Enemies of the State?

This diary is reposted from SleepyChildren with permission. It is so good we want to share it with as many readers as we can. Enjoy!

This week Laci Peterson's mom has been doing promotional interviews timed to the release of her new book, For Laci. She was on Dateline with Katie Couric and spoke with Larry King as well. I didn't watch the interviews, and I don't know what the book reveals. But I bet it will sell a whole lotta copies.

America certainly needs the diversion. We've already read Amber Frey's book, there've been no recent "developments" in the Natalee Holloway case (if you can call an empty barrel being pulled out of the ocean a development), and the Runaway Bride's book and TV movie aren't ready yet. Without Laci's mom we might be forced to pay attention to the war in Iraq or the President's little domestic spying habit or the fact that we'll likely be lobbing missiles into Iran soon.

There have also been a lot of people who've spent more time in the last three days discussing the distortions and exaggerations in James Frey's A Million Little Pieces than they have in the last three years examining the Bush Administration's claims of WMD in Iraq or Saddam's ties to Al Queda. And it's no mystery why the inaccuracies in a personal memoir are such a big story--this is Oprah's bookclub we're talking about. And that's more than enough these days to warrant major media attention. At least James Frey went the the trouble of writing what is apparently a pretty gripping book, even if it's not entirely true. At the risk of sounding callous, that's a helluva lot more than many of the people who dominate our 24-hour news cycle have accomplished. Laci Peterson, wonderful woman I'm sure she was, is famous only for being murdered, as thousands of Americans are each year. Amber Frey for sleeping with Laci's killer. Natalee Holloway for going missing in Aruba. The Runaway bride for being a an ignorant hick with bug eyes who was too cowardly to call off her wedding and was rewarded with a half-million dollar book deal.

But I'm getting off track. In mocking these people my anger is misdirected. The real problem is the segment of the American population who faithfully track Greta Van Susteren's campaign to overhaul the Aruban legal system-- people who, armed with their Nancy Grace/CourtTV expertise, are more upset about the Aruban government's refusal to charge those boys than they are that the NSA has been monitoring Americans' phone call without warrants or oversight. The real problem is the people who flock to see Laci's mom on Dateline or Pat Summerall's tearful, surreal confession to Dr. Phil. Yes, Angelina is pregnant with Brad's baby and a 7-year-old was pulled over for driving erratically. And maybe in six months when the 3,000th American soldier is killed in Iraq we'll spend a few moments on that again.

The bias of the mainstream media has long been debated, occasionally with good reason. And equally dangerous is the profit-driven approach that dictates what stories get the most coverage. But the essential characteristic of the American news consumer that legitimizes both concerns is our willingness to unquestioningly devour whatever we're told to swallow. Laci Peterson is on TV everyday for a year; I must be interested in the Laci Peterson story. If I don't watch Laci Peterson coverage they'll stop giving it to me. They might even give me real news. But I do watch Laci Peterson coverage. I can't get enough Laci Peterson coverage. I like it so much I want more dead missing white women on my TV.

There is a very simple equation in America. George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004 because a publisher can pay the Runaway Bride $500,000 for the rights to her story and make a nice profit off it. Both atrocities are symptoms of the same pervasive malady. Both require a tremendous lack of curiosity by a huge portion of the American population, a refusal to even consider that there might be alternatives to what's being served up on cable news networks. Why else would anyone be even remotely interested in what Sharon Rocha or the Runaway Bride has to say? And why else would anyone be even remotely convinced that George W. Bush is qualified to lead this nation? The answer to both questions: I saw it on TV.

Do this: when the Runaway Bride's book comes out (and I'm afraid I don't know when that is but you won't be able to miss it because she'll be back on every "news" program the week it's released), go to your local bookstore and observe the people who buy it. That is the America that elected our president. That is the America that isn't worried about its own civil rights. That is the American that has never even casually wondered how many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians (women and children included) have been killed by American bombs in what has been billed as part of the War AGAINST Terror. But they know who Jen's dating now....