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| Three Cups Of Tea |
On Monday author and adventurist Jon Krakauer, who once funded Mortenson’s non-profit Central Asia Institute with thousands of dollars of his own money, added fuel to the fire by releasingThree Cups of Deceit, alleging Mortenson of telling beautiful stories, and beautiful lies:
“Mortenson has lied about the noble deeds he has done, the risks he has taken, the people he has met, the number of schools he has built,” Krakauer told 60 Minutes.
The Three Cups of Tea scandal could potentially do significant damage to how people feel about investing in a region they already feel hopeless about. One of the great things that Mortenson’s stories demonstrate is the significance of education, and being able to access it, especially for girls. His books make people feel empowered and hopeful. The Daily Beast’s Michele Goldberg explains that it may not be the author who has the most to lose from from the backlash against his books:
If this were just about one author’s reputation, the story would have few repercussions outside the publishing world. But Mortenson is not just a memoirist—he’s also the single most famous champion of the transformative power of education for girls in poor countries. If his downfall leads to skepticism about his cause, it would be not just a scandal, but a tragedy.
Many bloggers are also questioning the role the publishers play in ensuring the stories they make available to the public are true.
While there is no doubt that the fallout from this scandal could harm efforts for both the war in Afghanistan and the work of non-profits in general, what I am concerned with is allowing one man to affect the future of thousands, possibly millions of girls because he decided to lie in his books and worse, use the funds not for the future of Afghanistan but for his own future.
I think we need to stay focused on the fact that while Mortenson may or may not be a con-artist, the plight of Afghan women and girls is very real.
No man taking “substantial liberties with the facts to improve the yarn” should ever let anyone deter from wanting to play role in improving the future of those who need to access opportunities the most. Men and war have already closed enough doors for women and girls in Afghanistan. Let us not give Mortenson that much credit.
