LOS ANGELES – When on the campaign trail, politicians make a lot of promises. Sometimes, they promise they will not raise taxes, telling us to “read their lips” to provide emphasis concerning how very serious they are about not doing something we already know they inevitably, definitely, without question are going to do once they’ve been elected.
Other times, politicians are too busy to make empty, meaningless promises, so intrepid members of the news media take it upon themselves to make lofty promises on the candidate’s behalf.
For example, there’s a headline on Huffington Post this week proclaiming “Hillary Clinton Vows to End Revenge Porn as President.” In the same town hall meeting during which she reportedly made this vow, Clinton also “pledged to stop cyberbullying,” according to the article’s sub-headline.
The only problem is Clinton said no such thing.
What she actually said in response to a question about revenge porn — and more specifically, what she would do to ensure a federal law prohibiting revenge porn would be passed during her presidency — was issue a very vague promise to do “everything I can” to address the issue once she’s in office.
This is the response of a veteran politician, one who knows she has to be reassuring in her answer and show she’s responsive to the concerns of her constituents without tying herself down to any specific action or policy.
If you look at the larger context of Clinton’s remarks, she actually didn’t say a single thing of any real specificity. She didn’t even take the questioner’s invitation to say she’d support federal legislation making acts of revenge porn a crime in all 50 states. (Currently, 34 states have state laws addressing revenge porn, but no federal law on the subject has been passed.)
Instead, Clinton talked about giving revenge porn victims “the tools they need,” as well as the need for the public (and revenge porn victims in particular) to help her figure out what to do about the problem.
Here’s a longer version of the substance of Clinton’s revenge porn response than I’ve seen in other reports. (To hear the question and Clinton’s entire response to it, go to the town hall video and skip forward to the 29:47 mark.)
“So you have to help me figure out, how do we keep the best of everything you’re doing and everything that the internet means. And yeah, is there gonna be bad stuff and nasty stuff and rotten things that are said? I am ‘Exhibit A,’ I am an expert in this, so yes, I know that. But when it crosses a line, when it becomes so threatening, so dangerous, we have to stop it. So I will do whatever I can to try to help you and help others who have spoken out, because you’re strong enough not to let yourself remain a victim. A lot of people aren’t, and so we’ve got to help you help them, and I will certainly do everything I can to bring that about.”
On the one hand, if I were Chrissy Chambers, the young woman who asked the question, I might not be entirely happy with Clinton’s response. I’m guessing Chambers would have liked to hear Clinton commit to the idea of a federal revenge porn law. Chambers clearly believes one needs to be put in place.
On the other hand, as someone who’s concerned about possible over-breadth and over-inclusiveness of such a statute, I read between the lines of Clinton’s remarks and heard a sense of caution. It’s a careful politician’s reply to a question about a hot-button issue. Clinton may legitimately feel she needs to know more about the subject before committing to something as far-reaching as a new federal law. In their zeal to “protect the public,” politicians could pass a law impacting a lot of expression that can’t be described as legitimate “revenge porn.”
No matter how you slice it, though, what Clinton said certainly doesn’t amount to a vow to end revenge porn or a pledge to stop cyberbullying.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m actually glad Clinton didn’t vow to end revenge porn or stop cyberbullying — not because I condone or engage in either of these stupid, ugly activities, but because I’m not a big fan of empty campaign promises made because they’re politically expedient.
The truth is, given the nature of the technology that enables it, revenge porn can’t be “stopped.”
It can be discouraged, its damage can be mitigated and more can be done to punish perpetrators. However, until or unless we can invent a technology capable of differentiating between sexually explicit images depicting people who have consented to distribution of said images from sexually explicit images depicting people who have not consented to distribution of the images, revenge porn will continue to be uploaded.
Some people just don’t give a shit about the law or common decency or the psychological wellbeing of their lovers and ex-lovers. The unpleasant truth is there’s not a single thing Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or any other potential resident of the Oval Office can do to change that — no matter how many promises Huffpo editors might put in their mouths suggesting the contrary.
(Photo by Lorie Shaull)
