GRE: Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could.

I agree with the statement that scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could. There are many reasons that I agree with this statement. I will be covering three of them. First, scandals have a shock factor that impacts us in ways that normal speakers will never possess. Second, scandals serve to illuminate us to issues that would have been previously ignored. Third, scandals allow us to better our society from a moral standpoint.

The major scandal that I remember best in my lifetime was that of President Clinton, and Monica Lewinsky affair. I will be using this as an example to highlight my three main points. Before the Lewinsky affair, we all knew or suspected that presidents had affairs, but it never really impacted our society because it was never confirmed. There had been numerous books written about President JFK's elicit affairs, but there was always an air of disbelief. The Lewinsky affair shocked our nation and awoke us to the idea that Presidents have moral flaws as well as political ones. This effect never would have been achieved without scandal. We began to scrutinize our presidential candidates more than ever before. All because of the effect the scandal had on public attention.

Like I mentioned previously, scandals serve to show us the flaws in our society which had been spoken about by public speakers or reformers beforehand, but are in general ignored by the majority. Before the Lewinsky scandal there were numerous books highlighting the affairs of Presidents, including, FDR, JFK, LBJ, but there were not popular, or the country refused the believe them. The Scandal served to awaken the general public to the extra-marital affairs of our leaders and to actually pay attention to them.

There are those that say scandals serve to stain the reputation of the society that they arise from, but they are ignoring the fact that any sort of negative event whether it is brought to light by public speakers, reformers, or scandals is highlighting a negative about our society and can damage its reputation.

The last point is a positive about scandals. They serve to better society from a moral standpoint. The Lewinsky affair bettered our process of picking candidates. In the most recent election, Candidate Herman Cain dropped out of the running because he was rightly accused of having multiple affairs. It is better that it occurred then, rather than him possibly being elected and having a greater negative impact on the reputation of the office president.

Scandals serve to bring about change. They are not pretty, happy events, but they lead to positive changes. Public speakers and reforms are ineffective and pale in comparison to the overall impact that a scandal can have.