Brian Williams under fire
As is now well-known, Williams, who has stepped down from his role as NBC anchor for a few days (doubtless in the hope this will all die down) went about telling a fib concerning an experience he had in Iraq 12 years ago. He has said that while reporting on the conflict there a helicopter he was riding in came under enemy fire.
RPG rockets and AK47s were shot at his helicopter, he said. It was a harrowing experience — or it would have been. The problem was it never happened. There was an army helicopter in that region fired on that day, but it was one that was in the air about an hour before the one Williams rode in was. The helicopter Williams rode in did not take fire and had a peaceful, uneventful trip.
Now other Williams stories are under scrutiny, including a trip in 2006 in an Israeli helicopter that was, or was not, fired upon, and his having said that he saw a body, or bodies, float by in waters as he looked out his hotel room window while in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
To quote the steroid-using, allegedly, former baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, that’s quite the job of having “misremembered.” You may recall that during a steroid investigation of Clemens, he told a government committee that his fellow pitcher, Andy Petite, misremembered him saying he used Human Growth Hormones.
Both Petite and his wife swore in an affidavit that Clemens told them that, leading to the misremembering comment. Is that what Williams did, misremember? The thing is, while most of us haven’t experienced being fired upon in a helicopter, if we had it’s unlikely we’d misremember that with the experience of being in a helicopter and not being fired upon. To be sure they are both experiences that occur in a helicopter but they’re really like apples and oranges, no?
Hillary Clinton under fire
In a speech in 2008, Hillary Clinton said that while on a visit to Bosnia in 1996 as First Lady, she landed “under sniper fire.” Along with her entourage, including then 15-year-old daughter, Chelsea, they had to duck as they ran to safety. This, too, a terrible ordeal with one problem – it also did not happen.
Video emerged of them getting off the plane and calmly shaking hands with folks and strolling down the tarmac into a building. No gunfire. She stuck to her story for a while but eventually capitulated and said she made a mistake.
Here again, the difference between experiences is vast. Getting off of a plane and shielding your terrified teenage daughter as you sprint along a tarmac into the relative safety of a building while weapons fire all around you is markedly different than casually shaking hands with well-wishers and strolling off to go for a meal.
Williams and Clinton under fire
Here’s the point: These are not instances of misremembering. They are not even instances of exaggerating, they are instances of lying. And when you are a journalist who has the trust of millions, you don’t do that. And when you are running for the office of the president of your country — you don’t do that.
Nice enough people perhaps, but no longer trustworthy. It’s just too blatant a deception. Lying to curry favour, to get points, to be the best, to secure a nomination at all costs, simply does not fly.
Some will excuse one or both of Williams and Clinton. Naturally, you’ll judge for yourself whether he should head a news department of a major American broadcaster or she should be the president of the United States. There’s one thing to keep in mind when you do make that judgement, however.
Remember not to misremember their past.
