THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509300018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
As the O.J. Simpson trial nears the end, it's worth taking stock of the damage. Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman may be the only physical victims, but there's been plenty of metaphorical blood shed. The nation has been wounded in several ways.
Hero worship isn't what it used to be. Convicted or not, the Hall of Fame centerpiece of the trial stands revealed as a deeply flawed man, a reminder that golden boys are often more glitter than substance. It would be nice if we'd all learn to distrust fancy packaging a little more and to value kind hearts and wise heads over flash.
Envy for the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous also ought to be a little harder after this sordid story. O.J. and his set were trivial people with bad habits living idle lives and indulging their baser instincts. They sailed through careless days on a sea of vanity and self-indulgence. O.J. was paid vast sums for excellent running, mediocre commentary and abysmal acting and spent it buying take-out food in a Rolls, a useful metaphor for the values of his section of Babylon.
The LAPD and the criminal-justice apparatus have taken a brutal self-inflicted beating. The picture of racist cops, slovenly technicians and an indecisive judge won't be easy to erase.
The nation has also been forcefully reminded that money talks. If the defendant had not had the wherewithal to hire the so-called Dream Team, this trial wouldn't have taken a year and consumed millions. In many ways the Dream Team has been a nightmare. Their efforts to obstruct, obfuscate, delay and delude, their willingness to exploit racial divisions, have managed to give lawyers an even worse image than they had before the trial.
And then there's the news media, especially TV. It is culpable for an orgy of overkill, a repulsive descent into tabloidization. From the moment the slow-speed chase of the white Bronco was carried live, simultaneously, by seven or eight channels, the O.J. coverage has been a case of wretched excess.
Allowing cameras into courtrooms has been called into question, but even without that spectacle the networks have gone to extremes. The nation has awakened every day to O.J. coverage on the morning shows and has dozed off to it on Larry King and Nightline. The once admirable CNN has turned itself into little more than Court-TV II.
But the networks don't practice prurience for fun. They're only in it for the money. If sober discussions of serious issues earned huge ratings, that's what they'd be showing. The public appetite for the O.J.-a-thon qualifies as an eating disorder. In other words, the fault is not in our stars, our heroes or even our anchorpersons. The fault is in ourselves for finding nothing better to do with our lives than spend a year watching a sorry display of America at its worst. by CNB