Frauds on Parade: Jayson Blair & Stephen Glass

We demand an elaborate dance of remorse and contrition from disgraced celebrities. We expect them to humble themselves before us, confess their sins, and beg for our forgiveness. A public display of remorse and contrition is the cost of entry we command from bad boys and girls angling to be forgiven and welcomed back into polite society. That helps explain why the Charlie Sheen imbroglio so fascinated us this past summer. Sheen’s behavior didn’t just violate the unwritten codes of celebrity contrition; they stomped them underneath massive Godzilla legs, then did a crazed celebratory dance. We anticipated the standard publicist-orchestrated rounds of apologies and promises to go into rehab. We expected Sheen to admit his powerlessness over drug and alcohol abuse and promise to get better.