I heard your commentary while driving to school this morning (KNX1070 in Los Angeles). I agree with you that this is a sad commentary on so much of modern society. It is bad enough that publishers don't appear to care much about anything besides their profit line. It's truly tragic to hear how the "average" person seems to hold such a cavalier attitude about declining moral values. Working with inner city teenagers on a daily basis, I'm always looking for good role models and positive stories to share with them. Thanks for letting your "little light shine"!

Are you outraged by the lies from the White House?
When we find out about fiction presented as fact, we learn to be skeptical, which should be a character trait of good citizens.

Like you, I find myself cursed with the Faith of a Child. Discovering Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were fabrications left me crushed and doubting concepts like relativity, Jesus and my parents. It wasn’t until I was in high school my father mentioned Jesus as one of the most important figures in history. I remember my head snapped around to look at him and I felt astonished.
“You mean that guy’s for real?” I wondered. But then again, it was my father speaking – the guy who led me to believe in Santa.
Since that time my faith has grown strong, my heart is open and I believe what people say. The “Say what you mean, mean what you say,” system works well for me.
Cling tight to your faith. An open mind will serve you better than a jaded callus.

Mr. Josephson, I admire and appreciate your Character Counts counseling.

Cate in Bouse, Arizona

What a sad sign of the times that not only publishing houses print books as fact without doing their due diligence, but even more frightening is that we Americans no longer expect honesty from those we are supposed to be able to count on for accurate publishing. I am afraid this lack of expectation extends to other facets of our lives, including areas of education and positions of public service. The result is that we become cynical and isolationistic, trusting and believing in no one but our individual selves. It is a poor prospect for longevity as a nation if we have no expectation of those around us and are willing to not only expect errant behavior, but also accept it.

Mark Kohls
Concerned Citizen

Authors who try to pass off works of fiction as non-fiction are frauds. Remember Clifford Irving, who in 1972 was dubbed Time magazine's "Con Man of the Year" for his "Autobiography of Howard Hughes." Irving even snookered publisher McGraw-Hill with manuscripts of his (invented)taped interviews with Hughes. Irving also provided McGraw-Hill with nine documents from Hughes, including a hand-written letter -- all forgeries. This is not creative license. This is fraud!

Alan I. Friedman ========

I agree with you about the
"conscienceless audacity of the lying authors" it leads me to wonder who can we trust to tell us the truth if we can't trust the authors who claim "true story" on their book covers????
they keep on chipping away on our trust. soon no one will trust anyone anymore. what does that say for our society and the future of our society?

It is a sad commentary that society is moving from expecting and demanding honesty to expecting to be misled and even outright lied to. This attitude is such that we don’t even bother to demand honesty. We should demand honesty from our family, friends, associates, and leaders. Society is built on trust. If we don’t have trust, what do we as a society have?

I too watched "A Beautiful Mind" and loved it. But, because it was "Hollywood" I wondered how much of the story was true. A year later I took a college math class. Our final was to write a paper on a theory or a person who developed math theories. I immediately decided to write about John Nash. In my research I found the movie was more fiction than true. I was amazed by all the wonderful research on logic, game theory, cosmology and gravity he has accomplished.

I realize that statements from our goverment leaders are not always truthful. Hollywood uses half real stories to boost thier ratings. Even old fishermen tell the story of the big one that got away. They all want you to believe it is true.

Had I not seen the movie I would not had even known about John Nash. He is still alive today. The real story is about his gift of mind. I hate to think because of Hollywood's need for sensationism that people will remember John Nash for his madness rather than his brilliance.

With our ever new and expanding technology of information that touches every where in the world we should expect accuracy and truth. Those who publishes stories as real life should be accountable for researching the truth prior to releasing the story. That includes individuals like us.

A beautiful mind will always seek the truth, speak the truth and expect the truth.

I understand your disappointment. I generally expect and believe that what has been offered as true is actually true. I believe that the publishers have "vetted" the books before pffering them for public consumption. It appears that was naive on my part. There is a little voice in my head that wonders whether it makes a difference as long as the moral of the story is true. It reminds me of the lizard in the Geico commercials when he talks about prospective clients being served up buttered crumpets and then says, "Well, that was a complete dramatization, of course." I forgive him for that. Can something of value be learned from a story that is not "true" as to facts, places, dates, names, and so on? In my view, possibly, if it gets a moral point across, if it says something that needs to be said. I think people can learn spiritual truths from fables if those fables are entertaining. I'm not sure that's what's at issue here though. In the cases you mentioned, it seems more like a "cheap trick" to turn a profit and THAT disgusts me.

I am a middle school teacher. My students are deeply concerned with what is true and what is false. These are young people between 11-14 years of age who are able to discern between right and wrong, truth and lies. May the fabricators of lies who call themselves writers of truth learn to discern between truth and lies as well these preteens and teens!

