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Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Released Thursday, 9th May 2024
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Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Our Collective Obsession with True Crime

Thursday, 9th May 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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on the side the be more time he was bit

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out of the way to do to downtown Seattle like

0:45

building is Columbia Center's at all of them as they

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in the whole town a short of foreigners over the

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world are not like Salvador's volatile My news here we

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are now. Enjoy!

0:58

Where we are. Worth

1:00

the space needle? I don't I still don't know

1:03

what it is, but I'm hoping to find out.

1:07

What? I

1:10

don't like. Okay, so we are now

1:13

at the top of the Space

1:15

needle on the observation deck. It's

1:17

drizzling slightly. It's quite thrilling. Were

1:19

getting the if. If you walk

1:21

around you get a three sixty

1:23

view of the beautiful city of

1:25

Seattle. When the

1:28

lovely frames visible a

1:30

huge a cruise ship

1:33

visible from far away.

1:36

And I'm beyond it. Like on every side. I.

1:39

Mean, this is. I guess the famous thing about the

1:41

city? those mountains everywhere. There's about. You

1:44

know we are appear on the space needle

1:47

in the footsteps of Grunge and that an

1:49

you know I've I've never, I haven't felt

1:51

this alive and a long time. Or

1:55

to see what Kurt Cobain saw them. Welcome

2:05

to critics A large pockets on the New

2:07

Yorker. I'm going for cutting. I know if

2:09

I and I'm out schwartz each week on

2:11

this show we make sense of what's. Happening

2:13

in the culture right now. And how

2:16

we got here for more apropos of

2:18

for today. How did we get. Here.

2:21

Yes, my friends were in Seattle

2:23

for the Cascade. Tds Ideas Festival

2:25

is the early of and that

2:28

brings together all sorts of media

2:30

news outlet for conversations about politics,

2:32

economics, climate, And culture get

2:35

so. the so today is

2:37

a lot drizzly, wimpy, the

2:39

paper of critters a large

2:41

from the cascade Pbs ideas

2:43

rest of our and we're

2:45

talking about. Drumroll here

2:47

through cry. We're going to be

2:50

joined today by our illustrious colleague

2:52

as a New Yorker, Patrick rotten

2:54

teeth Were going to talk about

2:57

his own prime writing and how

2:59

an obsession with crime and criminality

3:01

has swept the Oracles. So

3:05

what we're about to do with a to

3:07

stroll around the observation that I'm cc on

3:09

ask very people encounter what their own feelings

3:12

that reclaimer and you might ask why are

3:14

we doing this and the answer is. Because

3:16

we felt like yes we want

3:18

to get on the ground one

3:20

here at what are no solo

3:23

culture consumers have to say about

3:25

is extremely popular form of culture.

3:28

Taken away. Or I were gonna

3:30

see if somebody else thought as much of them. Sir.

3:34

I'm so sorry to bother. We are recording

3:36

a podcast. We did spock out for the

3:38

New Yorker Magazine of Cause Metics a large

3:40

and we're asked me something that has nothing

3:42

to do with the Space Needle is that

3:45

attack idea has hijacked for get out good

3:47

arm do you. Do. You enjoy

3:49

true crime. At all the

3:51

I'll have to find put us as one.

3:53

Always a sincere okay good thank you and

3:55

I'm so glad to be you. Can you

3:57

give us a sense of what about. Crime

4:00

you that you really want? I

4:04

think knowing that it actually happens and they're putting the

4:06

suffering in the real out, I think that makes it

4:08

is kind of of it. While. Scary.

4:10

And true ah where's of as i can

4:12

fix so thing you know you could say

4:14

oh it's made off or something real but

4:16

having as i got to treat private network

4:18

is is over thrill For instance if. You

4:21

have any favorites: Ass Guns My Spa

4:23

five, five of the latest stuff it

4:25

over physicists The see you have you

4:28

listened see. I was a member

4:30

of my is Freddie or. Your British

4:32

gentlemen, I have of resistance of in

4:34

Australia from London physicists at various furiously looking

4:37

for a spot if I try to find

4:39

exactly what murder turns them on. The money

4:41

set aside cause the want to be listened

4:43

to recently as free Generic is cool The

4:45

Uk True Crime podcast what was the last

4:48

episode that you listen to about. It

4:51

was hard in Birmingham says episode

4:53

three four six Felix into turbo

4:55

evening when C R I A

4:58

bombs exploded into busy pub near

5:00

Sense of Birmingham. As when

5:02

you want people died and over two hundred and twenty

5:04

before is injured. And. Effects is on

5:06

the he was sorry and how the innocent people

5:08

were Effectiveness. And much on. uncover.

