Though I was incensed by the James Frey Debacle, I'm finding it hard to get worked up about the JT Leroy Fake Writer Scandal. Probably because it was so well-executed and I have to give credit to a prank of such magnitude. Today's Times has a piece about the perpetrator's sour-grapes ex-boyfriend. If you're keeping track, it's a good read. Otherwise it just the story of a man scorned, albeit in a weird way.
A far more interesting story is the one about a study done on guards and other prison staff who are directly involved in prisoner executions. Only by utilizing what the researchers term "moral disengagement," are these people—state-sanctioned murderers, really—able to make peace with the fact that they make a living killing their fellow human beings. Though this is a more extreme case, moral disengagement can be used to justify all manner of bad behavior. As kind of a goody-goody at heart, I found this fascinating. I'm not alone. As one of the researchers pointed out, moral disengagement "is where all the action is."
In other news, my friend Val writes about unwittingly becoming the go-to lady for all things lice-related. She cracks my ass up.
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