On Sunday, July 31, the New York Post published nude photographs of Donald Trump\u2019s wife Melania, a\u00a0former model, from a defunct French men\u2019s magazine. This apparently warranted the front page, as well\u00a0as the classy headline \u201cThe Ogle Office.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a perfect world, this would not be done. In a semi-perfect world, the backlash would have been loud\u00a0and swift, prompting an immediate apology. In our world, however, the Post doubled-down on this\u00a0strategy, as the very next day\u2019s edition featured more nude photos of Melania, this time with another\u00a0female model, and the even classier headline \u201cMenage a Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am disheartened by the lack of outrage over this.<\/p>\n
For the record, I don\u2019t believe this to be an example of dirty politics, intended to damage Trump\u2019s\u00a0campaign. After all, the Post endorsed Trump for president way back in April. I believe the Post\u2019s\u00a0intention is to sell newspapers, nothing more. That doesn\u2019t make it any less reprehensible.<\/p>\n
This is not news. We all know Melania was a model and that models sometimes pose in various states of\u00a0undress. The fact that Melania willingly posed for these photos is irrelevant. They were published two\u00a0decades ago \u2013 literally a lifetime, as she was then 25. I assure you that many photos taken by twenty-somethings, which are proudly posted on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat today, will be concealed or\u00a0deleted in two decades when their subjects are established doctors, lawyers, senators and yes, even\u00a0homemakers. To dredge them up and publish them would be a grievous violation of privacy. It\u2019s not\u00a0news now and it won\u2019t be news in 20 years that college students get drunk and act stupidly. Similarly, it\u00a0should be Melania\u2019s decision whether she wants her old work published today.<\/p>\n
In 1992, Princess Diana was secretly photographed by a hidden camera during a private gym session.\u00a0She may have been fully-clothed by gym standards (leotard and cycling shorts) but it still represents a\u00a0gross violation of her reasonable expectation of privacy. And while the Mirror, which published the\u00a0photos, no doubt enjoyed a sales bump, there was outrage. From the Royal Family, as would be\u00a0expected, but also from the public and even from members of the press. In a statement, a spokesman for British then-Prime Minister John Major said, \u201cThe government deplores any invasions of privacy. There seems no doubt that the media themselves consider the invasion of the Princess of Wales’ privacy\u00a0was particularly flagrant. It brings into sharp focus the power of the Press Complaints Commission and\u00a0the effectiveness of self-regulation against abuses of this kind.\u201d In a 1995 settlement, the Mirror was\u00a0prohibited from republishing the photos and ordered to destroy all remaining copies and negatives.<\/p>\n
Maybe times have changed, or maybe people just liked Diana more than they do the Trumps, but\u00a0where\u2019s the outrage for the invasion of Melania\u2019s privacy? Condemnation for the Post should be\u00a0bipartisan.<\/p>\n
The Torah tells us about not showing favoritism in judgment. This is (metaphorically) a double-edged\u00a0sword. On the one hand, we are not to favor the rich and powerful as a means of currying favor (\u201cdo not\u00a0show honor to the mighty\u201d – Leviticus 19:15). On the other hand, we are told not to show favoritism to\u00a0the downtrodden as a means of helping them out (\u201cThe destitute you shall not favor in his complaint\u201d –\u00a0Exodus 23:3). The Torah doesn\u2019t tell us one or the other, it tells us both. What\u2019s right is right and what\u2019s\u00a0wrong is wrong. What\u2019s true is true and we have no right to tamper with justice for partisan reasons.\u00a0Maimonides expresses a similar idea in his introduction to Shemoneh Perakim where he says, \u201cAccept\u00a0truth regardless of the source.\u201d<\/p>\n
I suspect people are ignoring truth and justice in this case because Donald Trump is so divisive and\u00a0unpopular. But if something is wrong, it\u2019s wrong regardless of who the injured party is.<\/p>\n
A few months ago, Trump got into a Twitter battle with opponent Ted Cruz about their wives. Trump\u00a0compared his wife Melania with Cruz\u2019s wife Heidi, who is, shall we say, not a model. This slight was\u00a0sufficient enough that, despite a commitment from all the Republican candidates to support whoever\u00a0secured the nomination, Cruz declined to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cAnd\u00a0that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you slander and attack Heidi I’m going to nonetheless\u00a0go like a servile puppy dog.\u201d Fair enough. Nevertheless, I would love to hear Cruz say something along\u00a0the lines of, \u201cUsing and humiliating the members of a candidate\u2019s family is a despicable practice. The\u00a0Post should be ashamed of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton will no doubt exchange many unpleasantries\u00a0between now and November (and, I suspect, beyond). Nevertheless, I would love to hear Clinton, a\u00a0defender of women\u2019s rights, chastise the Post for what is ultimately a misogynistic practice.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s right is right, what\u2019s wrong is wrong, and what\u2019s true is true. Justice should not be perverted for\u00a0the strong, the weak, or for partisan politics. Invading someone\u2019s privacy to sell a few papers is wrong. It\u00a0would be nice to hear people stand up for Melania as they did for Diana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Sunday, July 31, the New York Post published nude photographs of Donald Trump\u2019s wife Melania, a\u00a0former model, from a defunct French men\u2019s magazine. This apparently warranted the front page, as well\u00a0as the classy headline \u201cThe Ogle Office.\u201d In a perfect world, this would not be done. In a semi-perfect world, the backlash would have<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n