We live in a truthy, hoaxy, culture – we all know that. Things are seldom what they seem. Things are helpfully cleaned up for us – made nice and simple and just what we want – without our having to notice a thing. It’s twenty-first century efficiency.
So who’s surprised that a busy high-profile journalist seems to interview people, but actually inserts things they’ve already written into his copy and passes them off as statements made during the interview? He even sets the scene for the citation, gives it dramatic urgency: “After saying this, he falls silent, and we stare at each other for a while. Then he says, in a quieter voice…”
Then he says, a quieter voice, “Page 25, footnote 2, My Memoirs…”
The technique has worked well for Hari. He’s very successful. It’s like that old joke with which this essay begins. I guess Hari knows how to tell them.
June 28th, 2011 at 4:59PM
When I first came to these Colleges, I sometimes described the regular faculty meeting as much like the San Quentin Joke.