A big scandal has the potential to keep people talking till the end of time.
Even decades later, people are still endlessly fascinated by Watergate and Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
But not all scandals are as well remembered.
Indeed, even if the overall consequences were no less extreme, there are some scandals that never quite manage to earn a page in the history books.
Or, at the very least, a Ryan Murphy produced mini-series based on it.
Redditor Sxzym was curious to hear which scandals the American public seems to have all but forgotten, leading them to ask:
"What is a massive American scandal that most people seem to not know about?"
$400 Billion?!?!?
"How about that time the major telecoms took over 400 BILLION dollars to install fiber optics in homes, schools and libraries across the entire country and just... diidn't?"
"The money was just reinvested in the companies to expand overseas and pay legal fees fighting against competitors with fiber plans and blocking future expansion."
"'Here is 400 billion dollars, please use it to give us all good internet'."
"'Ok'."
"'Hey, where's that high speed internet you were gonna put in?'"
"'Oh we decided that was way too expensive, it would cost like 400 billion and we just don't have the money'."
"Have this DSL instead over the existing network."- Horrific_Necktie
Just When You Think They Couldn't Get More Messed Up
"Operation Snow White, absolutely gonzo stuff."
"The Church of Scientology successfully infiltrated the government at high levels and purged records which were unfavorable to L. Ron Hubbard."- sancho___panza
"The church of Scientology blackmailed and threatened IRS people to get their tax exempt status."- Gaelir
stan marsh pictures GIF by South Park GiphyA Literal Train Wreck
"The Ohio train derailment and the decision to burn the spill releasing chlorine gas into the prevailing winds."- Naive-Background7461
What ISN'T A Scandal In American Politics
"In terms of political scandals that were major at the time but hardly remembered today:"
"The ABSCAM operation."
"The FBI set up a fake Arab investment company and offered various state and federal officials bribes to pass bills that would better enable their investment process."
"It led to the convictions of half a dozen Representatives and a Senator for bribery."
"The Keating Five."
"In 1989, in the midst of the Savings and Loan crisis, banker Charles Keating was charged with fraud and racketeering."
"During the investigation, five Senators to whom he'd donated substantial sums (including John Glenn and McCain) were accused of having pressured federal regulators to drop previous cases against Keating."
"The Senate Ethics Committee found that none of them had formally broken any laws, but found three of them were implicated enough to be formally censured."
"The House banking scandal."
"It was revealed that numerous Congressmen had been overdrawing their office accounts with zero financial accountability."
"It resulted in the convictions of three former Representatives and the House Sergeant-At-Arms for bribery and corruption."
"The Abramoff scandals."
"Jack Abramoff was a federal lobbyist, primarily involved in gambling and Indian tribal law, who was convicted of defrauding and over billing Indian tribal councils he was representing to the tunes of tens of millions of dollars."
"Investigations also revealed that he was giving unlicensed gifts to Congressmen, leading to a Representative being convicted of accepting bribes and the Deputy Secretary of the Interior being convicted of obstruction of justice."- AdmiralAkbar1
Voting United States GIF by Jimmy ArcaGiphyAn Ongoing Issue Which Needs To Be Fixed
"The absolute and cataclysmic FAILURE of the foster care system."- SunsetKittens
A Global Disaster
"The Dupont scandal."
"DuPont chemical dumped thousands of tons of chemical waste containing a long chained fluorocarbon also known as PFOA into waterways in Parkersburg, West Virginia."
"These chemicals were found to directly cause cancer and birth defects."
"Unfortunately the irresponsible disposal and manufacturing of this chemical didn't just effect America."
"Trace amounts of PFOAs can be found in virtually every single living creature on earth."- super_mega547
Dealing With Children Here!
"The for-profit juvenile detention system."
"Basically, judges in Pennsylvania were intentionally handing out harsher sentences because these for-profit juvenile prisons contributed to the judge's campaign ."
"In PA they elect their judges which blows my mind for this very reason but that's another story."- granweep
And Yet Woman Are Still Fighting For Control Of Their Own Bodies
"DES given to pregnant women from 1940 until 1971."
"It gave girls who were born after prenatal exposure a much higher risk of several cancers, including one cancer that no one else gets."
"It also causes an inability to carry pregnancies in some women who were exposed to it before birth."
"Boys born after exposure were cryptorchid and had a high rate of micro penis."
"There was a registry for these children so they could be tracked for medical needs and if other effects cropped up, but Congress did away with the registry."
"The changes that DES caused to gene expression are heritable, and it is now affecting DES granddaughters and great-granddaughters."
"While Congress has funded continuing research on effects, there is no registry anymore so no possibility that DES daughters will ever see any compensation."
"The FDA approved the drug for use in pregnant women based on a single non-blind study."- randomusername1919
Before You Take Another Sip
"The current and previous pollution of PFAS chemical compounds across our water systems."
"There has been reporting on it, but everyone I bring it up to hasn’t heard of it."- PM-me-your-tatas---
Kimmy Schmidt Drinking GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtGiphyAs If Global Warming Wasn't Bad Enough
"It is literally raining acid in Ohio right now."- Polengoldur
Overshadowed By The New Deal
"The business plot against FDR."
"Wall Street tried to lead a coup against sitting president FDR."- Reefermaniabruther
It's an unfortunate sign that the fact that all these scandals didn't cause much of a stir not because they were minor.
But simply because there were other, more glamorous scandals that overshadowed all of them.
@janCBS/X
