From the March 20 WS “Scrapbook”, “Profumo After the Affair”:
The Scrapbook is feeling especially decrepit at the moment, having just learned of the death of John Profumo at 91. Profumo, as readers of a certain age will recall, was the British secretary of state for war who carried on an affair with a winsome young woman named Christine Keeler who, as it turned out, was spending quality time with a list of prominent personalities in London–including the Soviet naval attaché. When the subject was raised in the House of Commons, Profumo declared that there was “no impropriety” in his relations with Miss Keeler; but at a later date, he confessed that he had misled his colleagues in Parliament, and resigned his office and seat.
It would be an overstatement to say that the Profumo Affair, which exploded in the late spring and summer of 1963, brought down Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who quit that October on grounds of ill health; but it is fair to say that it severely injured his government and the Conservative party, which narrowly lost the next year’s general election.
The details of the Profumo Affair are well known, and have been the subject of innumerable books and a popular movie, Scandal (1989), where the part of John Profumo was played by Sir Ian McKellen. But two observations about the case deserve to be made now that Profumo has died.
First, a thorough investigation revealed that Profumo, who had served bravely and gallantly in the Second World War, never shared confidences about matters of state with Keeler that she might have passed on to the Soviet naval attaché. (The political scandal, after all, was about national security, not extramarital sex.)
Second, once he had confessed wrongdoing, apologized to the House of Commons, and resigned his seat, Profumo turned up a few days later at Toynbee Hall, a charitable institution serving the poor and disadvantaged in London’s East End, asking to help clean up. For the next four decades he deployed his considerable skills to raise funds and dramatically expand Toynbee Hall’s social services while remaining resolutely silent about the events which had ended his promising political career.
No self-pitying memoir, no public recrimination, no ex post facto justification, no testing the electoral waters, not even a slot on a TV reality show. Just the quiet, and immensely dignified, determination to redeem himself for conduct that, to contemporary eyes, must look comparatively benign. In 1995, at her 70th birthday dinner, Margaret Thatcher, who had invited John Profumo to attend, sat him next to Queen Elizabeth, and pronounced him “one of our national heroes.”
While not all of us who’ve made very public mistakes in youth can expect to be pronounced, after a long and dignified post-scandal life, “national heroes” by former heads of state, we can live that same kind of life—and earn that same kind of regard—even if it only comes from quietly from family and friends.
Just a stray thought, this sunny Sunday morning.
Great quote from Prime Minister Harold MacMillan I came across in a Sunday Times article on John Profumo- think it was 2 weeks ago:
Jeff
It’s the concept of a moral bank account. We make deposits, we make withdrawals. Some may actually overdraw the account so egregiously as to have the account permanently closed.
But most of us try to keep the account in the well in the black.
Who can begrudge a checkbouncer’s attempt to get it right and make future deposits?
…while, under the table, her fingers teased his sweating knee.
-Steve
Perhaps a stray thought, Jeff. But certainly a profound one. Thank you.
Presidential, even. Bravo, Mr. Profumo.
Thanks for that image, Steve. Urk.
Jeff, if you’d like the discourse to be leavened by a bit more in the way of mercy (and God knows – he’s not the only one – we could use that), might I suggest extending it to a lefty of more contemporary vintage?
Dude, you’re right! Ben is a hero! It’s swell how he libeled his past editors at W&M until he was finally forced to admit to the obvious! Sure, he could have destroyed their careers, but it was just so important that this silver spoon prick continue his crusade. You can’t make an omelette without stealing a few eggs and libeling some chickens, you know! He’s a credit to movement conservatism. You, too, because I’m sure that if this had been a liberal, you’d be jumping to his defense.
I’ll leave you to your moral relativism now.
Uh, yeah, that’s our thing.
Well, one thing is certain: you won’t be leaving us to do any kind of thinking.
Christ, what to make of this mess? I mean, you actually read my post and pulled from it that I’m claiming Ben Domenech is a hero?
Why are you here? This site is not for you. And I’m not who you think I am.
