Anthony Weiner's Case

Anthony Weiner's Case [Research Paper]

The Anthony Weiner case is about this Congressman Anthony Weiner, exposing his genitals on Twitter to women. Anthony Weiner has been sending inappropriate images of himself on the Internet, and was not caught until today when a college student brought it to the authorities. He broke the trust of maintaining a healthy married life with his wife, representing decorum for public image, and protocol of virtual on-line communication (Siegel). It was disgusting because politicians were "suppose to be protecting their communities from such perverts but at the same time it is humorous how people can degrade themselves," and as a result, "people would put themselves in this awkward position" (Tantaros). In the news, we see those who portray themselves as victims of the Internet by using such a publicly used piece of technology for private purposes. Despite Weiner jokes, Congressman Weiner was clearly popular amongst the young and progressive alike. He was powerful and bright, but he slipped up; as a result, all hell broke loose. He underestimated the power of on-line media communications and became its victim. "He never had sex with these women", but he did not act responsibly ("Another"). As a result of the case of Congressman Anthony Weiner, trust was lost due to the decision to self-disclose himself, his privacy was sacrificed, and the misusage of Twitter gave the wrong interpretation in his message. The trust of the people was lost because of his actions.

Trust is the key ingredient to be a role model in society and Anthony was elected to represent the society. Trust is based on the self-disclosure being disclosed to another. It exposes vulnerabilities that can help either make you or break you. In this case, Weiner disclosed private information nonverbally to not only the college student but to other women (Belinda). By disclosing this information, the trust was lost to him as a result of Twitter. He did decide to put the photos on twitter; however, because it was a private account, he did not think the photos would go public. For instance, Meagan Broussard a single mother had an electronic relationship with Weiner and leaked everything she had on him (Stevens). He trusted the wrong woman in thinking that she would not expose their affair. With that trust he let his guard down that cost him his life and career. Not only did he lose trust in this way. He also lost the trust to the people. "The man lied. To cover up his lie, more lies were offered, even at press conferences organized by Weiner himself!" (Siegel). For instance, when he accused Andrew Breitbart of hacking into Twitter account and sent these photos out to the public, he lied (Siegel). He accused someone else for something that he did himself. Because of these photos being exposed, he not only lost the trust of the people, also in the sense that he lost the trust of the receivers of these explicit photos.

When Anthony Weiner chose to post sexually explicit pictures of himself on the Internet, his privacy was sacrificed and self-inflicted. He invited people into his "Twitter world" and exposed himself as an online deviant for all to see. He was a married man who held a political