OK, am I the only one who's several kinds of outraged about this?

[sparkindarkness]

Ok, a brief resume of the facts as I know them (I don't claim to be wrong). Max Mosley, who is apparently vaguely important in some kind of sporty way (possibly involving cars - here ends my sporting knowledge or interest).

Anyway, it seems for his kicks and kinks he gathers together with several stern women and they engage in various forms of BDSM - the nature of which are somewhat in dispute especially whether rough German accents were used or not *eye roll*. Now it seems a the News of The World arranged for one of these women to carry a hidden camera and expose his little activities for all the world to see.


May I have a loud Whiskey Tango Foxtrot here?! Seriosuly, exactly how is it even REMOTELY the public's business if he likes to have sex with a woman in a strap on, a Hitler moustache and a large cane singing "Deustchland Uber alles"? His sexual fantasies and activities - so long as everyone involved are adult and consenting - are his own damn business and none of ours. I don't care if there was a "Nazi theme" or not - it was a BDSM scene, you can't use that as an indicator of someone's politics! I don't care if he was whipped so hard he bled - it's his own damned business.

How is this even close to acceptable journalism? How is it even close to journalism at all? It's not like he's a family values politician telling all the world how evil sex is while nipping out to the dominatrix when we're not looking (and then that's newsworthy because he's a hypocrite - NOT because of the sex). Just because the public is interested IN it doesn't mean it's in the public interest to report it


I'm into BDSM, it most certainly is one of my kinks and I'll happily discuss it quite merrily with a range of people, including what m,y Beloved calls my "broken wiring," but I definitely would draw the line at people sneaking hidden cameras into my bedroom, let alone broadcasting it for my work colleagues to see.

Comments

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Well, I can see why Max Mosley specifically having a Nazi fetish might make people uncomfortable, considering his parents were basically BFF with Hitler.

But it's still fundamentally none of our business.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The man's sex life is his own private business, and so long as he's not whipping people in his boardroom during meetings, I just don't care.

My kinks aren't something that I really like to discuss in any concrete terms, although I will discuss in hypothetical abstracts (like this one) all day long. One of the reasons for this is that my kink is my own private thing, and it's not entirely something that meshes well with my public self. I suspect the gentleman in question feels (felt) much the same way.

Honestly, I have to give Mr. Mosley a great deal of credit. Many people would have slunk off quietly. He's pitching a very public fit, and I hope he wins.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I can think of only three circumstances in which someone's sexual interests or activities should be a public issue.

1: The activities include those who cannot consent. That is, if someone is using children or, for that matter, anyone who can't give consent, for sexual gratification, I want that person prosecuted. But only if it's real children; text or graphics of fictional children squick me, but I don't see any need to criminalize them.

2: If the person is a major-league hypocrite who acts on his or her hypocrisy in such a way as to harm others. That is, if someone works to pass laws criminalizing consensual sexual behavior, and gets caught committing that same behavior, I want him or her publicly humiliated.

3: Public health. If someone has an STD, his or her partners need to be tracked down and tested (and, of course, treated if infected and their partners tracked down, etc.). However, this can be done with some reasonable discretion; I don't think having an STD should be cause for public mockery or humiliation.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

I confess that it's the News of the World - I honestly didn't expect any better. And I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, so it's not like I can take my business away from them.

Overall...yes, it's his own goddamn business. Leave him be.

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Well, specifically 'cause it's Mosley, the Nazi thing does raise an eyebrow given the family connection, but I agree it's not actually anyone's business, and it's certainly nothing to do with his ability as an administrator. Unfortunately some of the countries where motor sports events are held are taking a different view, both of the Nazi thing and the kink. I think it was Bahrain that wasn't going to let him into the country or something. And I wonder how the Germans feel about it? So although it shouldn't have been made public, now that it has, it may well affect his ability to do his job. Which is totally The News Of The World's fault, of course, and why he sould sue the pants off them.

[zero_pixel_count]

...this isn't about journalism, or public interest - it's not even about picking a random target and dragging up something sensational...

