SPITZER'S DEMONS

Well, something has knocked the presidential campaign off the front pages and the TV screens. Thank you, Mr. Spitzer.

I suspect that Spitzer was one of those folks who was and probably still is wrapped a little too tight. He apparently made most of the politicians in NY and most of organized crime hate him with his zealous pursuit of corruption. It may well have been that his zealous pursuit of corruption was a defense mechanism against his dark side. And, his dark side broke through.

In psychology we could probably refer to his zealous pursuit of corruption as "reaction formation" or doing exactly the opposite of what your heart and soul longs to do.

It's a sad sad state of affairs for Spitzer, his wife, their children and his parents. My heart goes out to all of them. I'm even sad for the alleged hooker. All she did was engage in free enterprise, sell what she had to sell and now TV cameras are parked outside her front door. I feel sorry for her mother because TV cameras are also parked outside the mother's door.

I'm biased. I've had many patients who were hookers and many of them were the nicest people you'd ever hope to meet. Of course, I've had many patients who were murderers and you couldn't find nicer people except for that problem they had with killing people. So, I sometimes have a distorted view of the world.

Of course, sex sells. Because sex sells, the media park their vans and their cameras outside folk's doors. They clog the streets and tie up traffic. They have a job to do and the truth is that if none of us were interested in Spitzer's sex life, they would stop reporting it, clogging up traffic and so forth.

I can't help but wonder why all of us are so interested in Spitzer's sex life. He's a sad little man who lost the fight with his demons. I'm sure some of the gleeful frenzy about this has to do with enemies celebrating his fall. He was truly hated because he did truly fine work as an Attorney General. He did work that benefitted New York and the rest of the country.

I suspect far more of the interest (from the regular folks) is just the appeal of the venomous gossip and ridicule that this man's personal tragedy allows them. The truly sad state is not his fall from grace, but our love of the venomous gossip.