VALLEY VIEWS

Public bears responsibility for fueling 'toxic spectacle'

Mita Choudhury
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

This spring, the American public seems besieged by spectacles, most notably the rise of Donald Trump. Meanwhile, cable TV audiences recently revisited a 1990s spectacle just as enthralling through FX’s incisive series, “The People vs. O.J. Simpson.” As I think about how our society has been captivated by Simpson and Trump, I can’t help comparing us to the public during a spectacular French trial in the early 1700s that became a European obsession, involving seduction charges by a 19-year-old woman against her 50-year old Jesuit confessor. 

One of the key French attorneys from the case argued that the public was “so enlightened, so rightly the adjudicator of virtue and of merit, Sovereign Arbitrator of men’s reputations, the true Judge of their innocence.” This raises a further question for me when thinking today about Simpson and Trump. When such spectacles unfold, are we an audience simply wishing to be entertained, or are we an engaged public?

The lawyer Jean-Baptiste Chaudon’s contention emerges from a seemingly distant, archaic past. Yet word of these sensational allegations soon made their way to Paris and beyond, circulating in England and Germany. Looking back nearly 300 years through the lens of non-stop news cycles and relentless social media, it might be hard for us to imagine how news could travel far and rapidly. But French archives reveal a dynamic and sophisticated network of information exchange.  

To begin with, the trial’s titillating details were irresistible. Catherine Cadière, the daughter of an olive oil merchant, said that her confessor Jean-Baptiste Girard had seduced her, impregnated her, and then forced her to abort the fetus. Instead of congregating around water coolers and chat rooms, people gathered in cafés and private drawing rooms to trade gossip about the ensuing trial, which yielded a remarkable volume and variety of published commentary, including theatrical productions in both Paris and London. Nearly two decades later, the liaison was even reconstructed in the pornographic bestseller of the century, "Thérèse philosophe".  

The public also devoured the numerous legal briefs, written by lawyers like Chaudon, who represented Cadière. Unlike today’s dry legal matters, these dramatic pieces read like a combination of plays, sensational novels, and political ads. People exchanged songs, poems, and fables that speculated on what happened between Cadière and Girard, and even on the trial proceedings themselves. The circulation and co-option of this scandal illustrated how real people, from various walks of life, formed not merely an audience but a vibrant and engaged public. The insightful attorney Chaudon understood then that the public was part of the spectacle that defined the Cadière case.

“The People vs. O.J. Simpson” reminds us that the public was also at the center of that case. In living rooms and offices, we debated whether O.J. was being given special treatment because of his iconic status or was yet another target simply because of his race. Just before the verdict was announced, there were also fears of riots. Who was responsible for this supercharged atmosphere? The media that fueled passions, a faulty judicial system, or perhaps even the viewing public needing to be entertained constantly? 

And now we see violence at Trump’s campaign rallies. Pundits and politicians are currently debating who is responsible. Trump? The Republican Party? The media? My study of the Cadière-Girard affair leads me to ask instead about the role of the public in this increasingly toxic spectacle. I’m not referring to those attending the rallies but those of us who are riveted by the celebrity theatricals that define the Trump campaign and the Simpson case before it. In the end, a democracy challenges us not to be a passive audience but to be active citizens, like the public described by the 18th-century attorney Chaudon. Which means we bear responsibility for how we participate in the political system and how we voice our frustrations and disenchantment.

Mita Choudhury is a professor of history at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, and the author of "The Wanton Jesuit and Wayward Saint: A Tale of Sex, Religion, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century France" (2015).