The real question is, what did Mosley do to piss Murdoch off?

this Mosley guy

[makarov.livejournal.com]

probably prefers MSNBC over Fixednoise

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

isn't News of the World like one of those birdcage liners?

honestly, I don't even LOOK at the covers of those stupid trash tabloids in the checkout line. I flip the slow cooker recipe mags :D

or even Time

wish they'd stock computer mags at the checkout stand.

but, HOW in the frak is it ANYONE's business but his and his partners??

I so blame Jerry Springer and his buddies who taught people that why yes, everyone else's business IS your business so you don't have to think about how empty your own life is.

granted I never heard the dude's name before but I also don't follow other countries politicians. The gov stepping out on his wife and spending STATE monies, THAT is newsworthy for the CRIMINAL factor.

Bill Clinton stepping out on Hillary? Between the TWO of THEM and no one else!!

People need to focus on their own lives, then maybe it wouldn't be so sad and pathetic.

[jocelyncs.livejournal.com]

I quite agree--what consenting adults in possession of all their mental faculties do in the privacy of their own homes is their own dang business.

I won't pretend my reaction to hearing certain things described isn't a shudder and mutter of "OW...why?!" but as said, that's the-ah-partaker's business.

As for the Nazi thing...*must...not...link...to...Robin...Williams...Hitler...impersonation!*

[elrohana.livejournal.com]

I'm rooting for Mosley to win this all the way. He was in private, paying consenting adults (hell, there's apparently even a session in the recording where they all sit and have a nice cup of tea together afterwards, how very British!) for the privilege - a) I didn't want to know about it and b) even if I had, its none of my fucking business. The media in this country need horsewhipping, and I don't mean in a fun BDSM way, I mean REALLY horsewhipping. Journalistic integrity has become a mutually exclusive term these days.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I think having to live with that name and reputation is harsh enough - I often wonder how the descendents of such notorious people get by

Exactly

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Exactly, he's made an effort to keep it private, what right do the papers have to expose it?

I'm glad he's pitching a fit and I hope the paper's slapped hard

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Agreed agreed and agreed :)

[klgaffney.livejournal.com]

that's bullshit. his bedroom is his business.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

yeah those headlines have been upping the WTF quotent of my days recently ...

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's not exactly "quality journalism" is it?

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's really unfortunate for him that he has that ancestry - really doesn't help.


Aye, the fact this is going to cause him major problems in Europe should really mean he should get a huge award

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Selling stories no matter how it hurts. it really is disgusting tbh


I don't think News of the World is actually part of the Murdoch empire - but it does show the power that these media magnates have

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't sully birdcages with it.

It's ridiculosu - just because the public will like to know doesn't mean they have a right to know because it's soooo fascinating!

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Well, that goes for any sexual practice we're not into, but really it doesn't matter what things he's doing that would make most of us shudder and find a quiet corner to be sick in... in fact, if we're squicked that's even less reason to tell imo

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about the man but he deserves to win and win big.

Of course :) must have tea with the kink. The media drags the whole profession down with slimy acts like this

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Aye, plastering his private life around is utterly unacceptable

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

And it's not as if we can't meet that quotent so easily anyway!

[zero_pixel_count]

...but you see, it's not 'no matter how much' it's 'because' - the whole point was to damage Mosley.

(And yeah, it is. Through a few layers, mind, but it is).

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

I think that in the US it's illegal wiretapping unless it's in a business or from public property.

Unless they are in a position where this can be used against them to the detriment of the public and they've not disclosed it I don't give a damn.

Public officials and people who control other peoples money, property, health, etc do have an obligation to disclose it if it can be used to blackmail. I don't know if that's a legal obligation but I think it would be an ethical obligation.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

The problem is that the right to privacy has always been rather... nebulous in the UK. Thankfully the EU and ECHR stepped in to codify a lot of rights far better than we had (that whole "we're the only country in the WORLD without a written constitution" thing comes back to haunt us)

I'd love a change in people's mindset. So people COULDN'T be blackmailed for their sexual proclivities. It's one of the reasons I respected Prescott and Blunkett (though I loathed the man for other reasons). They had affairs. The newspapers reported it and they marrily turned round with a "SO WHAT?"