Busted

Okay, so James Frey is a liar.

This story is sad, but only for the addicts who saw him as an inspiration.

Otherwise... it's funny.

I mean, the guy wrote a book about being an asshole, to great acclaim. Now we're all shocked and disappointed to discover - horrors! - he's actually an asshole. But he's not the kind of asshole we wanted: the blood-and-vomit-spewing, here's-What's-Wrong-With-Society kind. Nope, he's just a plain old asshole.

Turns out, he's the asshole in high school who stares at a popular girl and makes stories in his head about being her best friend. He's the preppy frat asshole who gets pulled over for having an open can of cheap beer in his car and brags about being William S. Burroughs. He's the kind of asshole who could let Oprah get teary over him on national television and never think to tell her the truth. If you ask me, he's still a shining example of What's Wrong With Society. It just isn't the lesson Oprah, or anyone else, wanted to learn.

In the end, really, the story is the same - he made millions of dollars off of being a jerk. We let him do it, and we'll keep letting him do it - the book will keep selling, of course. So why aren't we at least partly blaming ourselves on this one?