What began as a story about a brilliant woman with a new invention had turned into the tale of a troubled man who had invented a new life for himself. Yet the biggest question remained unanswered: Had Dr. V created a great golf club or merely a great story?
The quote above is from this article, a longform participatory journalism article by Caleb Hannah published by Grantland; a bizarre story about an inventor ("Dr. V"), her putter, and the lies she told.
Shortly after Hannah discovered Dr. V's trans past (and after he discovered other lies she told), Dr. V killed herself. That tragedy has created a controversy (you can read about some of it in a Slate article here): was the trans aspect of Dr. V's life part of the story? From the Slate article:
As much as we try to understand other people’s emotions, this is what empathy looks like in real life: It’s easier to relate to people who are just like us.As a patent lawyer for 26 years, all too familiar with inventors, I am not surprised by Dr. V's inventions -- the putter or her life. As a trans person active in the community, all too familiar with trans people, I am not surprised by Dr. V's history and actions. What I don't know, and no one can say, is if there is any need for empathy. Trans people's lives suck, most of them. Does that give any of us the right to demand we be treated with kid gloves? That is, we have little protection against trans prejudice, the disgust of others, losing our family, our job, our friends and our lives if we transition and become known as trans...should we have the right to demand even greater protection against being "outed"? Even if we solicited the situation that might lead to outing in the first place?
That’s not how journalism is supposed to work, though. Yes, every reporter strives to uncover the truth. But we’re also supposed to call on our reserves of emotional intelligence to comprehend the people we’re writing about. When someone like the New York Times’ David Carr, who is very much attuned to questions of journalistic ethics, tweets out Hannan’s story approvingly with no hint about the moral dilemmas it raises, it’s clear there’s a cavernous empathy gap between mainstream writers and trans people. Hannan’s story, and the writer’s defenders, show the dangers of privileging fact-finding and the quest for a great story over compassion and humanity.
Interesting. I kind of think -- while being fearful of judging another -- if one is going to make stuff up, one risks. And I think if one is going to make stuff up and then solicit attention as well, one risks alot.
I suppose some lies are sometimes necessary, but as I was told when I was a child, lying requires a big memory (keeping all the lies straight) and a small conscience (keeping any guilt about lying repressed and not bothersome). I do not know whether that was sound advice (i.e., a parent's advice is not always sound), but the advice was accurate. Of course, the bottom line is this: lies are choices, and choices often have consequences.
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