Letters to the Editor
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Who cares?
This has got to be the most pointless salon cover story ever. Still scratching my head.
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Thanks for the link Jesse Fruhwith
Jesse found the link he was looking for yesterday, and you can read nine dense pages of speculation about who, where, when, and why might have created this JT Leroy hoax to make some money and get some fame and buzz.
Now I know more than I ever had wanted about this non-person, fictitious entity who occasionally took human form using a model of indeterminate sexuality dressed in a blonde wig and sunglasses and hat and red lipstick.
Really boring stuff this, especially when disclosed this exhaustively by an good investigative journalist in New York magazine.
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Two things I don't understand
First, how did this pretend person get all this contact with celebrities? Is it that easy to link up with the rich and famous?
Second, how in the world was anyone fooled into thinking this was a man? There was never any question in my mind that the person in the picture was a woman. I was very confused by the gender references in the subtitle of the piece; his, his, he, next to the photograph of a woman captioned JT Leroy in Rome, Feb. 14, 2005. I am unable to believe people were fooled. They must have been I guess. I hope my brain doesn't explode.
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I see what the deal is here...
The hate for AW is based on one thing, and one thing only: she gets to fuck Michael Chabon, the current literary sex symbol, and the people who despise her don't.
Yes, folks, it's really that simple.
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People thought this was a MAN?
The person in the picture above this article, of whom I was blissfully unaware until yesterday, is OBVIOUSLY A WOMAN. I mean, come on. Anyone who can't tell that is more than suckered in by sympathy for transgenderism; he or she is just flat-out stupid. Real TSes must be horrified.
And the article confirms it. The author knows it's a fake, but doesn't seem to care until the fake becomes "news". Right. I see a fine career as a talking head, captioned "celebrity analyst", on "E True Hollywood Story" ahead for Waldman.
There is nothing about the "JT" story that is remotely interesting, even if it WAS true. And, seeing as how it is not, which should have been patently obvious to anyone who'd ever been in a room with a real woman or man before, is just embarrassing. So is reporting this here on Salon. The whole incident (story, fraud, discovery) is about as fascinating as Jessica Simpson's ruminations on buffalo wings.
The real revelation here isn't that JT Leroy conned one over on a bunch of people; it's that people like Waldman are being paid to pay attention to this crap. I understand why they do it on E; I don't understand why they do it on Salon. Same goes for the fake-o memoirist yesterday. WHO CARES?
I know people think it's cool to be all edgy and shit, hanging out with honest-to-gosh heroin addicts, hookers, and other assorted "authentic" lowlifes. Everybody wants to hang out with the next Bukowski. We're so impressed; it's like the seventies all over again. But it's not cool; it's tourism, a "cheap holiday in other people's misery". And it's ripe for exploitation. The appearance of these attractive, clever, well-spoken, brilliantly self-promoting scumbags is just absurd. Real lowlifes don't write books, they just rob you. And if you fall for it, you should be EXPELLED.
As should people who think it's INTERESTING that Courtney Love or Madonna are part of the story are robbing US when they bring this drivel to the real world.
What does it say about our society when the most prominent literary figures are con artists and fakes? Yeah, I get it, I get it; JT Leroy and her factotum Waldman (and many others) must be making some kind of commentary on The Bush Years. Terrific, that's very clever. Now, please, just go away. Take your Ayelet Waldman with you. I'd rather read porn than articles like this one.
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True Confessions
The thing that gets me about Waldman's story is that JT Leroy is such an esoteric character that she is basically confessing to a crime that no one knows has been committed. If she had never written the article, how many people would have known she had been duped? five? Ten? Now that she's written it, how many more people know? Thousands? I have to assume Waldman is smart enough to realize this, so somehow her life has been made better by bringing so much attention to her transgression. If that's not a fetish, I don't know what is.
In a lot of ways, I'm proud to say I had never heard of JT Leroy before I read this article. Believe me, my interests are so immersed in trivial, marginal crap that I have a hard time conversing with most people. For example, I couldn't possibly name one song by Brittney Spears, Paul Wall, or Nickelback. But I do own every recording Alejandro Escovedo and Chuck Prophet have ever released.
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Why these hoaxes matter...
Much of the response to these two hoaxes has been that it doesn't matter, big deal, etc.
The problem with Frey's lies is that he was providing a way for recovery from drug and alcohol abuse when he didn't know what he was talking about. He tells people that they don't need AA or NA, because he didn't. And people with valid problems look at him as an example when he's nothing but a spoiled frat boy with a penchant for PBR and a liar.
The LeRoy thing, I think, is equally insidious. I find it much more interesting than the Frey situation, for several reasons. Like the Frey hoax, it brings up our obsession with overcoming adversity and triumphing against the odds. It also makes an interesting commentary on what it takes to get published these days and how much an authors backstory or identity really matters. LeRoy's books were marketed specifically as fiction, but "his" backstory propelled it, made it interesting to people.
For those saying "what's the harm?"... I think there is, in this case. LeRoy made a ton of effort to put that story out there and to interact with fans, and in that s/he provided a role model to people who actually are dealing with AIDS, sexual abuse and poverty. "He" cultivated friendships with authors so that he could get ahead and hurt people in the process. Susie Bright made an interesting post on this subject, that you can read here: http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2006/01/my_name_is_susi.html