It's a legitimate question the parent asks. In my book, the guy deserves oblivion, after he has been revealed to be a pathological liar and fabulist. If you love the field of journalism, this guy should disgust you.

Bonus trivia: Lehrer was paid $20,000 to deliver this speech. Ridiculous and a mountainous source of embarrassment for the Knight Foundation.

First, I find it's unproductive to make psychological diagnoses of people you haven't met before. Having met actual pathological liars there is not remotely enough evidence that Lehrer is one, unless you're just using the word to mean "a liar I don't like," in which case you're cheapening the phrase.

Second, do you really want a world where errors -- even massive ones -- automatically disqualify you from being relevant again? Where there are no second acts in American life? I do think there are places where that makes sense, but they tend to be places where the supply is perceived to be abundant and commoditized. Ergo why we encourage failure amongst entrepreneurs.

Nobody automatically deserves forgiveness, but I do think Lehrer is a giften enough storyteller that we should not necessarily consign him to the dustbin.

If Lehrer gets a second act, he will earn it by convincing people that he is worth giving one. That's something each person will have to decide individually, and some will be convinced more easily than others.

Perhaps he will succeed, after some soul-searching and change. This article represents a step in the right direction: some people seem to already be on the cusp of forgiveness, while others would like (as is their right) some more assurance. Or maybe he'll fail in this: his sins may be too great, or he may prove to be incorrigible. Either way will be telling.

And this is as it should be. Forgiveness is earned, one way or another, and should be.

Yep. And his speech is rather disgusting, too. "I need standards"? What, in his part of the world "Don't lie" is not an accepted standard?

If we discount someone's current contributions and ideas because we are disgusted by their past mistakes, we risk losing some useful and insightful things.

This speech had a very important message: It's not enough to acknowledge or apologize for mistakes. You need to give yourself (and others) a reason to trust that you won't make similar mistakes in the future. Jonah goes into more detail: you need a standard operating procedure which prevents sloppiness, so that the routine ensures you don't make mistakes.

If you've not read this, because you feel he deserves oblivion, you should read it and pretend it was written by someone else. Also ... if someone deserves "oblivion" for mistakes, even egregious ones, what's the point of rehabilitation?

But his problem isn't that he is sloppy, it is that he is unscrupulous. This isn't some error in procedure, it is a deep character flaw. At best that takes years of self reflection and self refinement to remedy, not a simple list of rules. Rehabilitation for this is possible, but not probable and he should work in a different field that doesn't rely so much on personal integrity.

An apology doesn't get more sincere than when you've been paid $20k to make it!

In that light, it's almost performance art.

Does the Knight Foundation not make a habit of giving its speakers such staggering sums? If not, this is mysterious, and it would lead me to suspect he was being paid for something besides the speech. Were any decision-makers at Knight involved with any of Lehrer's discredited work?

If the Knight Foundation does regularly pay speakers this much, then I agree with those who say that the bulk of this fee should go to some agreeable charity.

KF is a charity. They should have their tax deductible nonprofit status revoked for funneling money like this.

The reputational damage is going to cost them plenty, if it's any consolation. The journalist nerds are tearing them apart.

I care. Jonah Lehrer is good writer who has written things that I enjoyed reading. I was saddened to hear about how he was taking such sloppy and dishonest shortcuts, and as a fellow imperfect human, I find it interesting to see how he's reflecting on the experience and trying to grow from it.