American Scandal Notes: The Many Meanings of Scandal
History 4197 • Spring 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Many Meanings of Scandal
Themes * Slander * Attacks on personal and public reputation * Take people to court for slander * Print Media * Publicity * Personal Attacks * Gossip * The engine of scandal * Doesn’t have to be true * Public figures * The most likely figures. They invite scandal because they are in the public sphere. Slander has been limited to people who stay private.
Etymology of Scandal * Greek meaning – Skandalon * Cause of moral stumbling * Obstacle or trap * Old French escandre (11th century) * Scandal first used in English (16th century) – lined to Slander * Religious Meaning: Discredit Religion * Secular SPEECH ATS: 1. Defamatory actions or utterances (HONOR) 2. Discreditable actions (SHAME) 3. Offensive Conduct (IMMORALITY) a. Usually connected to sex because of this, from the Catholic tradition.
Secrecy and Deception * Secondary Transgression * Heightened by cover-up * Scandals tend to be linked with secrecy and deception and become worse when a cover-up is involved. * Minor offenses do not constitute scandal; neither do larger offenses such as genocide. It’s somewhere in the middle. * Hypocrisy – Gap between public and private identity, discovery of hidden secret self that brings on the scandal. * Metaphor of the face * Two-faced * Faces tell something significant about a person * Greek tradition * Struggle to save face and repair one’s reputation * Ritualized performance * Confess wrongs, get sympathy and get back into the moral community. * Formula involved, becomes a requirement and must say certain things in order to be forgiven. * Variations based on what the scandal is * No longer feels genuine because of the ritual involved. * Manipulation of symbolic power: Control self image *
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Many Meanings of Scandal
Themes * Slander * Attacks on personal and public reputation * Take people to court for slander * Print Media * Publicity * Personal Attacks * Gossip * The engine of scandal * Doesn’t have to be true * Public figures * The most likely figures. They invite scandal because they are in the public sphere. Slander has been limited to people who stay private.
Etymology of Scandal * Greek meaning – Skandalon * Cause of moral stumbling * Obstacle or trap * Old French escandre (11th century) * Scandal first used in English (16th century) – lined to Slander * Religious Meaning: Discredit Religion * Secular SPEECH ATS: 1. Defamatory actions or utterances (HONOR) 2. Discreditable actions (SHAME) 3. Offensive Conduct (IMMORALITY) a. Usually connected to sex because of this, from the Catholic tradition.
Secrecy and Deception * Secondary Transgression * Heightened by cover-up * Scandals tend to be linked with secrecy and deception and become worse when a cover-up is involved. * Minor offenses do not constitute scandal; neither do larger offenses such as genocide. It’s somewhere in the middle. * Hypocrisy – Gap between public and private identity, discovery of hidden secret self that brings on the scandal. * Metaphor of the face * Two-faced * Faces tell something significant about a person * Greek tradition * Struggle to save face and repair one’s reputation * Ritualized performance * Confess wrongs, get sympathy and get back into the moral community. * Formula involved, becomes a requirement and must say certain things in order to be forgiven. * Variations based on what the scandal is * No longer feels genuine because of the ritual involved. * Manipulation of symbolic power: Control self image *