All lies and jest
still a man hears
what he wants to hear
and he disregards the rest
S&G have all the answers.
Well, you certainly didn’t come right out and call him a hero, so I owe you a brief mea culpa, but you apparently took great pains to compare him to a decorated WWII veteran, sort of like Godwin’s Law in reverse. If you think one has to be inherently stupid to criticize you for this and assert that by comparing him to a hero you might be implying that he’s a hero, so be it; I am thus an idiot. But if someone else had compared Ben’s experience to that of Hitler or something, would you be joining me in my idiocy by assuming that this hypothetical fellow was comparing him, at least to a minor extent, to Hitler?
To answer your question, I was here to make a brief, snarky comment about all the glowing comments that have been made by alleged conservatives about a kid who was totally willing to steal, lie, and blame innocents when caught. I think that was implied in my previous post. Also implied was that you wouldn’t be taking pains to defend any of your opponents who had something like this.
But, as you say, I don’t belong here, and this is your blog, so I’ll leave it at that.
First Brit: Too bad about Christine Keeler committing suicide.
Second Brit: Suicide!? I didn’t hear about that!
First Brit: Yes. I heard they found her bobbing under a peer.
BB,
First: please stop promising to leave if you’re going to keep coming back.
Second:
That is Jeff’s comment. Since you obviously can’t comprehend I’ll interpret it for you. Jeff meant that it is possible to redeem oneself after a scandal, and that is a good thingâ€â€even if it only occurs within one’s own circle of family and friends. That’s about it.
So why don’t you try your Hitler comparison and see if it makes as much sense?
Jeff,
All this about plagiarism! Ben is in some good company along with (as someone else pointed out) the sainted Martin Luther King. But come on, plagiarism! If that can get you metaphorically drawn and quartered, what should be the punishment for, say, making common cause with people who blow up bomb laden cars in crowded streets? For making sure they get a “fair†press?
I have to ask, since I am not part of the scribbling trade, are plagiarists viewed in the academic world as the rest of us view the kind of person who rapes and murders a little girl? That is not a rhetorical question. I really want to know.
Because the reaction in the blogosphere has been amazing.
BarrettBrown —
Man, your ability to strain an interpretation to fit a preconceived narrative is astounding. Honestly.
I wrote:
This is clearl—CLEARLY—a suggestion that leading a good, quiet, post-scandal life can lead to redemption.
I didn’t “compare” Ben to this guy; I offered Prufomo as someone Ben might model his actions after from now on.
I don’t know how to make it any clearer, and I certainly don’t want to answer any more of your ridiculous assertions. It’s like I’m talking to a puppy.
runninrebel —
Beat me too it.
Moneyrunner—
It is frowned upon, but for instance, at the university where I taught, were a student to be caught plagiarizing (and it happened frequently), they would receive an F on the paper.
Personally, I think they should have failed the course.
But the plagiarism would need to be blatant and severe.
But academia is rife with plagiarism; it is also rife with self-righteousness, and a willingness to burn those who are caught.
Ward Churchill and many Others excepted, of course. Because really, who expects an Injun not to steal…
Well, Duncan Black made his appearance on West Wing tonight. Two shots totalling, maybe, 14 seconds. The larger context in the show of ‘who the fuck is this guy?’ is somewhat lost, though they made the point that Atrios had almost as many readers as the Philadelphia Inquirer.
As a Philly area guy, that’ s not saying very mcuh.
Also, let it be noted that Atrios from Eschaton showed up just as the Larry O’Donnell show entered into its death spiral.
The irony will be lost on the Atriots.
.
If you knew that you’d get one big public mistake to atone for, would you have a steamy affair with a sexy young thing, or illicitly copy a P.J. O’Rourke column?
I’m just asking.
I’d have the sexy young thing bend over the copier.
Point taken, Mike. I agree that a piece is a much better way to go out.
–Money,
I’ve popped a good number of freshman/sophomores plagiarizing (it’s like they think I don’t know about Google too) and it’s more or less up to the prof whether they are failed in the class or not. However it’s all but impossible to kick them out of school over it.
