Like many people with a
young child, I saw in the New Year watching Jules Holland trying desperately to
keep my eyes open between yawns whilst trying to remember when any time after
10pm had become insufferably late.
At the stroke of midnight
my phone tinkled with New Year texts and emails. The first one in was not from
my brother but from an appalling company called Married Affair. It is an online
dating agency aimed at both encouraging adultery as well as making a profit
from it.
The headline was New Year – New You, and preyed on the
insecurities many have when time passes. Should you be on their emailing list
you will get a similar missive on your birthday. The solution to feeling old,
not having achieved all that you want, generally feeling unhappy and
unfulfilled is, in their view, a bit of adultery. You won’t be surprised to
hear that is not the Methodist Church’s opinion.
The site is run by Global
Personals Ltd UK who also run a number of other less morally questionable sites.
Single people might question if they want to use any Global Personals sites as
the company’s ethical position is clearly questionable . A campaign – Faithfulness Matters – has been
set up to challenge the business practices of companies who make money out of
breaking up relationships. You can find
out more information here, and
sign up to support the campaign.
In my view those who, with
a calm calculating mind, seek to exploit peoples’ weaknesses, vulnerabilities
and moral failings in order to make a profit have a great deal of
responsibility – one which the attitude of “the market will provide” does not
exonerate.
The responsibility for
adultery arranged via this site belongs both to the individuals who participate
in it and to Global Personals. Shared responsibility is an important concept –
without it exploiters such as adultery website providers, loan sharks, and even
tax avoiders can blame those they damage for their own problems without ever challenging
their own behaviour.
Happy New Year and don’t
have an affair - even if it will help Global Personals UK’s profits – there are
better ways of promoting the economic recovery!