5:11

Who. Have or them off into that. Sounds like.

5:14

Lovely listening with ama wasn't allowed to

5:16

somebody and ominous with what the quite

5:18

nice a solicits like like saying ways

5:20

to Lopez as hang and Softly and

5:22

Freddie think if I'm a sensitive issue

5:24

has been awesome thing of yours as.

5:31

We discovered what the space needle is, which

5:34

is an important piece of information. Because of

5:36

my own aversion to spoilers, I made for

5:38

not to look up in advance as having

5:40

her. Turns out that the city was built in.

5:43

And it's it's easier for the Seattle World's

5:45

Fair in order to show people what buildings

5:47

as a future might look like. You know,

5:49

boy, were they wrong side. It's it's wonderful

5:51

to be. Or Twenty Nine Port. City

5:54

Matthew question. So we're doing episode

5:56

today about True. Crime, similar interests

5:58

and hearing about different. The both true

6:00

crime habits are you. A fan of

6:03

true crime at all. I was a humongous

6:05

true crime sand and then i kind of

6:07

arm and a real I had as is

6:09

he started pillow dark to me like I

6:11

would the way I would watch it or

6:13

listen to it. Podcast. Like

6:15

my favorite murder arm. oh gosh, what's

6:17

that one? There's one disappeared about. random

6:19

people disappearing. that was amazing but I

6:21

watch it in that like as I'm

6:23

falling asleep. I'd put it on overnight

6:25

on rating and then I for about

6:27

a year I decided maybe this wasn't

6:29

the best. so I stopped. But now

6:31

I'm slowly dipping my tobacco and slowly

6:33

with a dateline. Did you find

6:35

it is interrupted your sleep at all really

6:37

and from my sleep But I'm thinking like

6:39

why wasn't I data like what you know

6:41

what I mean like what's going to date

6:43

when you're when you're sleeping and listening to

6:46

like every man is a snow census have

6:48

been a murder you in our enemy and

6:50

like they always have the murder people and

6:52

less the crazy at the cinema it so

6:54

it's just not worth that. So I just

6:56

thought I needed to be a little more.

6:58

you know, high fives, good bye bye It's

7:00

a we love this. I mean yeah I

7:02

mean I'm I'm listening to and I'm and

7:04

maybe I'm looking for a guru. But I'm

7:06

drinking this. This is this outlook in

7:08

the gym. Canada had taken a minute,

7:10

but yeah, yeah, So

7:21

now we're headed to.

7:23

The lower floor were. Apparently there's

7:26

a glass. Floor.

7:28

That is rotating them. Rumors

7:33

of on servers i'm so sorry listeners are are

7:35

we will all the noises like the floor and

7:37

the windows around as of on. I

7:40

believe we are. Revolving well know

7:42

we're sending still for the I

7:44

more involving and we're on it

7:46

much. Like much lights when you stand

7:48

on planet Earth. You are also

7:50

revolving but you feel that you're sending

7:53

so. Sad

7:55

that's so true. People aren't mentioned know

7:57

that they're evolving. that's my country. Oh

8:00

but look at the for the mountains

8:02

the cause of lifted and the beautiful

8:04

cascade mountains are coming into view would.

8:07

You say that you're the only

8:09

still point in a turning world.

8:11

Alex? Exactly what I'd say. That

8:15

can be taught to that guy over. There

8:18

are you? fan of true crime?

