If I ever get into that position, some please please remind me... never (ever!) piss off Oprah!
Holy made-up memoir Batman!
It was a compelling, if at times quite uncomfortable, hour of television yesterday as James Frey offered the latest version of the "essential truth" about his Oprah "blessed turned burned" book selection, "A Million Little Pieces."
I don't what it took to get him on the show, but I am guessing he had little choice in the matter. Given that a big 'ole can of whoop ass was about to be opened, I am surprised they even allowed him to sit on the couch -- it would have been more apropos if he was seated in a corner with his back to the audience. Any time Frey opened his mouth to feebly offer a thought, he was often cut-off by a clearly seething Oprah... who, at times, looked as if she wanted to pummel the author into (pinky finger to mouth) one billion little pieces.
Ultimately, though I think it was a fascinating discussion of some bigger issues. As discussed by some of the journalists appearing on the show... in today's world, "the truth" has sort of turned into a commodity ... something created, marketed, sold, and purchased by willing buyers. Whether it is a book, a war, or "reality" television.
Also, the discussion of a definition of a "memoir" was interesting. We keep on being told a memoir is the re-telling of a person's life as they best remember it. The book's publisher offered a weak defense of what a memoir is by recounting a story of how former President Jimmy Carter disagreed with wife Rosalyn's re-counting of a particular story... with the First Lady responding "you wrote your memoir Jimmy, I am writing mine" (or something to that effect). Sure that is two different perspectives on the same event ... which is surely acceptable (and expected) in a memoir... but it was not like Rosalyn knew the true story and intentionally spinning it another way.
This all brought me back to grad school and my ethics class (yes, we had ethics class... even back then!). A quite simple "litmus test" offered by our professor has always stuck with me.
When faced with a moral dilemma, she said, think of how it would look on the front-page of a newspaper... and that would lead us to the right decision.
While this was a purely (and wildly) hypothetical exercise, perhaps it is truly a valuable thing to do... you just never know where life will lead you... and for Frey, I doubt he ever thought it would land him on the front page.
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