I hate to even be talking about this, but I feel like adding my voice to this horrible O.J. Simpson spectacle that's currently unfolding. It's horrific on so many levels--that someone could find it in their heart to create a morbid work like this on the brutal death of a loved one, that a publishing company would support and fund the idea, that thousands of people will end up buying the book. It's a disgusting cycle that reveals the worst about our collective culture. From the original crime to the absurd circus of a trial to this new low, it is the very worst that America has to offer, culturally.

Among all the absurdity, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp--which owns the publisher of the book (HarperCollins), the Fox network, and the Fox News channel--has found a way to up the ante. Firstly, they're publishing this book, which is bad enough. Then they're airing a two-hour, two-night interview with Simpson about his wretched book. And to top it all off, their news channel is providing seemingly non-stop coverage of the interview, largely devoted to indignation and outrage over it.

Despite protests by the delusional Bill O'Reilly to the contrary, this is all one company that's doing this. Creating the book, then reporting on it as news, then completing the cycle by devoting hours of airtime to how outrageous and unconscionable it is.

The entire scenario, from the idea of the book to its creation to all this coverage, is a great example of how the media, especially the most pandering and unethical media like Murdoch's companies, work cooperatively to manufacture artificial realities. Everything about this situation--that it exists in the first place, that it's being made into a story of note, and the controversy surrounding that--is all fabricated. None of it would exist in the first place without the media companies--publishing and broadcasting--making it exist.

It's not like some accident or natural disaster that the media covers after the fact. This is different--they create it, they profile it, they react to it. They create the illusion of multiple parties at work--event/coverage/analysis--when there's one source for everything. And along the way, they wrap up millions of people and millions of dollars in the story, all the while balking at being held responsible for the results--as though they're not entirely responsible for its existence.

Shame on everyone involved. And if we keep watching this media and becoming uncritical players in its morbid theatre, shame on us too.

Labels: Culture