Technology often makes people eat their own words. People say things they shouldn’t say on the Internet, because they feel a sense of security. When that security is breached and this information is released, some of society’s most vocal critics are often revealed to be hypocrites.
The online dating site Ashley Madison, that focuses on married people seeking an affair, was recently hacked. Private information on various users was released to the public. This includes data that users paid Ashley Madison to delete forever. Some of this data pertains to public figures who were caught with their pants down.
Certain celebrities, including preachers and government officials who are noted for preaching family values, were found to have accounts on this underhanded, affair-searching website. Dan Loeb is one such victim of this hack. Loeb was vocal in his attack on Hilary Clinton on social media. He played to her husband’s famous promiscuous behavior, noting Hilary was “clueless” because she remained with Bill. Now Loeb is seen as just the man he is, two-faced.
Loeb is a billionaire hedge fund investor who contributes heavily to the Republican Party. He claims to have created his account out of curiosity, because he’s an avid Web-surfer. The hack, however, reveals that Loeb was active on the site, frequently online to check his private messages. Loeb is the one shown to be “clueless.” It’s one thing to disagree with another’s behavior, it’s another thing entirely to emulate it behind closed doors.
It’s a sad realization to know that some of the biggest proponents of family values are in fact the slimiest of people when nobody’s looking. Only sometimes hackers look, and we get to see them for who they truly are.