"Rubashov had the feeling that he was being watched
through the spyhole. Without looking, he knew that a pupil pressed to the hole was staring
into the cell."
Arthur Koestler, "Darkness at
Noon"
IN THE MOVIE "The Truman Show", a
run-of-the-mill executive at a desk job suddenly stumbles on the possibility that his
whole life is being stage managed. Everyone in his town is playing a role, right down to
his beer-drinking buddy, and his wife. In spite of the Orwellian undertones of having
cameras (nearly 5000 of them) record every minutae of a man's life, the lack of a sinister
purpose is itself shocking. This is purely for mass entertainment. a live TV show for a
global audience, where everyone but Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey) is clued in. A
mix of consumerism and entertainment, the show is supported by advertisers who buy
'product placement' slots in every aspect of Truman's transparent life.
Why does this remind me of the
Clinton show, now running into its 6th year, broadcast live, updated 24-hours a day? It's
not only the news cameras, the concealed Linda Tripp tapes and the video footage of the
secret testimony that draw the parallel. Like Truman, the first human to be adopted from
birth by a corporation, politicians are, after all, the products --or playthings-- of
lobby groups, largely funded by the corporate world. In this age of broadcasts, web-casts,
and simulcasts, it is inevitable that the public's obsession with idiosyncrasies of their
congressmen, would overshadow its interest in the affairs of state. CSPAN can never
titillate as much as CNN. Clinton, the made-for-TV president, was elected in front of a
live, TV audience, curious about Jennifer Flowers, and the MTV clip about inhaling. But
that was just the tease. Soon the footage would include White House guests caught in
embarrassing positions involving fund-raising. Once he whet their appetite, he had nowhere
to hide. Focusing on every detail of the president's private life, it's hard to tell who
is more pathetic: the grand jury, inquiring after the cigar incident, or the networks,
that promptly broadcast the discussion in the guise of a story of national importance. So
much for a 'secret deposition'. This obsession is beyond the supply and demand model that
often explains tabloid journalism. This is the cultural equivalent of Marilyn Manson and
Jerry Springer, an entrée of organs served up for a country that is assumed to be so
jaded, that the distasteful, the taboo and the kinky gets dragged in. Complete with
sidebars of how to explain all this to any kids watching. How about explaining this to us?
While the moral majority, and the lynch-mob on
Capitol Hill decide what to do with Clinton, ordinary people are trying to figure out
something more important: how to give a country back its dignity, switch off the cameras,
and get back to the real world. (In a TIME/CNN poll in September, 34% of people asked,
want Congress to take no action against Clinton, versus 12% who side with impeachment). A
CNN producer candidly admitted on the Letterman show that even his station's relentless
focus on Mr. and Mrs. Clinton betrays the unhealthy media appetite for drama: "What
do we expect to see?", he asks. "Hillary with her bags packed on the steps of
the White House?" The lack of footage is now supplemented by the seamy transcripts
on, where else, the Internet. Just to make sure the kids get their hands on it? Puh-leaze!
ONE-WAY
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