John Edwards and Fake Morality

by Mel Reeves

"Porn posing as news is
right up our alley."

Despite all the recent hoopla over when and how long former
North Carolina Senator and recent Democratic party presidential contender John
Edwards cheated on his wife Elizabeth and whether he and Reil Hunter have a
love child or not, at the end of the day it has very little bearing on our
collective wellbeing.

When someone watches Entertainment Tonight or picks up a
supermarket tabloid, they do so because they are interested in the private
lives of the rich and famous. They do it out of morbid curiosity, or simply to
know how the other half lives.

But when one reads the "news" it is with the anticipation
that you will be provided with useful information. So when we are served a menu
of tabloid news - the information on Edwards's affair was initially taken from
the National Enquirer - one has to ask: what does this have to do with
me?

Is infidelity an indicator of how a politician will
perform in office? I think not. Judging from past presidents that were
philanderers it didn't seem to limit their effectiveness in office. While Bill
Clinton may have been the worst of the lot, in terms of sexual discretion, he
was still able to steer the US imperial ship and impose America's will on the
world. John Kennedy was rumored to have shared Marilyn Monroe with his brother
and was otherwise unfaithful to his wife, Jacqueline. It does appear that the
current president has been faithful to his wife - yet George Bush has committed
every transgression imaginable against the U.S. Constitution, and has behaved
faithlessly towards to the citizenry he is sworn to protect.

"Most print and broadcast outlets do not give us actual
news, but rather, their own prepackaged, prejudiced perspective on the world."

Salacious reporting about extramarital affairs and rumors of
affairs is part of the pornification of the news. Most print and broadcast
outlets do not give us actual news, but rather, their own prepackaged,
prejudiced perspective on the world. And since the American public has been
trained to be entertained more than informed - titillated rather than
intellectually stimulated - porn posing as news is right up our alley.

While FOX news is little more than an infomercial for right
wing ideology - and the worst offender in this race to numb our minds - the
other "news" organizations are not far behind. CNN, supposedly "the most
trusted name in news," and MSNBC brought in their experts to kick the John
Edwards scandal around, and CBS, NBC and ABC all used up precious airtime
dabbling in dirt.

Not that there is a dearth of real news. There are two big
Bush wars that are barely covered beyond the airing of official press releases
and Pentagon-inspired commentary. Why aren't the media scandalized by the
General Accounting Office's discovery that $23 billion slated to be spent in
Iraq is unaccounted for? Why does the Attorney General of the United States
think that folks should go Scott-free for unlawfully filling Justice Department
jobs? There are enough unanswered questions to busy any 24-hour news machine -
if explicating the world were actually the objective.

But the press chose to belabor Edwards' indiscretions.

"Edwards had the nerve to run a populist campaign."

Edwards is no longer running for office, though there were
rumors that he was being considered as a vice presidential candidate.

I suspect that one of the other reasons the former
presidential candidate was attacked with such ferocity was because he had the
nerve to run a populist campaign in an age when the ruling class feels no need
to throw a bone to working people. Whatever the reason, Edwards showed real
heart and compassion, touring poverty-stricken areas and speaking of the "two
Americas." Like none of the other contenders, he put a spotlight on New
Orleans. In some ruling circles, that's considered a crime.

If a politician came along who made sure that Johnny could
read whether he lived in the Ozarks or the ghetto, kept affordable roofs over
our heads, ensured that we all took home a fair and livable wage, were afforded
universal health care and equal opportunity, few of us would care about the
condition of his or her marriage.

Corporate media keep us focused on false morality - on the
private affairs of luminaries - so that we won't confront the real forces that
devalue the lives of the vast majority of us.

Mel Reeves is an activist living in Miami. He
can be contacted at [email protected].

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