8:20

like forensic shows? What

8:24

is it about true crime that appeals year? I

8:27

really like when they saw by cold Case

8:29

files that of have you know been fifty

8:31

years later and are able to finally find

8:33

somebody and seek justice. Does it make

8:35

you feel like I'm. There's

8:37

like order more, order in, The

8:40

world And then you saw it when

8:42

they're like, okay, this thing that happened

8:44

like nineteen sixty. Three. Finally

8:47

we get some answers and we never thought

8:49

we'd get the gets more order along the

8:51

lines of in a rather than just giving

8:53

up you know now they're going back and

8:55

saying let's you know we left the says

8:57

or was unsolved but now we have the

8:59

technology to find the answer that I guess

9:01

also bomb interested in it. My family in

9:03

New York own funeral home so being around

9:05

a lot of depth and stuff you know

9:08

not many of them being like crimes like

9:10

what you see on the shows by the

9:12

flight getting the answer. My

9:19

name is Kim Argus and I'm from

9:21

Lord Was In fact and level Just

9:23

pronounce are different types of. Us

9:26

Louisville lo voy and or time for

9:28

for nancy A some so what's a

9:31

lotta heat sink crime of what is

9:33

the reason? what? what do you like

9:35

about and free of at all? I

9:37

like the law part of l A

9:39

like for watched the trial. And.

9:42

And the evidence and see what convicts

9:44

people and what doesn't. And

9:47

since O J. Simpson dialogue

9:49

Camry Watson, that is really

9:51

very interesting. Sauce

9:53

or Watson. I

10:00

think we should probably get going to their that

10:02

oh my God of the floor. Is so moving?

10:07

The revolving floor has made me

10:09

are unsure of what it means

10:11

to move or not to move.

10:14

When you hear me nuts on the

10:16

on the panel, if I see Madonna's

10:18

done by require, that's because of what

10:20

this place has done for me, the

10:22

Hall of Mirrors. I'd say that every

10:24

single person we've asked me if not

10:26

as anyone who is not into. Kind

10:30

of merely counterintuitively giving me

10:32

a cozy sense of community.

10:35

We are the world designed. As

10:39

a nation or perhaps even a

10:41

global united under the sign of

10:43

to crime. but yes, were gonna

10:45

discuss this more on our path

10:48

here and thought you were feeling

10:50

lose are ready to throw down

10:52

with cache and hours in advance.

11:08

On Christmas Eve. Awesome! I'm hungry.

11:10

these are from then. Hair still.

11:13

Watching podcast nests out there, watching the new H

11:15

B O shows, The regime and have

11:17

was as keep the gloves on. With

11:19

it was a confrontation that are saying

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what's. True Academy Award winner Kate

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Winslet is our Chancellor as he

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leads a pro European autocracy in

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turmoil. Will. Be watching weeks I league

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as the regime unravels. Fans will be talking

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term supply. Hello

12:21

everyone welcome to the Cascade! P B

12:23

S Idea! First of. Are. So

12:29

excited to be there! We are

12:31

very excited to be here and

12:33

especially because today we are talking

12:35

about true crime and the insatiable

12:37

hunger that audiences have for stories

12:39

about people who do or experience.

12:42

Terrible things. And as the genre

12:44

has exploded in popularity, there's been

12:46

more consideration of the Essex around

12:48

it. So stories like these were

12:50

the lot. Of questions you. Know. To

12:52

to climb honor that songs or

12:54

does it exploit them with stories

12:56

get hold which don't Is it

12:58

right that the families of victims

13:00

have to relive these incredibly painful

13:02

chapters of their lives for essentially

13:05

our entertainment? So I would say

13:07

that all of these concerns really

13:09

come down to one big central

13:11

question: Is there a right way

13:13

to turn real life tragedy into

13:15

mass entertainment? Or art so to

13:17

help of answer that we are getting

13:19

help. Patrick Rotting Teeth is our

13:21

fellow staff writer up a New Yorker

13:23

and his one of the true masters

13:25

of crime. writing me are all big

13:28

pattern that and he fans can you

13:30

don't have any favorite examples of it's

13:32

worth. Yeah. I mean, Patrick

13:34

is our the master of true

13:36

crime. I mean does Empire Ten

13:38

ah his book from you know,

13:41

three years ago or so in

13:43

which she investigated that peddling of.

