Saturday, February 21, 2015

Brian Williams, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of us

OK, so the latest wrinkle in the Brian Williams made up shit about being shot at in war zones "scandal"  is that while expressing outrage that anyone could do such a thing, it was brought to Bill O'Reilly's attention that he's done the same thing.  (Iraq Falklands, potato, potato)  Spoiler alert - Bill was not pleased.  But the real spoiler alert here is - people lie.

People lie all the time.  About things big and small.  Usually to put themselves in a better or at least a more interesting light.  Sometimes to make other people feel better.  Does it matter if the giant guy at the coffee shop doesn't really give Betty in accounting a free coffee once a week because he thinks she's cute?  Does it matter if the guy who backed down from a confrontation with David at the bar when no one else was around to see it wasn't really a Marine?  Does it matter if Jan doesn't really like your new hairdo? No, no, and no.  And it doesn't matter to me that famous people make self-aggrandizing stuff up either.  Now if they are making stuff up and saying it is actual news, that's another matter, but making up stuff about their lives?  Meh - I don't care.

What I do care very much about though is that these stories stay at the top of my feed, and at the top of everyone's mind, because my novel is all about the truths and lie we tell others and ourselves, and I want people to stay interested.  And that, my friends, is no lie.

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