(if I were the) King of the Forest

I found the press coverage of the Monica Lewinsky story abhorrent. The fact that it focused on the tawdry and the titillating was merely an annoyance; the glee and excitement with which journalists and politicians seemed to savor the prospects of destroying reputations and careers, of bringing down the chief executive, of throwing the government into chaos, were frightening; and the fact that it was all based on what, for seven months, amounted to second-hand and unsubstantiated allegations was a moral affront.

I actually believed, even before Mr. Clinton’s mea culpa (such as it was), that there was more fire than smoke to this story, and what it says about the character of our president — not in his libido, but in his willingness to use the power with which we have entrusted him for personal aggrandizement — is appalling. But more appalling is the recklessness and vitriol with which the press pursued him: his misconduct, after all, reflects the failings of a flawed individual who will, in the end, be held to account by those who elected him; the misconduct of the press was systemic and unrestrained, and it will still be with us long after Bill Clinton is history.

Last week’s massacre in Chiapas, Mexico of dozens of people by a paramilitary strike-force involved in the Zapatista uprising has once again brought into our living rooms, accompanied by jaded shock, ignorant analysis, and color photographs, the man-made horrors that plague our world. We get the initial reports, rushed to us in a frenzy to be the first on-the-air, with contradictory eye-witness accounts, blustery and ignorant official positions, and the inevitable (but inaccurate) body counts. We get periodic updates, each contradicting its predecessor and claiming to be “the truth”. We get long-winded speculations on motivations and responsibility, and a running scorecard on who is helped and hurt in the political aftermath, as if it was all some kind of game, another edition of Monday Night War. And as with so many reports of such inhumanity, we are led to heights of indignation and despair by the revelation, in hushed and horrified tones, that some of the victims were women and children. They killed women and children! The bastards! Women and children!