That Kind Of Guy

So Alex Kozinski may need to recuse himself from overseeing that porn/obscenity trial out in California because it turns out that he, too, has access to the pr0n. While public figures' attempts to explain why they had certain materials sitting around on their computers are often awkward and strain credulity (see: Towsnhend, Pete and child pornography), his tale of saving images sent to him that he found interesting or amusing does seem at least marginally plausible. More to the point, it's not as though he was distributing these files; what the story makes clear is that he had a personal website which he also used as storage space, and someone merely did the guesswork/backtracking on the URL to see *all* the files he had uploaded. I do wonder, though, if this sort of awkward public gaffe is going to largely disappear over the next two decades. There does seem to be a qualitative distinction between being an older person who has developed strong facility and comfort with computers/the internet and a person of my generation (or younger) who has entirely grown up with them and is completely fluent in their use and social implications. I'm fairly forthright about the fact that I look at pornography, but if I were a semi-famous authority figure with a oublicly accessible website that used my real name, I wouldn't keep potentially embarrassing material anywhere near it.

[UPDATE: When I wrote this post I promise (scout's honor, really) that I hadn't seen this post, which connects the Kozinski matter above and the Cargol matter below. Also, I learn that the newest information available re: Kozinski is that one of his kids is actually saying "Wait, y'all, that was my stuff," which might better explain why the elder Kozinski said he didn't remember uploading those pictures. This actually makes Kozinski look really good, since he was quite prepared to take responsibility for something he may honestly not have done. I should reiterate that I don't actually care about the pictures or who looks at them, just the perceived impropriety and the not-avoiding something publicly embarrassing. Also, I'm not exactly sure what age the younger Kozinski is, but apparently I'm wrong on that whole "people closer to my age and younger won't be prone to this sort of technology-related gaffe, we'll have other gaffes instead" business.]

There's also, in what's actually not related news, this. This is all over the net right now, I'm mostly putting it here as a public service to my few loyal readers who might not see it elsewhere. Owen Cargol, who was the "head" (I didn't actually see whether his title was president or what have you) of the new American University in Iraq, resigned because someone bothered to notice that in 2001 he was forced to step down as president of Northern Arizona University because of allegations that he grabbed a university employee's genitals while in the locker room, among other sexually inappropriate behaviors. (A commenter at Yglesias' notes that the list of "applications for the job of head of a university that gets mortared can't have been all that long," which is probably true.) During this prior event, Mr. Cargol apparently defended himself thusly in email (again!):

[I am a] a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy.

To crib a line from a widespread tall tale at my alma mater: Buh-SCUSE me, motherfucker?!?!? Now, I'm, shall we say, a physically expressive guy. As I got older I intentionally cut down on the amount of physical contact I initiate with friends (both male and female) because I don't want to make them uncomfortable. But at heart I'm very much a "give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back...squeeze-your-hand...[even a] pat-your-thigh kind of guy." What I'm not, especially, is a "rub-your-belly" kind of guy. I can see it, I guess. I have no clue what "cheek-your-face" means - nuzzling? Hmm, that's a little over the top. I do admire, though, the way he slips the more egregious ones in there along with the innocuous, as though to say they're all the same; there's a brazenness that does remind vaguely of Kozinski's whole "What? - these pictures? Well I guess some of them could be considered pornographic. And, you know, I certainly didn't intend to keep them around!" schtick, which is amusing because it elides the whole "keep them around after what, Alex?" question. But who thinks he can really get away with including "grab-your-balls...pull-your-dick"? Or perhaps the right question is: "Who the fuck taught this guy inter-male locker room behavior?" I think it's clear that he wasn't socialized the same way most of us are.