Heather Foeh

So, if you read the Smart Bitches blog (or if you keep up with world events better than I do) then you probably already know about the latest writing scandal: Margaret B. Jones published a “memoir” about her gang and drug-infested childhood called Love and Consequences. Unfortunately, it turns out that Ms. Jones is really Ms. Seltzer and none of it is true. What on earth are people thinking?? It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Hello…remember “A Million Little Pieces”, the Oprah pick? Oops. So what makes someone believe they’ll get away with it.

Here’s my favorite part of the New York Times article:

“Ms. Seltzer’s story started unraveling last Thursday after she was profiled in the House & Home section of The New York Times. The article appeared alongside a photograph of Ms. Seltzer and her 8-year-old daughter, Rya. Ms. Seltzer’s older sister, Cyndi Hoffman, saw the article and called Riverhead to tell editors that Ms. Seltzer’s story was untrue.”

My first thought is that the sister was rather jerky, but then I thought about what I’d do if my own sister was getting famous off of falsehoods — I’d have to speak up (hopefully first to my sister before the publisher…). My second thought was, Ms. Seltzer is even more idiotic than I originally thought! She has a whole family who could at any minute unmask her. Did she not take that into consideration? Did she not think, “Hey, maybe I should give them a heads-up”? Apparently not.

I’ve done some dumb things in my life, but sometimes it’s nice to read about other people’s complete idiocy — it makes my stupidity just a little less stupid.