A cell phone video showing someone of moderate importance being stupid has surfaced … again.
A woman who is supposedly Vice Pres. Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley, was filmed snorting what looks like cocaine. The video was sold to the New York Post for $400,000 on Monday.
As I write this on Tuesday night, no one’s really sure if it’s really Ashley Biden in the video, and the lawyer who represented the seller has dropped him as a client after drawing fire from people who claim the camera was hidden while the tape was recorded.
Extra criticism is going Joe Biden’s way because throughout his career he has rallied against drug use, often fighting for imposing strict penalties to those who use or sell drugs.
I guess my thought is: Why is this Joe Biden’s fault?
Ashley Biden isn’t 15 and in high school. She’s a 27-year-old woman.
So even if it is her in the video, is a father really to blame for the actions of his adult daughter?
If so, then where do we draw the line?
Are only important people responsible for the actions of their children?
Or do ‘regular’ people stand the same scrutiny?
I understand looking at the parents when an 11-year-old holds up a gas station.
But when I’m in my late 20s, I don’t want my parents getting credit for the things I’ve done, whether they be good or bad.
I don’t even want my parents taking credit for what I do now.
Not to say parents don’t shape the lives of their kids, but at some point that cord has to be cut.
Joe Biden has proven time and time again that he has no problem getting himself into trouble. So Biden and his staff really don’t need to add another person to their already very full plate.
So if the world wants someone to blame and harp at, then blame and harp at the person who was actually doing the drugs.
But I don’t even understand why people really care.
Don’t we all have enough going on in our own lives? The economy is in the pits and unemployment could be near depression levels in the not too distant future.
Shouldn’t we be more concerned with ourselves?
If Michelle Obama was doing crack in the East Wing, then, yes, I’d be pretty irked.
But Ashley Biden is a social worker in Delaware. She’s not one of the leaders of the free world.
This, undoubtedly, was not her best choice, assuming it’s her in the video.
Just because she’s the vice president’s daughter doesn’t mean she gives up her privacy.
She’s not living in the White House.
I do have to ask, though, how can people continue to be this stupid?
Especially with what happened recently with Michael Phelps.
I’m pretty sure they don’t even make cell phones without video cameras in them anymore, and everybody has a cell phone, so everybody has a video camera.
That means if you’re kind of a celebrity, or an actual celebrity, don’t do drugs at a party.
People are greedy. They will pretty much do anything for money, including taking a video of a d-, c-, b- or a-list celeb doing anything that can be construed as unethical. Even if they are supposed to be that celeb’s friend, as was the case with the Ashley Biden video.
It’s happened too many times for people not to keep that in the back of their heads before they smoke a joint or snort a line at a party.
Pat Oldendorf is a sophomore English secondary education major from Lockport. He is the Scout managing editor.
Direct questions, comments and other responses to poldendorf@mail.bradley.edu
