backdrop for presidential visits to thernSouth.” For instance, “Brazil’s ChiefrnJustice Selso de Mello turned down anrninvitation to dinner with Mr. Clinton inrnprotest to an American embassy documentrnwhich dismissed the country’s judicialrnsystem as inefficient. The Americanrnambassador, Melvyn Levitsky, has spentrna week trying to undo misunderstandingsrnand apologizing for a reference to endemicrncorruption in Brazilian culture.”rnThe goodwill salvaged by the apologyrnwas scuppered again that weekend by arnWhite House memo to the Americanrnpress corps, describing Rio de Janeiro asrnone of the most dangerous cities in thernworld. It also said that Sao Paulo commutersrnmake love in their cars duringrntraffic jams and that Brasilia is a dry andrnsterile city just as soulless as its administration.rnEven President Fernando HenriquernCardoso showed a flash of irritationrnafter hearing that the White House wantedrnto change the time of a state dinner atrnhis palace. He said, “Who decides aboutrnwhat time I have dinner at my place?rnThat’s me!” Brazilian Senate ChairmanrnAntonio Carlos Magalhaes referred tornthe “typical arrogance one can expectrnfrom Americans.” And the leader of thernlower house of Brazil’s parliament saidrnsimply, “I hate Americans!” The ChicagornTribune wrote, “People gatheredrnalong the motorcade route to watchrnClinton go by, but there was little cheeringrnor waving, mainly stares.”rnThe presidential tour may have beenrnimportant for legitimate reasons, but is itrnnot equally important to report whetherrnthe white House is handling our nationalrninterests adroidy—or ineptly? WhilernAmerica’s TV viewers enjoyed rosy photo-rnops and rousing descriptions, printrnreaders discovered that the Clinton tourrnended with animal manure thrown onrnour President’s limousine. UPI reportedrnthat dozens of protesters in Rio chantedrnanti-American slogans and held up signsrnreading, “Go home Clinton”; one inrnPortuguese read, “Yankee parasite getrnout of Brazil.” Later, a rampaging mobrnsmashed the windows of stores and cars,rnthrew Molotov cocktails into banks, andrnset small fires in stores to protest PresidentrnClinton, while he savored an elegantrnstate dinner two blocks away.rnOne can understand the White Housernwanting to put a positive spin on such arndisaster. More difficult to grasp is howrnTV journalists can simply surrenderrntheir adversarial duty and become thernP.R. corps, instead of the press corps.rnNetwork TV news viewership hasrndropped precipitously over the past fewrnyears, and for good reason.rn—Don WadernWLS News/Talk RadiornChicagornT H E ASSAULT ON TOBACCOrncontinues. The recent phenomenon ofrnfederal and state governments levyingrnreparations on the tobacco industry forrnhealth care costs is unprecedented, andrnit presents much food for thought. It isrnlikely that the companies, already diversified,rnwill not suffer much, or at least arngood deal less than they would if subjectrnto endless class-action suits.rnOther health-endangering corporationsrn—Seagram’s, Anheuser-Busch, thernmakers of the Corvair and the Pintohavernnever been singled out in this way.rnIn fact, they would more likely be candidatesrnfor bailout than prosecution. It isrnan easy bet that if the tobacco industryrnwas as important to New York, Massachusetts,rnor Michigan as it is to the Carolinas,rnwe would be seeing a rather differentrnfederal policy. South-hating,rnalmost as old as American history, can alwaysrnbe called into play. A recent wirernservice story, datelined Tokyo, told howrnthe evil tobacco growers of the SoutheasternrnUnited States, facing decliningrndomestic markets, are cruelly addictingrnunfortunate Japanese teenagers torncigarettes.rnWith all the talk of reparations theserndays, we ought to extend our thinking arnlittle beyond the usual victim groups.rnThe Indians (excuse me, Native Americans)rnowe us for the damage tobacco hasrndone. The Europeans who first came tornthe New World were happily innocent ofrnthe Stinking Weed, but they soon caughtrnon (and their governments soon recognizedrna great opportunity for monopoliesrnand tax revenue). There were argumentsrnall across Europe as to whether it was arngood or a bad thing, but it was a majorrnand ineradicable habit by the time thernnovelty died away, and tobacco quicklyrnspread to the rest of the world. So thernNative Americans, now flush with casinornmoney, owe not only us poor white andrnblack Americans, but the Europeans, thernChinese, and everyone else for havingrnthrust this terrible addiction on us.rnThere are other curious features: therngovernment suing for the recovery ofrnhealthcare costs, for instance. The tacitrnassumption seems to be that governmentrnis the main provider of healthcare—anrnidea I thought we defeated back in 1993.rnIs the government in fact grabbing for itselfrncompensation that is potentially duernto thousands of individual sufferers?rnThe tobacco saga also illustrates thernsad ignorance of history that afflictsrnAmerican bureaucrats and media. Wernought to have a litde more sympathy forrntobacco. (I confess to being descendedrnfrom a long line of tobacco farmers, onernof the most skilled and intensive forms ofrnagricultural endeavor.) Tobacco was thernmost important product of North Americarnin the 18th century. It vastiy aided therneconomic growth of America and wasrnthe mainstay of North Carolina, Virginia,rnand Maryland. Without tobacco,rndevelopment would have been retarded,rnand the colonies would not have had thernstrength to fight a War of Independence.rnPossibly tobacco did not do our ancestorsrnmuch harm, and may even have offeredrnthem considerable comfort in arnworld with fewer comforts and morerndangers than ours—as it did the fightingrnmen in World War II. Our forebearsrnconstantiy breathed air infused with thernsmells of coal and wood fires, tanning,rnsoapmaking, manuring, animal slaughtering,rnweaving, dyeing, and the like. Arngood pipe or dip of snufF was a pleasantrnchange for them.rnBefore this century, people enjoyedrntobacco in pipes, cigars, chewing plugs,rnand snuff. It appears that cigarettes, arnstrange modern invention, do the mostrnharm. The older forms of tobacco werernproduced by craftsmanly efforts. Therncigarette is a typical industrial product,rnmass-produced for the lowest commonrndenominator. It is the emblem of ourrncentury, with its excessive urbanization,rncentralized governments, indiscriminaternglobal warfare, uniformitarian culture,rnand frantic tempo. Smoke ’em if you gotrn-Clyde WilsonrnEPICYCLES:rn• Diversity Abroad: Statues of MartinrnLuther King, Jr., a Russian Orthodoxrnduchess, a Presbyterian evangelist fromrnPakistan, and seven other notables are tornbe placed above the door of WestminsterrnAbbey. As its dean explained in October,rnthe new statues will be placed directlyrnbeneath carvings of the VirginrnMary and St. John the Evangelist. Nextrnup: Maya Angelou’s induction to Poets’rnJANUARY 1998/7rnrnrn