It’s Scandalous

About a month ago, while up to our eyeballs in news coverage of the Nicole Brown Simpson-Ronald Lyle Goldman double murder, friends and I got to discussing the phenomenon of scandal that has plagued our country of late. It became an even more engrossing topic once we began listing the many public spectacles some of us Generation X-ers have witnessed in our short lifetimes. In no time at all, we were the proud parents of a list of 40 events that have captivated the United States since 1990.

Were we shocked by this seemingly high number? Well, no. While 40 is pretty high for any 3 1/2-year period, what did shock us was the discovery that almost half the events occurred in Los Angeles County. Preposterous, we thought. Sure, L.A. can be a pretty scandalous town at times, but it’s no worse than New York or San Francisco. We wondered if this disproportion was due to the fact that we are an armpit society, or rather because we coexist with the entertainment industry. I vote for the latter.

For me, this became most obvious on a recent trip to Philadelphia, where I found myself amazed at how little coverage was given to Simpson’s arraignment. Just like the entire nation, the whole affair was broadcast live and then reported again on the local news and in the papers. But then it was over. Over.

Why is this? Why must Los Angeles be subjected to such saturation? Maybe it has become cliche to bash the media these days; still it’s safe to say that a little balanced reporting goes a long, long way. I wish we had more of it.

As for my friends and I, we did try to create a separate list of heroes to help counter our scandal sheet. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen as easily as we’d hoped (surprisingly, all our candidates were international!), and we’re still working on it. It’s been tough going, though, and we’d really appreciate some assistance. Funny, we’ve been watching the news and reading the papers for inspiration--but we haven’t found any yet.

VERNITA IRVIN

Los Angeles