As an avid Tweeter, I was confused last week when I saw at least three trending topics devoted to Bishop Eddie Long. I’m unfamiliar with bishops outside the realm of chess, so next to other trending topics like #youknowitsbadsexwhen and Britney Spears Glee, it seemed slightly out of place. That is, until I Googled the guy and realized he was just another clergyman with loose robes.
Long, pastor of a suburban “megachurch” in Atlanta, has been accused of luring four male teens into having sex with him. He’s rubbed elbows with the country’s most famous athletes, politicians and celebrities, and seems to have all the starpower of the scandalized meth-using pastor (and gay prostitute avid) Ted Haggard. Long hasn’t done anything we haven’t seen before. But it doesn’t prevent the public from getting high off his downward spiral.
President Obama’s probably dabbing the sweat off his forehead and sighing of relief. Eddie Long’s got the attention of the masses. But why? Yeah, on a scale of one to 10, this is as good as a Monica Lewinsky. And look at what happened to her &- she banked millions from interviews and got a master’s degree in social psychology, catapulting her from the Oval Office to a lifestyle of the rich and famous. She came out on top (pun intended) because sex sells. Bishop Long, a crusader against homosexuality who actually enjoys its perks, is even more of a story than Monica &- a story with sex and hypocrisy.
Our fascination with sex scandals is undeniable. Especially those with teachers and students. Mary Kay Letourneau, pregnant with her 13-year-old pupil’s baby, got a whole Lifetime movie about her life &- and I can’t lie, I watched the whole thing with a big bowl of popcorn. Snooki’s funny when she talks about pickles, but the last 15 minutes of “Jersey Shore” is almost always devoted to who’s having sex with who, and maybe a little black and white sneak peek. It’s not all for the boys hitting puberty &- everyone wanted to know if Vinny thought Snooki or Angelina was better in bed. When it comes to Eddie Long’s debacle, it’s pretty much been decided that he’s guilty and deserves whatever’s coming to him. The loveable cast of “Jersey Shore” gets a little more leeway. After all, they all admitted when they went to Miami that they were single and ready to mingle. Long has had a different approach &- in past sermons, he’s said that he can help homosexuals stop mingling, i.e. turn them straight. So when it turned out that he was dipping into the same pool he tried to discredit – the story caught like wildfire.
So who can really blame the Twitter population for making him a trending topic? Like a pregnant Letourneau craving chocolate, we all crave the downfall of double-dealing sexual degenerates &- as long as we can watch.
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