Another Victim of the Male Ego

There is a reason this blog is called The Age of Accountability. In deciding what to call this blog back in 2008, I had both personal and sociological reasons. I was searching for personal redemption after a rather dark period, and my feeling was that the country was itself entering a dark period after deregulation had been allowed to run amok.

I felt vindicated when President Obama, in his inaugural address, used the very same phrase. I held out the faint hope that given the circumstances Americans might get the message.

I wish I could say that my hope had come to fruition. But, unfortunately, it is clear that arrogance and complacency still hold a prominent position in the American consciousness.

During my personal dark period, I read a book by the historian Barbara Tuchman called The March of Folly. Her main assertion, which I at first thought was rather superfluous, was that the male ego is responsible for many of the worst tragedies in human history. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit that she was right.

In the past two weeks, we have had two glaring examples. First, we had the anti-intellectualism displayed by the Augusta National Country Club when they refused to extend a membership to the recently installed female CEO of IBM, after having given the past four male CEO's memberships. There was no logical reason given for their refusal. They just didn't feel like it.

Today, we have the culmination of the scandal involving Bobby Petrino, the now ex-football coach at Arkansas. It seems that Mr. Petrino lied about the circumstances surrounding a motorcycle accident he had on April 1st. The first report was that Mr. Petrino was alone when he had his accident. Over the weekend it was revealed the he had been accompanied by a female companion half his age. Today, the rest of the details were filled in. This female companion was someone he was having an affair with and he had hired her above 159 other applicants for a job with the Arkansas athletic department.

It turns out he lied to his superiors about the circumstances of the accident to cover up the affair for the sake of his family. This man is 51 years old, he is being paid $3.5 million a year, and his position as football coach of the biggest school in the State automatically makes him a high profile individual.

The question has to be asked: What was going through this man's mind? If he was 25 or even 30 years old, you could offer an explanation of immaturity or youthful indiscretion. But this guy is 51. What are we to conclude? That he hasn't learned his lesson yet? He is being paid $3.5 million a year. His contract was in place through the end of the 2017 season. Consider this in light of the fact that the governor of Arkansas, Mike Beebe, was paid a salary of less than $90,000 in 2010. So to sum it up in a few words, he was willing to risk close to $20 million in order to indulge his ego.

This is far from the first controversial action Mr. Petrino has taken. He has a rather tumultuous employment history. He has shown no loyalty to his employers or his players. And now he has slapped his family across the face as well. It's just the latest example of a male ego gone completely out of control.

As a disclaimer, I will say that I committed a similar indiscretion when I was in my 30's and I paid a high price for it in personal shame and public ruin. But I wasn't the coach of a major university football team and I wasn't making anywhere near $3.5 million a year. I am not trying to say that I was less wrong or hurtful in doing what I did than Mr. Petrino was. But I am saying that if I was in Mr. Petrino's position I would have given the matter more serious thought before taking such a tremendous risk. I just find it fascinating that a man would engage in such self degradation at his age, especially given the fact that I am just about the same age and I feel like I have learned a few hard lessons from the mistakes of my past. Maybe this latest indiscretion will help Mr. Petrino see the light.

In any case, these two latest examples of ego induced idiocy only serve to prove that Barbara Tuchman deserves the posthumous title of modern day genius.