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from: Andrew Sullivan

Joseph Ellis' Lies vs. Bob Kerrey's

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001, at 2:49 PM ET

Jonathan,

I must say I find it rather touching that you have found a New York Times editorial to be "pompous bullshit." Since this occurs to some of us on daily basis, it's good to have some solidarity under the onslaught of piety from 43rd Street. Have you seen Ira Stoll's Web site, smartertimes.com, a regular examination of PC bias, illogic and PB tendencies in what is still my favorite newspaper? I guess you have to love something to get so mad at it.

This editorial's a classic, though. I particularly like the fearless judgment that Mount Holyoke's decision was done "fairly and appropriately." Those mind-numbing adjectives are Times staples, along with "fair-minded" for anything they agree with and "mean-spirited" for anything they don't. They reflect an attitude of detachment that is rarely separated from condescension. The Times is the only institution I know of that can make me both infuriated and bored at the same time.

Still, Ellis. What interests me--and what the Times naturally doesn't address--is whether you can draw a distinction between what someone says about himself and the integrity of his work. So far as I know, no one has impugned the quality of Ellis' work itself. So who should really care about the myths he invents to make his own life more bearable or exciting? This "sanctity of the classroom" blather is further evidence of creeping Puritanism. We should be able to make a distinction between someone's professional competence and his personal idiosyncrasies. It seems to me it's none of Mount Holyoke's professional business if Ellis has been deluding himself and others about his past. Until they find an actual professional mistake, they should buzz off. Everyone lies to himself in some way about his past. We euphemize; we turn ourselves into little heroes; we make shit up. Since most people live rather tedious lives, I think we should thank them for adding a little fictional spice to their oral autobiographies. When the lie is as transparent and as checkable as Ellis', very little harm is done. Would Mount Holyoke have suspended Edmund Morris for fictionalizing whole sections of his Reagan bio? I hope not. I loved that book.

Compare Ellis' lies with Bob Kerrey's. Ellis made up pretty harmless stories about his war service. For decades, Kerrey essentially lied about his true war history, omitting what was clearly the most searing and formative moment in his past and basing his political ascent on a very different account. In my view, it seems clear that Kerrey killed innocent civilians in cold blood and then became an unusually good spinner to get the press to forget about it. He's still head of the New School. Ellis is on leave. Both lied--for reasons you're right to argue are probably beyond any outsider's understanding. But isn't lying about a war crime far more morally serious than embellishing a military record?

The tide is really high here now--inching under my little wharf. I was up even later than usual today--recovering from an endless drag show last night. Ah, P'town. But watch that "P'town boy" stuff. I'm 38. You wanna have me start calling you "daddy"?

Andrew

the breakfast table
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from: Andrew Sullivan

Joseph Ellis' Lies vs. Bob Kerrey's

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001, at 2:49 PM ET
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Jonathan Lear is a member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. His most recent book is Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life. Andrew Sullivan writes daily for andrewsullivan.com, writes the "TRB" column for the New Republic, and is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.
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