How the Father Figures: Why does the press ignore the story of John Walker Lindhs dad?
The John Walker Lindh story follows the larger outlines of the debate about morality and values in American culture. One fact that may explain Walker’s draw to an authoritarian sect was the destruction of his family. The reason his family was destroyed remains hidden. This article has two themes: the unwillingness of the press to tell the entire story about Walker’s family and the effect of a father’s decision on his son. Was there more to the John Walker story than we know? For all the tens of millions of words that gushed forth about Walker, and the endless speculation as to how this young man could have gone so dreadfully wrong, has a potentially key element of the case gone almost completely unreported? The question is prompted by a report in, of all places, the National Enquirer: “AMERICA’S TRAITOR TELLS ALL,” screamed last week’s cover, over the now-familiar photo of a filthy and disheveled Walker. Directly beneath came the even more dramatic subhed: “Dark family secret that drov
