Who's the bigger liar

Between Grey Owl and James Frey, I think James Frey is the bigger liar. The reason I chose Frey wasn't based on how big the lie was or how long the lie was told or how many lies were told. I chose him because of the impact his lies had on the people who read his words.

Grey Owl's lies consisted of him not being a full blooded indian and being an englishman and not seeing the wilderness till he was 18. Although he either lied about himself or never bothered correcting the stories about him, he never lied to benefit himself. His story and his life works concentrated on vanishing species and they're survival. In a case like this, you could say that the end justified the means. The lies that were discovered about him weren't used as any inspiration to tell his story. Yes, it makes him look like a liar, but it doesn't outweigh what we discovered about him to be true, which is an advocate for vanishing species.

James Frey on the other hand wrote false memoirs about his life. He exaggerated about a key arrest in his memoir, hitting a cop with a car, while being high on crack, which led to a 87 day jail sentence, when in fact, he was held at a police station for no more than 5 hours, posted bond and was cooperative with the police officers. What makes it even worse for Frey is that his book was featured on Oprah Winfrey, a very influential woman, who helped promote the book as a memoir.

James Frey, even after being caught in his lie, continued to defend the authenticity of his memoirs, even though accounts had already proven his stories to be partially fabricated. His book can be seen as an inspirational read for readers, which was at one point considered to be true. But after integrity has been questioned and proven, it is hard to see what Frey was trying to accomplish, other than to make some money.