There is no safe place for infidelity, nor should there be.
Cheating on one’s significant other in an assumed monogamous relationship is immoral and offers the risk of that immorality’s exposure even under the proclaimed guise of protection made by the cheating website Ashley Madison.
On Sunday, information hackers stole from Ashley Madison surfaced throughout the media, creating a comical and frantic social media response. The hackers have threatened Ashley Madison’s parent company, Avid Life Media, with the ultimatum that either the company shuts down Ashley Madison services or the hackers would post the stolen information online.
Infidelity strikes at the very core of a man or woman’s personality. Cheating on a significant other not only tears open their heart, but it also poisons that person’s sense of trust, affecting them in all future relationships.
With trust acting as the base for all relationships to be built on, its degradation is costly for a person’s emotional stability.
Whether the hackers are a horde of angry Christians or irate wives (or maybe even husbands), the action of blackmail to end immoral services like Ashley Madison is not the most efficient corrective outlet.
The best way to teach the importance of loyalty in a relationship is through educating children on the facets of relationships, and not just romantic relationships but those of friendship as well. Stealing people’s private information is wrong, no matter the reason, even if it is to fight an immoral action.
While I deplore infidelity for its back stabbing nature, I cannot condone the methodology of the hackers. I cannot force my beliefs upon others; however for those who believe humans were not meant to be monogamous, you had better be darn sure your partner feels the same way.
Unspeakable acts of physical violence plague the world we live in, but it is betrayal that is the most violent attack on a human being’s spirit.
As Shakespeare’s Caesar lay bleeding upon the senate floor, he looked into the eyes of his most trusted friend and cried out with his last words “Et tu Brute?”
Don’t break someone’s heart for the sake of a one night stand. Work out your problems and either end or mend the relationship, but don’t attack loyalty. Don’t destroy a person’s ability to trust, to love.
With that said, it is important to iterate the old cliché that two wrongs do not make a right. The theft of private information for the sake of a perceived good cause is still wrong and takes the focus away from the immorality of infidelity and shines a light on the illegalities involved with hacking.
The hackers should refrain from their threats and focus their efforts on more productive solutions to infidelity, solutions that focus on the core values of loyalty, respect, trust and love. Our society is in great need of a moral response to immorality’s attack on trust. Stealing is not the way to do it.
Justin DiCharia is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @JDiCharia.