Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Addicted to Love.

Words. For Your Consideration...


"...whether or not Weiner manages to hang on, the episode underscores how rehab has become an all-purpose laundromat for irresponsible behavior, an infuriatingly easy substitute for accepting blame and living with consequences.

Increasingly, in our Rehab Nation, the concept of sin has been replaced by the language of addiction. Shame has been supplanted by therapeutic intervention. The disease model of misbehavior dictates that there are no bad people, only damaged individuals compelled to commit harmful acts. In this scenario, personal responsibility evaporates and virtue becomes an anachronism.

...We live in an age of rehab as reality show. The cable channel VH1 has aired four seasons of “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” which spawned a spin-off, “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew.” If former House majority leader Tom DeLay could make it to “Dancing With the Stars,” I’m sure there’s a place on VH1 for Weiner.

Especially when it comes to actual addictions, to drugs and alcohol, I’m sure rehab can be a helpful, if not surefire, remedy. However many times it takes Lindsay Lohan, I hope it works.

The Weiner situation is different.

...Writing on Time.com, Maia Szalavitz, herself a former heroin and cocaine addict, described the dangers of defining addiction downward.

“If anyone can go to rehab when his actions lead to public humiliation, is rehab still a medical treatment or does it become some form of absolution?” she asked. “If every time someone behaves like a jerk and the reason behind it is addiction, doesn’t that mean addiction is just an excuse for bad behavior?”..."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: In Rehab Nation, sin becomes addiction
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