I think the best routine is to give them a low enough F that if they don’t redeem themselves in a big way the rest of the semester they’re screwed. But I’m all about correcting behavior.
I’ve seen a few people that really learn the lesson and turn their shit around. And that’s nice to see. Of course, I didn’t know their politics so I couldn’t wish eternal damnation upon them or forgive their sins without question, so. . .
If I think back on all of all the stupid, ignorant and embarassing things I did when I was younger, particularly in my early twenties between college and my first couple of jobs, I could end up in a fetal position in the corner sucking my thumb and peeing my pants.
Seriously, I made some stupid mistakes trying to get ahead, everyone does. Doesn’t excuse him, but a twenty-something plagerizing is easier to forgive than a fifty year old.
And I don’t know this guy from Adam, and I never even read his stuff and for all I know he could be an asshole, but I was an asshole when I was younger too. I used to make stupid mistakes all the time, someimes I’d hurt people, most of the time I got hurt.
When I read about, Blair and Glass and this guy I don’t see much difference between what they did and the brand new accountant who fudges the numbers because he was out drinking last night and needs to work on his bracket, or the salesguy who lies on his expenses because he charged the Eagles\Dallas game on his corporate card.
Point is, they get fired and they deserve it. but nobody got killed and they are all young dudes. They wil learn from this mistake and move on to something else.
Yeah, it’s terrible what he did, but the hysteria over it is ridiculous. Get pissed at the people who hired him if they report to you, but at this point, unless you work for the Washpost.com or the NYT, or Barings or whatever, get over it.
Good lord, they guy wrote on the INTERNET. I write on the internet all the fucking time, half the shit I write is BS.
Christ, never had to unsubscribe from a PW thread before, but the navel-gazing and whining and bullshit on the last one was just too much.
TW: received. as in: I’m sure he received a good cockpunch from boss. That’s enough for me.
You know what’s funny? I was going to come in here and satirically make fun of you for defending Ben Domenech and I see it was done for real.
That’s truly funny.
Irony isn’t dead, it’s just that it goes unrecognized by about half the country.
How does one check for plagiarism? I still find it incomprehensible how one can find out if one has copied from among the gazillions of works written.
Do you Google a paragraph or sentence and see if a match comes up? How does one check?
No self-pitying memoir, no public recrimination, no ex post facto justification, no testing the electoral waters, not even a slot on a TV reality show. Just the quiet, and immensely dignified, determination to redeem himself for conduct that, to contemporary eyes, must look comparatively benign. In 1995, at her 70th birthday dinner, Margaret Thatcher, who had invited John Profumo to attend, sat him next to Queen Elizabeth, and pronounced him “one of our national heroes.”
Plus, y’know, he got to shag Joanne Whalley. So it’s like, win-win.
I’m not sure why Domenech is considered to be so very indefensible. I’m in the scribbling trade and I consider plagiarism to be pretty bad, but it’s not the very worst thing you can do in life, and as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Martin Luther King Jr, Stephen Ambrose and David Leavitt have all found out, it doesn’t prevent you from continuing to do good work and it doesn’t invalidate everything you’ve done to date. Everyone, but everyone has overlooked Kearns Goodwin’s plagiarism, in spite of evidence that it may have happened more than once, and she’s still on all the talk shows and documentaries. Domenech’s problem is that he had to be above suspicion to be the new “righty” blogger at the WashPost, and he wasn’t. It’s right that he lost his job/resigned over this, but I don’t doubt that had it been a “lefty” blogger it would all somehow have been attributed to youthful lack of judgment and everyone would have rallied around to rehabilitate him just as they did with Kearns Goodwin.
Muslihoon,
Yeah, you Google the portions that look like they were written by Foucault–copied stuff either stands out as way too good or techinical or it just stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the writing.
It’s not hard or uncommon to find.
I wonder how many copies of “Crashing the Gate” will be sold, just so people can type passages into Google, looking for evidence of plagiarism?
Think of the fame & glory to bring down the Kos!
(No, this isn’t Moulitsas drumming up book sales. Honest.)