Bits and pieces

There's Oprah, sitting on her well-appointed set, looking like a news anchor-spokesperson-politician-suburbanite. There she is ripping into A Million Little Pieces author James Frey. There's the audience, with her every step of the way. We've been betrayed. Betrayed by this man and his book of lies. Go, Oprah. Get him!

And here I am reading The Red Eye (the Chicago Tribune's so-so attempt at a quick-read news publication) and learning all about Oprah. Oprah made this book part of her club! Oprah had Frey as a guest and embraced him! Oprah defended the man when the word came out about his fabrications! On Larry King, she defended him! Live! Go, Oprah! Uh, oh, Oprah, mixed reviews!! Oprah had Frey back on her show this week and showed him what it felt like to have two anuses! Live! Go, Oprah!

There are several sidebars in this brief story recounting the recanting of Oprah Winfrey. One has multiple quotes of people's reactions to... Oprah. Not to Frey, not to the book, not to any actual issue at hand, but to Oprah. People love that Oprah stood up for the truth. They love her for demanding explanations. They love Oprah. In fact, there is a poll sidebar, too. They have surveyed people to see if Oprah's apology for originally defending Frey has helped or hurt her image. Good news! It helped! 75% of the people surveyed said it helped! Oh, thank god!

Look, we all know that this is ridiculous. Spending this much time on this scandal is, well, boring as hell. But, if we're going to be forced to think about it, how about thinking about the actual issue. How about a poll asking people what they think about the ethics of memoir writing? How about a discussion of Frey's work and how or why he might have embellished? What does this mean for his sequel memoir? Why do we enjoy memoirs, why are they part of our culture? How are memoirs different from other nonfiction? Those are the questions I want to read about.

The last thing, the LAST thing, I care about is fucking Oprah Winfrey and her already-out-of-control image. As soon as someone has so much power that anything they touch becomes completely and entirely about them, I can't bring myself to care anymore. (Although, I should mention, she is having the cast of Brokeback Mountain on today - should be good!) Oprah, just scram, already!

Oh, and if this entire debate really boils down to accountability, isn't there someone else we should be focusing on instead?