The Real American Dream
By Cathryn Crawford (05/30/03)
I’ve known better for years than to believe what I read in the New York Times. Most of us realized that what they published was slanted so far to the left it couldn't even stand up, yes, but it has recently been proven – much to many people’s satisfaction - that not only was a significant amount of the content biased, it was also inaccurate. The Jayson Blair affair and its aftermath conclusively taught us that.
Now, much has been written about Mr. Blair and the circumstances surrounding his untimely departure from the Times, but there is an aspect of the story that is rarely looked at - perhaps because it is, in a sense, an issue that none of us particularly want to look at. I am referring to Mr. Blair's personal responsibility in this matter, his myriad excuses for why exactly he did what he did, and, most of all, our inability to keep ourselves from indulging in the worst practice of current life in America – the rewarding of someone because they did something wrong.
To say that what Blair did was immoral is true. None of us can claim to have a monopoly on morality; however, by the standards of truth and justice, his actions were wrong. Not only were they wrong and hurtful to him, they were wrong and hurtful to the people about whom he lied. They were also harmful to the reputation of his employer, the already besieged (for good reason) New York Times. But, instead of remorse, Blair's statements since the blowup at his employer have been tinged with a mixture of smugness and satisfaction. "That was my favorite," he says, referring to his March 27 account of former POW Jessica Lynch's family home. "The description was just so far off from reality," he said. "The way they described it in The Times story—someone read a portion of it for me. I just couldn’t stop laughing."
Arrogance is, perhaps, a folly of all writers, especially the young ones who are quickly successful, but in Blair's reaction to his newly gained notoriety I see a problem that affects all of America - the lack of responsibility for our actions in the lives we lead. He claimed that his problems stemmed from being assigned to idiot editors - and I don't doubt that idiot editors exist at the New York Times – but they exist everywhere you go. It's a fact of life. He also blames a variety of other factors, including racism; despite the fact that it now appears that his race is what got him the high position in the first place. He blames alcohol and drugs, which were, he says, his own form of "self-medication".
Like so many, he blames everything and everyone except the one person who is to blame - himself.
Not once have I read or heard or seen an interview in which he took responsibility for his actions and the consequences that have been visited upon many because of them. And in no story or editorial that I have read on the subject has anyone even breathed a word about the public’s reaction to the Blair spectacle. Yes, it’s true; some people feel a sense of disgust. Unfortunately, however, I have also seen a lot of quiet high-fives and back slapping; maybe even a few attaboys for poor little discriminated-against Jayson. In a world where people aspire to be like the worst of humanity, where people really and truly admire the lazy liars over the people who do their duty quietly and without making a fuss, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when people are fawned over for their outrageously wrong behavior. It’s such a common thing.
It turns out that, as is so often the case, Jayson Blair has become so much more popular than he ever deserved to be. Now he has been rewarded for his spectacularly awful behavior with several book deals, it's also quite likely that a movie or four will be made about him and his sordid, mysterious, romantic life as a rouge liar of a reporter. He will be lauded and remembered, and, in a vague sort of way, he will be revered. Not, perhaps, as someone to be loved, but as someone who did something naughty and got rewarded for it in the end. The true, real American dream.
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