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Are We Giving Truth the Cold Shoulder?

Talk Shows and Truth

Blow off the dust and clear the lab tables. The TrueU Truth Lab is open for business once again.

I've been on a sabbatical of sorts. It's the kind of thing that everyone should do from time to time. Sometimes professors take time off to study important things and travel to exotic places. I relaxed on my couch and watched daytime television.

You learn some amazing things about the human condition when you're watching TV at two in the afternoon. Daytime talk shows often focus on illicit affairs and learning the truth about who's the "baby's daddy." Infomercials — or as my cable TV provider calls them, "paid programming" — teach us about unique inventions. And home improvement shows teach us how easy it is to pour a new cement patio or make curtains from paper mache.

As I was flipping through the TV channels one afternoon, I stopped on a famous talk show host who was tearfully berating her guest for allowing her and her followers to be "duped." She said she had lost trust in him and that he owed the American public an apology. I had no clue who this guy was … remember, I was on sabbatical. What I was witnessing was the now famous interaction between Oprah and James Frey, author of the controversial, A Million Little Pieces.

Remember that the Truth Lab is about working on issues that relate, well … to "truth" and that would include those times when truth gets the cold shoulder. Forgive me if this event is passé to some of you, but it deserves our attention even as we try to put it behind us and focus on more important matters like Olympic curling. So, please bear with me.

What amazed me as I found out more about the Frey controversy was that in the midst of talk shows, radio call-in programs, articles, and blogs was a profound missing of the point. In my mind, it was as if the issue of truth was coming front and center, but no one really wanted to talk about it.

What a shame.

Now, before any Oprah fans berate me, I want to say that I know she talked quite a bit about the issue of truth in the days that followed the story breaking, but look at what it took for anyone to be convinced of the lies.

A Faulty Memoiry

Let's backtrack a bit. First, Doubleday and Anchor Books publish James Frey's "memoir." In its early release, A Million Little Pieces enjoys only marginal sales and seems bound for the bargain bin.

Then, in October 2005, Frey's book gets the miracle push that all authors hope for: an endorsement from Oprah's Book Club. Sales go through the roof. Frey appears on Oprah's show. She cries as she reads segments from the book, and recommends that everyone consider this amazing story.

Fortunately, not everyone shared Oprah's enthusiasm.

The Smoking Gun
In his book, Frey claimed to have spent three months in jail. So, on a whim, the editor of a Web site called The Smoking Gun asked a staffer to find Frey's mug shot. No luck, at first. After searching further, the staffer did find a police photo and records indicating that Frey had spent time in jail — but only one day and not where he had claimed.

Suspicious and eager to dig deeper into Frey's claims, the Smoking Gun staff began a six-week investigation.

The investigation uncovered massive errors, embellishments (a fancy word for "lies") and outright falsehoods. Even with this new information, Oprah stood by her recommendation; the publisher stood by their man; A Million Little Pieces continued to fly off the shelves.

But when the investigation results hit the mainstream press, Oprah said, "oops." The publisher said, "ouch." The author remained conspicuously silent.

The Aftermath
After the Smoking Gun investigation became credible in the public's collective mind, Oprah strong-armed Frey into the studio and let loose on him on national television. The same day, Doubleday and Anchor Books issued a statement saying how sorry they were "to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES."¹

Am I missing something or has a fundamental worldview question been overlooked: Is Frey's book true or not?

Some say parts of the book are true. Fine. Which parts? Based on what facts? Better yet, which parts aren't true — and are they completely false or just partly made up?

Doubleday and Anchor Books say they'll continue to print A Million Little Pieces, but with the addition of a publisher and author note that says it might not all be true. Thanks a heap!

Why does truth get the cold shoulder instead of the highest priority? Is it money, greed, and a lack of concern or discernment on our part to care about truth? Or is it the premise that we live in a sensationalistic culture and are so easily sucked into it?

Stranger Than Fiction

The whole episode with Frey's book reminded me of a literary work that fell under the same scrutiny some 20 years ago. The book was titled, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. The supposedly true story was written by Rigoberta Menchu, a young Guatemalan woman caught in the political and economic upheaval of her country. After the book's release, a doctoral student found himself in Menchu's home town and began to interview people about events from the book. He found out they were false.

When the student returned to the U.S., he confronted the publishers and universities who used the book, but they weren't concerned that it wasn't true. It was still a good story. As of this writing, there is even a customer review on Amazon.com that calls Menchu's book a "biomythography." What?! So now we're inventing new genres to justify our craving for "true lies"?

We've seen this same disregard, this same ambivalence about the truth, in some people's attitudes toward A Million Little Pieces. There's even talk of creating a new category for Frey's book — "kindafiction" or "sortanonfiction." I'm not joking! (I'm sure they'll come up with a fancier name, though.)

Myspace Mistruths

OK, it's easy to talk about books written by someone else. What about the truth (or lack thereof) in personal postings on the Internet?

The fastest growing Web sites among college students are sites like Facebook and MySpace. How much of what we read or post is really real? "I'm 6'6", 210 pounds with sandy blond hair. To verify that I'm telling the truth, just check out the pics on my bio page!"

C O F F E E  S H O P

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What do you think: Has society become complacent with the truth? And what's the big deal if we do stretch the truth a little for the sake of a good story? ("I caught a fish and it was this big!")

Join the discussion!

The only difference between us and James Frey is that he made his embellishments in a book — a medium in which, I guess, we still think there should be the veracity of honesty. I may be wrong, but I think the practice of embellishing bio pages on sites like Facebook is expected. Because of the lack of accountability that comes with anonymity, these Web environments have become a breeding ground for fantasy rather than reality.

Perhaps, when we examine James Frey for embellishing the truth, we should join him under the microscope. We just might realize that we are partially to blame.