A week
ago, video footage of Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin dancing to club music and partying with friends leaked on social media.
The backlash was sharp and swift. Her primary detractors were opposition party leaders in Finland and the puritans on social media. Quite soon the mainstream piled on her like a ton of bricks. It was a frenzy of unrelenting outrage.
Reacting to the leak, Marin said she knew she was being filmed but was upset that the
video had become public.
"I danced, sang, and partied - perfectly legal things. And I've never been in a situation where I've seen or known of others [using drugs]" said Marin.
Marin told reporters that she had "no problem taking tests" and so she did.
In
response to the ‘controversy’, people across Finland and in some other
countries, posted videos of themselves dancing, with the hashtag
#imwithsanna.
A
government statement (in Finnish) revealed that "no
drugs were found" in the test and that Marin paid personally for the drug tests.
A bit
of background about Sana Marin.
Marin's
parents separated when she was very young, and in her early years, her mother
raised her alone. The family faced financial problems.
Marin
said she worked in a bakery at 15 and distributed magazines for pocket money
during high school.
She also
spoke about the stigma she encountered when her mother was in a same-sex
relationship, saying she felt "invisible" because she was unable to
talk openly about her family.
Marin
said her mother was supportive and made her believe she could do anything she
wanted, she said.
Marin
was the first person in her family to finish high school and go to university.
At
34, Marin became the world's youngest serving prime minister.
Marin is a self-made woman and a young achiever - a lot to be proud of.
Marin
was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.
On 9
December 2020, she was ranked 85th on the list of The
World's 100 Most Powerful Women
In
2020 she became a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Marin
was selected for the cover of Time magazine's "Time100 Next" theme
issue, which showcases one hundred influential leaders from around the world.
Just
last week, Marin was dubbed the "coolest prime minister in the world"
by German news outlet Bild.
Back
to the ‘wild’ party
It is foolish to expect nuance or sense from the virtual lynch mobs on social media.
But what about the mainstream media?
The BBC carried an article provocatively headlined “Sanna Marin: Finland prime minister who loves to party” defining her only due to her recreational habits. Some used the word 'wild' to imply debauchery. Fortunately, most others chose to apply quotes to the word ‘wild’ while describing the party.
There are some who called the attacks on Marin sexist.
There is probably some truth to that.
A reader left a comment observing that Marin's husband wasn't seen in the video.
But we must also remember that Deputy Prime Minister Annika Saarikko who said the partying lifestyle in the video did not match the experience of many Finns struggling with the cost of living crisis and the Opposition party leader, Riikka Purra who demanded a drug test for Marin are both women.
More than sexism, it seems to be more of a cultural shock.
The fact that she is attractive and young and outraced many old horses of Finish politics to become PM is the grudge that drives the hate Marin receives.
Should the PM of a nation be partying the way Sanna Marin did?
Before
we answer that, let's imagine a hypothetical situation.
What if
Marin had attended an opera instead of the party and footage of her entering the
auditorium or being moved to tears during the opera or applauding with a standing ovation after the opera was
leaked to the media?
Would there be outrage? Most likely not.
This is because we are
conditioned to think a certain way about specific occurrences.
Attending
that classical music concert or an opera or watching a 'serious' play or a film is ‘appropriate’, the attendees of
such events are regarded as ones with great taste and class, perhaps even intellectual heft.
However cavorting, gyrating, or twerking to club music is ‘inappropriate’ and the young lady engaging in these acts is regarded as frivolous and worse ‘loose’.
Both notions are obviously baseless.
One would have thought that the Europeans were much more evolved.
There are those who compared Marin’s partying with Boris Johnson’s parties. This is a case of false equivalence. Johnson's parties were held when his own government imposed strict COVID-19 lockdowns and draconian restrictions on citizens. In Johnson’s case, it was the hypocrisy that irked many. Many weren't allowed to meet their dying grandparents and here Johnson was having beer parties and worst lying about them when he was caught.
Some
claimed Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, also a women leader would never have partied like
that. Thatcher was 54 when she became British Prime Minister, that was a different time and
Thatcher was a different person, obviously.
Critics claimed that it was insensitive considering the regular Finnish people are struggling with the rising cost of living.
But Marin wasn’t engaging in any ostentatious display, it was just a party at her home.
Unless the party was funded by taxpayers' money or an individual that could compromise her role as PM, there is nothing to be concerned about.
Most importantly it was her personal time.
Her privacy was invaded and her trust was violated.
The psychological effect it could have is inexplicable. It may be impossible for Marin to trust any of her close friends anymore. It could fuel paranoia. The impact it must have on her mental health is unfathomable. Yes, it was a silly dance video, but it is the violation and not what was revealed in the violation that matters.
Clearly, there is someone in the circle that is reckless or untrustworthy. That can never be good for a Prime Minister.
She clearly looked rather stressed in the presser following the video leaked
Did the public have a right to know that Marin was partying?
Just as an employer is not entitled to what their employee does beyond office hours as long as laws weren’t broken, voters and taxpayers who are employers for politicians have no business snooping into the private lives of their leaders.
Leaders must be judged by their record and if their utterances match their actions.
If Marin has made speeches against clubbing and partying and demanded that the young stay indoors and pray, the leaked video would have been a problem. But that didn’t occur.
Marin did deserve to be criticized when a photo of her dancing at a crowded club surfaced last year in the midst of the Covid outbreak. She was clubbing despite having been exposed the previous day to another cabinet minister who had been diagnosed with Covid.
Marin acknowledged after the fact that she had used poor
judgment in violating health protocols that required that she isolated herself from the
public.
Being Prime Minister is a job like any other.
Like all humans, a Prime Minister deserves time off especially over the holidays if there are no pressing engagements.
The job of a Prime Minister is always mentally stressful. This
makes periodic recreational activities not a luxury but an essential. Taking the mind off
work is the best way to recharge an exhausted mind.
It is up to the individual about the choice of recreation.
If dancing and partying provide Marin with the relief she needs, she is perfectly entitled to it.
The puritans on social media and in the mainstream media need to understand that public figures, like any other human beings, have a right to privacy away from the prying judging eyes. The constant urge to morally judge others and look for blasphemies to feel superior and virtuous needs to STOP.
Marin said his schedule was clear.
It is important for people to understand that the PM is not a robot that works 24X7, the PM deserves recreation to brighten her mood
A happy person with a positive mindset often makes better leaders.
The is essential, especially during tough times.
Also appears on American Thinker
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