I don’t know that much about Dr. Oz, (I think he’s the real Oprah doctor, not the fake, Dr. Phil one), or the hullabaloo surrounding his endorsement of suspect weight-loss products, but the media frenzy and his impassioned, yet half-hearted response to claims that he is knowingly hawking snake oil remedies by exploiting his popularity and celebrity, at best, unwisely, is but the latest of many public examples of pandemic irresponsibility.  And, the worst of this behavior is too often not in the doing of the alleged impropriety, but in the knee-jerk first, (and often second and third), response to categorically deny culpability.  In the Mehmet Oz example, his on-air rebuttal didn’t refute the preposterous claims of miraculous results from using the products he endorsed, merely his right to endorse them, thus shirking the tacit responsibility he has to his adoring minions.

Our species is tragically flawed. Shakespeare would have had very little to write about t’were it be otherly.  I don’t buy into the biblical “Original Sin” deal, but if there is any hyperbolic link to the actions of our metaphorical progenitors, (sometimes I just love listening to myself type), in the garden, it’s that we seem destined to lie when we get caught.  The cherry-tree-chopping incident of the young George Washington is the only historic, mythic, fictional or anime example that comes to mind to the contrary.

Politicians, (quite possibly as a mandate, along with their secret handshake), and various media darlings across multiple genres, place themselves in compromised situations, running the gamut from comical to criminal, with such regularity, that the damage control, spin, apologies and rehab often occupy the lion’s share of their waking hours.  Just think of the time savings if we weren’t constantly concocting cockamamie contrivances instead of simply owning our missteps and bad behavior.

This is the part where I was going to make a list of things I’ve been trying to get away with, you know, attempting to enlighten by example, but then it dawned on me…the only thing worse than my behavior is my memory.