GRE作文北美范文：关于名人生活和隐私
时间：2014-04-27 01:47:45
（单词翻译:单击）
"Public figures such as actors, politicians, and athletes should expect people to be interested in their private lives. When they seek a public role, they should expect that they will lose at least some of their privacy."This statement is fundamentally correct; public figures should indeed expect to lose their privacy. After all, we are a society of voyeurs1 wishing to transform our mundane2 lives; and one way to do so is to live vicariously through the experiences of others whose lives appear more interesting than our own. Moreover, the media recognize this societal foible and exploit it at every opportunity. Nevertheless, a more accurate statement would draw a distinction between political figures and other public figures; the former have even less reason than the latter to expect to be left alone, for the reason that their duty as public servants legitimizes public scrutiny3 of their private lives.
The chief reason why I generally agree with the statement is that, for better or worse, intense media attention to the lives of public figures raises a
presumption4 in the collective mind of the viewing or reading public that our public figures' lives are far more interesting than our own. This presumption is understandable. After all, I think most people would agree that given the opportunity for even
fleeting5 fame they would embrace it without
hesitation6. Peering into the private lives of those who have achieved our dreams allows us to live vicariously through those lives.
Another reason why I generally agree with the statement has to do with the forces that motivate the media. For the most part, the media consist of large corporations whose chief objective is to maximize
shareholder7 profits. In pursuit of that objective the media are simply giving the public what they demand a
voyeuristic8 look into the private lives of public figures. One need look no further than a newsstand, local-television news broadcast, or talk show to find ample evidence that this is so. For better or worse, we love to peer at people on public pedestals, and we love to watch them fall off. The media know this all too well, and exploit our
obsession9 at every opportunity.
Nevertheless, the statement should be
qualified10 in that a political figure has less reason to expect privacy than other public figures. Why? The private affairs of public servants become our business when those affairs
adversely11 affect our servants' ability to serve us effectively, or when our servants betray our trust. For example, several years ago the
chancellor12 of a university located in my city was expelled from office for
misusing13 university funds to
renovate14 his posh personal residence. The scandal became front-page news in the campus newspaper, and prompted a useful system-wide reform. Also consider the Clinton sex scandal, which sparked a debate about the powers and duties of legal
prosecutors15 vis4-vis the chief executive. Also, the court rulings about executive privilege and
immunity16, and even the
impeachment17 proceedings18, all of which resulted from the scandal, might serve as useful legal
precedents19 for the future.
Admittedly, intense public scrutiny of the personal lives of public figures can carry harmful consequences, for the public figure as well as the society. For instance, the Clinton scandal resulted in enormous financial costs to
taxpayers20, and it harmed many individuals caught up in the legal process. And for more that a year the scandal served chiefly to distract us from our most pressing national and global problems. Yet, until as a society we come to appreciate the potentially harmful effects of our preoccupation with the lives of public figures, they can expect to remain the cynosures of our attention.
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