakened by having "issues at home" or simply the easy availability of women that the rich and powerful have.

I would bet that almost ALL rich, powerful men have affairs. The do, because they can. Sad, but I think its true... but we do like to lie to ourselves about such things....
26 posted on 03/16/2008 1:19:36 PM PDT by StolarStorm
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To: SJackson

It’s because when money and power fall into the hands of the morally bankrupt, then they will use that money and power to do morally bankrupt things.

A person can seem to have “everything” but lack the most important, fundamental things: morality, humility, honesty, and trustworthiness. When you don’t have those things as a foundation, then it doesn’t matter how many other things you might have.

I am reminded of the lyrics to the song “Satisfied Mind.”
http://www.thewalkabouts.com/sat-lyr.htm


27 posted on 03/16/2008 1:26:30 PM PDT by RepublitarianRoger2
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To: olezip
Relationships are complex and changing over the period of a lasting marriage. The relationships between couples is too complex and dynamic to generalize.

I agree. Blaming either gender for the other one's cheating is like blaming the robbery victim for carrying a wallet. It's still the cheater who makes the decision to cheat instead of working on the relationship.

28 posted on 03/16/2008 1:26:51 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter.—WChurchill)
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To: Conservative Vermont Vet
O'Reilly is spouting the same psychobabble; that Spitzer has a "self-destructive" personality and "wanted" to crash and burn.

Away with the psychobabble horsesh*t.

Dr. Laura and O'Reilly must have both missed the lectures on Greek Tragedians from their freshmen lit classes. Spitzer's inexorable march into self-destruction was something straight from the pages of Sophocles or Aeschylus: an arrogant man brought down by his own overweening hubris. Nothing more. Nothing less.

29 posted on 03/16/2008 1:29:42 PM PDT by E. Cartman (Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.)
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To: SJackson

If it has a penis, then it is at fault....


30 posted on 03/16/2008 1:33:05 PM PDT by thinking
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To: martin_fierro

“Greg, ask the box what we should do now.”

Greg has my permission to cheat.

I hate those commercials where the naggy wife makes
the point. I immediately don’t want whatever it is
that is being advertised. Seems like the advertising
agencies would know this.


31 posted on 03/16/2008 1:35:36 PM PDT by RushingWater (Pres. Bush honors Mexican sovereignty over our own - Pardon Ramos/Campeon/Hernandez)
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To: Albion Wilde
"cheater who makes the decision to cheat instead of working on the relationship"

Why do you assume this? I know a guy whose tried everything he can over years and years. He doesn't want divorce as it will remove his connection to his kids and he feels that divorce is worse than cheating. His wife just isn't interested. Rather than put a bullet in his head an occasional fling seems to be a less damaging outcome.

Not everyone has the same kind of life that some of the moralists here do and judging others without being in their shoes isn't helpful. Some people have FAR more complex situations than others (like wife with medical disorder... and such).
32 posted on 03/16/2008 1:42:04 PM PDT by StolarStorm
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To: Perdogg
.... $4000/hr hookers is a perk for the rich and powerful. The Shah of Iran used to fly in hookers from Switzerland.

I pay less than one dollar for my hookers and I don't have to return them after one hour.


33 posted on 03/16/2008 1:43:22 PM PDT by Polybius
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To: Polybius

Yeah, but sometimes you get a bite and you have to throw them back.


34 posted on 03/16/2008 1:44:44 PM PDT by StolarStorm
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To: RushingWater

Oh, you’ve noticed that!

Nearly every commercial portrays the man as a slob or idiot, and his wife as the svelte genius.....

This has cost some advertisers my business for LIFE.


35 posted on 03/16/2008 1:45:48 PM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: Melinda

Melinda, we men are all needy guys.:) We marry women who support our egos and who make us chicken soup when we are sick. It never bothered me that Mrs.Spitzer stood with her husband. What bothered me was that her husband allowed her to do so. Lately, we have had to suffer though the onslaught of TV pundits, each telling his/her own version of the established rhetoric. TV stations must have a file of such pundits: adultery experts, relationship experts, prostitution experts, powerful men/women experts, stay-at-home mom experts, and, ultimately, the former failed FBI profiler experts. lol Spitzer’s case is really not very complicated, at all. He was in a different city, away from home, and he wanted sex, and he wanted it with Christen. Period, end of story. :)


36 posted on 03/16/2008 1:53:43 PM PDT by Continental Soldier
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To: SJackson
Isn't this guy a "spiritual advisor" and friend of Michael Jackson?

Frankly, as I see it, there are a number of reasons that some men will look for attention and/or sex outside of their marriage.

First off, quite simply, some guys are simply scumbags. Plain and simple. They just don't give a damn about their marriage vows.

Secondly, as Dr. Laura states, they might be looking for something that they're not getting at home. It might be attention, or it might be something else, i.e. sexual. If it is sexual, maybe it's something that he's afraid to ask of his wife. So, he looks for it outside of marriage. Which brings up another question: Why a hooker, rather than an affair. Maybe because it is just something sexual. Or maybe there's some sort of feeling that he doesn't want to have an affair: That it won't be as complete a betrayal if there's no emotional bond, outside of the sexual acts.

Which brings up another interesting issue. If Spitzer had been seeing hookers for years, what are the odds that his wife not only knew, but approved of his dalliances with hookers. The idea being that since they were just hookers, there was no chance that he'd abandon her for them, and she could continue her life as the first lady of NY, and maybe eventually even the first lady of the USA, without having to "service" Spitzer.

Mark

37 posted on 03/16/2008 2:04:52 PM PDT by MarkL
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To: Conservative Vermont Vet
IMHO, which is as valid as Bill's and Shmuley's, I am convinced that Spitzer's ego got so big, he believed himself to be Omnipotent (as opposed to impotent lol) and was convinced he would not get caught and even if he did, would be immune from exposure and retribution.

I agree with you 100%. What was probably going through his mind was the entire Bill and Monica deal... "I can do no wrong. I've brought down some of the most powerful men in America. Nobody can touch me! And even if I get caught, so what? Look what that Arkansas yokel got away with!" Believe me, having gone to school in NY, many native New Yorkers look upon anyone else around the country, especially the midwest or south as "rubes."

Mark

38 posted on 03/16/2008 2:11:53 PM PDT by MarkL
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To: MarkL

Well said.


39 posted on 03/16/2008 2:13:58 PM PDT by Twink
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To: thinking
If it has a penis, then it is at fault....

Well, there is the old saying... "G-d designed man with two heads, but only enough blood to supply one at a time."

Mark

40 posted on 03/16/2008 2:14:13 PM PDT by MarkL
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