We hear that what is put on the Internet, stays on the Internet, from our parents, our friends, our teachers and our colleagues. However, our unrealistic sense of personal invincibility overshadows both the advice received and the plethora of online scandals witnessed. Putting things in writing allows for the opportunity of redistribution, reinterpretation, and in the case of the Republican Party, utter chaos. Today’s Speaker of the House election scandal proved that not even the government has immunity to online leaks.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, (shocking, right?) removed himself from the race to take the place of John Boehner as Speaker of the House, “a stunning move that threw a fractious Republican Party into chaos and further complicated an already tumultuous leadership contest.” Although McCarthy claimed to the media that his withdrawal was due to his belief that the party needs a “new face,” a leaked internal e-mail from Re. Walter Jones may suggest otherwise. The letter, which was intended only for the eyes of candidates for House leadership, asked anyone who had a “significant scandal in their closet” to remove themselves from the race. Just bad timing, or is this why McCartney withdrew from the race within minutes of receiving the e-mail?
Despite the fact that this surely could be a case of bad timing, due to the viral nature of digital communications, the emergence of this e-mail has thrown McCarthy into the hot seat, questioning his true reasoning for withdrawing from the race. Unfortunately, due to the re-tweets, re-posts and re-shares of the message, whether true or not, the influential world of digital communication has very easily convinced the public that Kevin McCarthy has “significant scandals in his closet,” which is why he is no longer running for Speaker of the House. This event portrays the mere power that digital communications can have, and that it can be used for both good and evil. If McCarthy does wrongly have a chest full of scandals, than the publicity of this e-mail has rightfully encouraged an undeserving candidate from removing himself from what is such a crucial race for the American government. However, if on the contrary McCarthy truthfully did remove himself from the race due to his compassion for the future of the Repubican party, than the usage of persuasive digital communications has wound him up in the wrong place at the wrong time, causing a major setback to both his political career as well as reputation.
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