QÜNE: The Report

A Million Unlikely Heroes

We’re sure that most of you have heard about Oprah's recent interview with James Frey, the bestselling author of A Million Pieces. If you haven’t, we recommend that you consider paying your cable bill on time or start reading the paper.      

 Mr. Frey’s memoir was the talk of the town even before it was determined that much of his story was embellished. Simply put- it is an enthralling read. Chronicling his life as a recovering drug addict, his book presents as a train wreck in process. Each page details a collision of gore and bravado, producing an implausible story of exculpation and triumph. It unfolds like a “too catastrophic to be true” but “too tragic not to watch” reality TV show where the tragedies of the main characters overshadow the often elementary underlying redemptive theme (see Being Bobby Brown for example).

Yet, the furor over A Million Pieces seems to overlook how “reality media” (this includes talk shows, videos, movies, music, and pundits) has made the "unlikely hero", in fact, much more likely. Frey's vita is now the norm, not the exception.  In today's pop culture world, if you want to be famous, you’d better have a tale of tragedy and triumph to share with the world. If you don’t, you better make one up (see Vanilla Ice). Because if you’re happy, successful, and haven’t sold drugs or ingested them, lived in the projects, been bitten by a venomous orb weevil, incurred severe pain at the hands of a loved one, or had to sell CDs out of the trunk of your car to survive; you can be sure that there will be no book, no album, no TV show, and certainly no appearance on Dr. Phil in your future. Being literate, employed, and attentive to the lives of family and friends gives you little chance of achieving pop culture prominence. If you’ve ever witnessed the way some African American teens from stable, caring families reject their pedigree in an attempt to emulate the cliché (and often exaggerated) hip hop personas of hustlers turned good, then you know how dangerous this new standard can be (see Bow Wow, Ray J, and too many kids in Prince Georges County, Maryland for evidence).      

The James Frey debacle should serve as a reminder that the majority of “unlikely heroes” have little interest in publicity.  Most would gladly trade in any amount of fame for the promise of universal peace, equity, and justice.

Read about a true hero here. And read James Frey’s book, its good fiction.

Doubting Cosby

With all the controversy surrounding Michael Eric Dyson's new book, you'd think the fate of the black community hinges on whether Cosby is Right or Wrong.

Well, the folk at The Report are agnostic. We have no more faith in the respectability politics of the black elite than we do in the dutiful aptitude of Shaquisha and Ki Ki. Ignorance abounds in all spaces. Hence, like Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, our charge is to illuminate all counter-productive behavior in our community and beyond.

We are watching.