John Whitehead's Commentary
Gossip Is the New National Pornography
The dictionary definition of the word "pornography" concerns writings, pictures and so on that are intended to arouse sexual desire. But now it's not sex that causes arousal. It is the obsession with the private details of the lives of so-called celebrities. This obsession now transcends sex and, in many people's lives, seems to have even replaced it.
The news talk-show hosts act as the pimps for their television audiences in hawking gossip. Who, for example, can ever forget the circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal as television networks spent millions of dollars simply trying to get a fresh angle on the story? And there we sat, glued to our sets, waiting for the next salacious tidbit about our President to be tossed randomly to us by the TV pundits.
Now with the Gary Condit-Chandra Levy situation, it seems that Americans have developed an insatiable appetite for gossip. Never mind that the police have said that Condit is not a serious suspect, nor has he been found guilty of anything. That doesn't seem to matter, especially to the television shows which have tried him on the kind of circumstantial evidence that is generally inadmissible in a court of law and would never lead to a conviction.
Sadly, while the American public is focusing on what color underwear and what type of food our latest celebrity is eating, the pressing problems of the day receive scant attention.
Human rights abuses continue to mount in countries across the globe. Moreover, millions are starving in far-away places. AIDS and other diseases continue to plague our world. Domestically, the foundations of our society seem to be crumbling. Families are in trouble. Children are shooting children in our schools. The homeless continue to increase in number and sleep on our public streets at night. Major life and death questions--such as stem cell research, cloning and even the future of what it means to be human--are lost in the sensationalist media hype.
And, as we move into the third millennium, things are chaotic and at times we wonder who is in control. This explains, in part, the need to escape into the details of the lives of others. But I cannot help thinking that much of our obsession has to do with how those who wield power over information present the "news" to the nation.
If, for example, the news talk shows--such as CNN, CNBC and the major networks, among others--presented us with a clear and insightful diet of discussion on the important issues, then maybe we would not be so obsessed with what are, in essence, minor news stories.
Answer these questions: Why is the nation intimately discussing the Gary Condit situation? It is a story of an incident in Washington, DC, dealing with a lesser known Congressman. Is it because those who televise to us choose what we should view and be interested in?
CBS is to be congratulated for refraining for so long to become embroiled in the Condit affair. Why? It was an issue of dignity and integrity. Good journalists at one time didn't stoop to the level of carnival barkers. However, now they do. This means that our country has become one big circus, and the ringmasters seem to be more concerned with ratings than with the truth and the lives they may be destroying.
Gossip is a nasty business, and as we become more and more a nation of rumors, our ability as a people to discern right and wrong is disappearing. Indeed, our once proud motto "In God We Trust" may ultimately become "In Gossip We Trust." This, my friends, is no trust at all.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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