Oprah Apolgizes--But What About the Liberty Counsel, Right-Wing Christians and Bill O'Reilly?
Oprah Winfrey did something hard this week: she apologized for condoning a false impression about a book. Yesterday, a small town Wisconsin school district asked the powerful Liberty Counsel and its right-wing Christian backers to do the same about their lies relating to the phony "War on Christmas."
Ms. Winfrey apologized for being indifferent to the truth about an author's false memoir about his life as a drug user. James Frey acknowledged that he had embellished parts of the book, and he told Winfrey Thursday that "the same demons that fueled his addictions caused him to mischaracterize himself." As ABC News reports Winfrey phoned in her support for him and for the book, calling the allegations against Frey "much ado about nothing."...But Winfrey, who has been widely criticized, even by e-mailers on her Web site, for her apparent indifference to the controversy, said Thursday that she regretted making that call.
"I left the impression that the truth is not important," she said.
For People of the Book, of course, bearing false witness is always a matter of considerable importance. The Dodgeville School District asked some purported Christians and their legal advocacy group, the Liberty Counsel, to apologize for its lies about the school district's efforts at producing a holiday play. "The group threatened lawsuits and ignored the truth even after the school posted on its Web site an explanation of its program, the district charged in a letter to Liberty Counsel..."
As the Wisconsin State Journal reported Thursday, "Your dissemination of false and misleading information and your threats of specious and frivolous litigation resulted in enormous cost to the district. You have yet to present the facts either through a press release, one of your 'alerts' or through any other means. You used this red herring to attempt to collect money through the form of donations," the district's lawyer, Eileen A. Brownlee, wrote in a letter to Mathew D. Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel...
Diane Messer, Dodgeville superintendent, said the group never asked for a reply or for an explanation in its first letter, never checked its facts and even got its final statement wrong, when it issued a press release incorrectly claiming the school "dumps" a song, "Cold in the Night," and "returns" to "Silent Night."
Contrary to Liberty Counsel's information in a string of press releases, "From the beginning," wrote Messer to the group Dec. 13, "the program has included the singing of religious songs with their original lyrics. Yes, 'Silent Night' will be sung. 'Cold in the Night' will not be sung." Instead, that song was narrated.
Messer, in an interview Wednesday, said Liberty Counsel exploited incorrect information for a publicity advantage, disregarding the truth.
In one press release, Staver said the school district "intentionally mocks Christian Christmas songs." Comments like this were "what in part incensed our district and our School Board," said Messer. "We answered his question, he chose to frame it differently, focusing on 'Silent Night.' As a result, that is where he made his errors. That and . . . not verifying the facts of the matter.
"I am surprised that he has chosen this approach, since he is representing a Christian organization that certainly would uphold the Ten Commandments. He is not honoring the commandment that thou shalt not bear false witness."
In this case, the lies about an honorable school district have hurt the hard-working people of Dodgeville. Will the Liberty Counsel, and its zealous supporters in the clergy and Bill O’Reilly at Fox News , follow Oprah Winfrey's lead? As a believer, I really believe that miracles can happen.
Ms. Winfrey apologized for being indifferent to the truth about an author's false memoir about his life as a drug user. James Frey acknowledged that he had embellished parts of the book, and he told Winfrey Thursday that "the same demons that fueled his addictions caused him to mischaracterize himself." As ABC News reports Winfrey phoned in her support for him and for the book, calling the allegations against Frey "much ado about nothing."...But Winfrey, who has been widely criticized, even by e-mailers on her Web site, for her apparent indifference to the controversy, said Thursday that she regretted making that call.
"I left the impression that the truth is not important," she said.
For People of the Book, of course, bearing false witness is always a matter of considerable importance. The Dodgeville School District asked some purported Christians and their legal advocacy group, the Liberty Counsel, to apologize for its lies about the school district's efforts at producing a holiday play. "The group threatened lawsuits and ignored the truth even after the school posted on its Web site an explanation of its program, the district charged in a letter to Liberty Counsel..."
As the Wisconsin State Journal reported Thursday, "Your dissemination of false and misleading information and your threats of specious and frivolous litigation resulted in enormous cost to the district. You have yet to present the facts either through a press release, one of your 'alerts' or through any other means. You used this red herring to attempt to collect money through the form of donations," the district's lawyer, Eileen A. Brownlee, wrote in a letter to Mathew D. Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel...
Diane Messer, Dodgeville superintendent, said the group never asked for a reply or for an explanation in its first letter, never checked its facts and even got its final statement wrong, when it issued a press release incorrectly claiming the school "dumps" a song, "Cold in the Night," and "returns" to "Silent Night."
Contrary to Liberty Counsel's information in a string of press releases, "From the beginning," wrote Messer to the group Dec. 13, "the program has included the singing of religious songs with their original lyrics. Yes, 'Silent Night' will be sung. 'Cold in the Night' will not be sung." Instead, that song was narrated.
Messer, in an interview Wednesday, said Liberty Counsel exploited incorrect information for a publicity advantage, disregarding the truth.
In one press release, Staver said the school district "intentionally mocks Christian Christmas songs." Comments like this were "what in part incensed our district and our School Board," said Messer. "We answered his question, he chose to frame it differently, focusing on 'Silent Night.' As a result, that is where he made his errors. That and . . . not verifying the facts of the matter.
"I am surprised that he has chosen this approach, since he is representing a Christian organization that certainly would uphold the Ten Commandments. He is not honoring the commandment that thou shalt not bear false witness."
In this case, the lies about an honorable school district have hurt the hard-working people of Dodgeville. Will the Liberty Counsel, and its zealous supporters in the clergy and Bill O’Reilly at Fox News , follow Oprah Winfrey's lead? As a believer, I really believe that miracles can happen.
posted by Faithful Progressive at 10:14 PM
3 Comments:
Oprah could have learned a lot from conservatives about how to handle this situation:
http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2006/01/some-conservative-advice-for-oprah.html
JS's Post is quite witty:
"Never flip flop - "I supported James Frey's book before I came out against it" is exactly the wrong strategy. Never change your position no matter how wrong it is or people will see you as indecisive.
Never admit a mistake - Only wimps and liberals admit mistakes.
Make light of the situation - "What happened to those three months James Frey supposedly spent in prison? Are they under the desk?"
Stand by your man - You can learn a lot about life from Tammy Wynette, no matter what Hillary says. Be loyal to your people no matter what they do. Tell them they're doing a great job, whether it's true or not.
Move the goalposts - If it turns out the "essential truth" of A Million Little Pieces doesn't seem like such a good reason to like the book anymore, say that it was actually the lack of paragraph indentation that moved you all along.
Distribute blame evenly - Everybody believed the book was true! The French, German and British critics loved it!
Don't be swayed by popular opinion - Oprah claims she read emails from her fans castigating her for calling up Larry King Live. Doesn't she have people to insulate her from such things? How can she make important decisions when she is distracted by the hoi polloi? This is what bubbles were made for.
The best defense is a good offense - Instead of having critics like Richard Cohen and Frank Rich on her show to criticize her, couldn't she have had her staff dig up some dirt on them? What do their wives do for a living, for example?
The more you repeat something the more true it seems - The more you repeat something the more true it seems. See?
Listening to reactions to the "cartoon war on Islam," I heard a moderate Muslim explain that Islam required believers to protest any depiction of the Prophet. To remain silent would be to condone blasphemy. In this religious context, the outcry is understandable. But for it to become so widespread, Muslims had to know about the offense.
Hard to believe that anyone in our country would so cynically exploit religious believers...
Another question. How can Muslims be sure the offending images were really the prophet?
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