The Fragility of Memory

Brian Williams has had the worst week ever for a journalist. Disclosure of his mis-remembrances have become the news. 
The sudden departure of the veteran NBC newscaster has enthralled the media.  The feeding frenzy of news hyenas is disturbing.  Williams seems to have few friends in the business; he has been excoriated up and down the ideological spectrum.  

Jon Stewart on the Daily Show last week admitted  that he and Williams are good friends, then proceeded to skewer him.

Now that's journalistic integrity from a fake news guy.  





It started with the revelation of an embellished recounting of a helicopter ride to Baghdad twelve years, in 2002.

Now, most of us would have given him a "mulligan" on that one. Who among us has not mis-remembered a key event in our lives or hasn't embellished a story to make it more compelling?  (As a writer, I make-up stuff all the time and justify any integrity issues by playing the "literary License" card.)  

But then another slew of "false" memory situations have been whispered about - The time I met the Pope, Tom Brokaw and me at the Berlin Wall, The body floating by in Katrina, and others that you have already read somewhere else.  Its not that these memories are so dastardly, or evil --after all, no one was hurt by him trying to include himself in important world events.  It is real life imitating art, reminiscent of  "Zellig," or "Forrest Gump." 

So, this pattern of mis-remembering events that can be proven to be false will threaten Williams' reputation as a serious journalist.  On the other hand, Hillary Clinton's famous memory error (having to duck bullets in Baghdad) was forgiven by the faithful.  Perhaps Williams can be rehabilitated also.  I just hope we don't start having a bunch of women coming forward with accusations of assault or cell phone boner pictures.

Maybe Williams should apply for Jon Stewart's job.  He could say he has had experience with fake news.... sorry could not resist that.
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A Confession

Have you ever  been in a group when the conversation turned to celebrity sightings, and you "borrowed" an experience from someone else.  I feel that it is time to recant a false memory of my own: I hereby confess that I have never encountered Leon Redbone in a restaurant.  The story I have recounted several times over the  years was actually the experience told to me by a workmate many years ago.  Whenever the topic turned to celebrity sightings, I

Leon Redbone - Never met him.

would trot this vignette out with only a slight tingle of self awareness that it had not really happened to me.  It seemed better to lie, than to have no story to tell.  There, now that you know, do you think I should be punished or reviled?  I rationalize it by reminding myself  that one must never let the facts spoil a good story.    

Research shows that we constantly edit our memories.  (Don't expect me to do the work to support that statement.  The proof is everywhere on the Internet.  Don't be so lazy.)  It's not a matter of morality or ethics, since Truth is what our memories tell us is true.

My point is that much of what we believe to be true is based on our memories of events that we saw with our own eyes.  But if you have siblings (or adult children) you probably realized that there is an unexplained phenomenon where events/conversations that  you recall in great detail are denied by the other witnesses.

The fragility of memory is a little intimidating, especially as we age, where the grasp on reality seems like a small and slippery rail on an icy staircase.