Some critic, I forget who, described fiction as "a lie that tells the truth." To me, that meant characters and situations so realistically created that they seemed true to human nature and accurately portrayed what might have happened - without claiming to be true. Hearing of so many deceptions can make us sceptical about what is really true.

Dear Michael,
I had the exact same reaction that you did to "A Beautiful Mind," as to these fraudulent memoirs. They reflect the arrogant, unethical attitude of wealthy culture mongers who care nothing for truth, disrespect the consumer, and foresake the trust of the public. It is part of widespread cultural malaise that the public responds mostly with a yawn.

I too find it disconcerting that books can be published as non-fiction when they are in fact fiction. If I wanted to read a fabricated story, I would go find one- in the fiction section! This issue seems to revolve around marketing and making a buck. It is sad that people will toss their values out the window to do just that. They are taking advantage of others and basically lying for the sake of making money, getting published, etc. I find it disgusting!

"Truth is stranger than fiction." Then, if made-up anecdotes appear hard to believe, how likely it is that real'mirror events' have happened before? There's simply no way we can accept all the realities man experiences that are unknown except by those involved.

Passing around unique stories involves the habit of readers adding (and editing) further bits as it is forwarded.

Without truth we have, we are nothing. Keep up the fight for truth and consideration of our fellowman.

I believe what makes these incidents so upsetting is not only the audacity of the lies, but the lack of shame and embarrasement. In addition, I think it is our own internal "gut-feelings" that this is becoming a societal norm and considered acceptable in our everyday situations. Who knows who or what is completely truthful? Something that was once considered such an honorable virtue!!!!

Having been involved with local governments for 28 years, my fight for the truth doesn't end with literature. Journalists (hard copy or electronic) have even a greater duty to be sure what they write is the truth. Many, but certainly not all, reporters seem less than committed to reporting the truth. There have been times I have read a newspaper report on a situation for which I had personal knowledge and was completely shocked by how wrong the story was. When brought to an author's attention, it's not unusual to hear, "But I had a deadline and didn't want to miss the scoop." A false "scoop" is much too damaging to tolerate. It can destroys live. It's too bad there is a market for that kind of drivel. Maybe "Network" got it right!

My husband and I were watching "Moment of Truth". A game show where the contestant has previously been hooked to a lie detector and asked questions. The questions are then re-asked on air without the polygraph.
The question to the mother of 4 was, "If you could rob a bank and not be caught, would you do it?"
My husband and I at the same time said no because we'd be caught by ourselves.
I place great value on truth and honesty and I live by those values with peace in my heart.

"Memoirs of a Geisha" would probably fall into the same category. I felt mislead, and yet I ask my self why. I enjoyed reading the book. I was fascinated by the exposure to the Japanese culture. It apparently delivered what a good book should. Yet, I felt bad learning at the end this was not the real thing. I am not sure why.

I share your outrage. It seems bad enough that publishing scams occur as you identify, but of even greater alarm to me is the deceitful way the current administration sold us a false bill of goods
to justify the war in Iraq. Bill Moyers documented this fabrication last night on
"selling a war" in his Journal.

It makes me angry when people try to pass off lies as memoirs, and it disturbs me when people don't care. Thank you for speaking up about this.

Thank you for saying what so many of us do, but it falls on deaf ears. Truth is truth, lies are lies! I look forward to hearing you every morning on the way to work. I agree, character counts, in a big way! Thank you for all you do and say.

It is a sad result of the post modern culture that truth has been reduced to opinion and personal perspective. In fact, many young people believe there is no absolute truth having been schooled in the revisionist curriculum of liberal academia. After years of unconscionable advertising, contrived "reality" shows, increased self-indulgence and reduced personal and civic accountability, our young no longer care about anything beyond the effect it has on them. Their heroes are sports figures and celebrities - many of questionable ethics and morality - and their politicians are those that promise pie-in-the-sky "feel-good" solutions through wealth-equalizing legislation. As the snake's question in the garden empowered Adam & Eve to eat from the tree, and Pontius Pilate's question of Jesus, "What is truth", allowed him to side-step accountability, the obfuscation of truth is an age-old tactic that excuses the weak and immoral. We are in the cycle again today.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse...from the public treasury...The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years...

...from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again into bondage." - Alexander Tyler, 1750

I only wish you had the circulation of People Magazine.

I totally agree with you...thank you so much for standing tall...promoting that which is good and honorable.

Every coin has two sides so every story related with troubled teens may be a truth or fiction. The story which is based upon fiction is always rude to us because after reading the story we find that the story was wrong.

Nice blog, i have added it to my favourites, greetings