In 1847, Thoreau left Waldon Pond and wrote a few things

“The strength of the message is more important than the foibles of the messenger.”



Interesting discussion and good to see the literary presence.



Lots of writers have been outed for huge embellishments to outright lies. Paul Theroux in his book Deep South, during a short look at some writers, takes on H D Thoreau, praising his literary skills but taking umbrage with his embellishments. He really lays into Steinbeck. He also calls out Edward Abbey and a few others. My mother met Steinbeck and years later told me he was weird. Funny hearing her say that because that was the first time I heard her use that term.



Sometimes so called non fiction contains far less truth than the some in the fiction genre. Some authors call their work fiction so they can tell what actually happened with no legal reprisals.



But how often we see modern entities posture and gloat over deeds or “skills” and later a far different picture appears. The internet seems to exacerbate that. Some just follow the lemming trail. So it is correct to say it is the message, not the messenger.