13:46

Oxycontin. So disastrous results

13:49

for one? Yeah, And

13:51

those same nothing real story of a

13:53

murder that happens in Northern Ireland during

13:55

the time of the troubles with says

13:57

actually mouth of into our point here.

14:00

In turn into an effect so I'll bet going

14:02

to come out later this year. Yeah.

14:04

Exactly so we'll get into all of

14:06

that and less. Welcome Patrick reading Keys.

14:15

Are better I pads and I

14:18

say i know. He didn't First

14:20

out of the cake. I wanted to

14:22

recruiter as we couldn't have been take

14:24

his legs and professor of scams lot

14:26

cleaner this way it's an interest in

14:29

it and it so. I

14:31

think. We. Can all say that

14:33

true crime is an obsession in the

14:35

culture right now. In fact, I had

14:37

data to offer us about this earlier

14:39

today. The the three of us were

14:41

at the Space Needle here in Seattle

14:43

and we approached a random sampling a

14:45

fellow visitors to the space needle to

14:47

ask them do you like true crime

14:49

and I'm a little bit to be

14:52

honest, skeptical of this exercise a whole

14:54

ago. We have some fun audio first

14:56

show every single one of them as

14:58

like elements. As with it. It. Was

15:00

actually shocking because they all had like oh

15:02

I love this and I love that And

15:04

they weren't just saying is they were like.

15:07

I. Listened to it every night before going

15:09

to fleets It plays, it plays as I'm

15:11

slumbering is and are like wow well I

15:14

basically to question bleeding from this observation in

15:16

a one is kind of for all of

15:18

us and want to specifically free Patrick. When

15:20

I'm going to put both I'm do which

15:23

is what is the appeal of these stories

15:25

for someone reading or watching them and also

15:27

what is the appeal of writing them of

15:30

writing about crime? What does that let you

15:32

do. Is a writer. A

15:34

kind of story. I.

15:37

Think I'm in. I'm a little confused

15:39

at times about the intensity of the

15:41

appeal and when I look perfectly it

15:43

all the podcast about True Crime, all

15:45

the streaming stuff the you see ah

15:47

it's and feel at times to me

15:49

like there's a glut, like there's too

15:51

much of it. There's a kind of

15:53

sameness and I sometimes wonder how it

15:55

is the people of such as a

15:57

bottomless appetite for this stuff. I think.

16:00

Some of it is that. Are.

16:02

Eaten go back to the dawn of

16:04

literature and questions of good and evil

16:06

have always fascinated us. I mean, people

16:08

aren't generally speaking reading Paradise Mosque these

16:10

days, but these questions of the terrible

16:13

things that people do I think her

16:15

or interesting does fundamentally. I also think

16:17

that there's a way in which I

16:19

mean I often think to analogies about.

16:22

Disaster movies or are in a

16:24

zombie movies or what have you

16:26

these types of scenarios in which

16:28

from the comfort of our living

16:31

room we watch a story of

16:33

apocalypse is something that is service

16:35

even more terrifying the moment we

16:37

happened to be living through. can

16:39

you imagine? Ah, and I think

16:41

that there's maybe an element of

16:43

that and true crime as well,

16:46

that there's something sort of strangely

16:48

comforting about in in your own

16:50

life watching disaster befall someone. Else

16:52

and kind of knowing that you are sort of

16:54

secure to as your second question I would sort

16:56

of pivot because I think that. That.

16:58

Aspiration, I just offered. Would. Suggest

17:01

that when you watch true crime. You

17:03

really kind of empathizing with the victim or

17:06

the victim's family. You're sort of thinking oh

17:08

look at, look at those evil people who

17:10

are so different from me. So alien for

17:12

me and for me as a writer it's

17:15

actually kind of the opposite. Where where I'm

17:17

really intrigued by is why do people do.

17:20

Bad things. And what

17:22

are the ways in which those people

17:24

are not different for me, but actually

17:26

similar? To me and so.

17:28

I. Have not. I'm. You.

17:31

Know, I haven't written much over the

17:33

years about people who are. Kind.

17:36

Of inexplicably just sort of pure

17:38

evil. Because those people aren't. That.

17:41

Intriguing to me, I mean nothing. I wasn't much.

17:43

As I wrote for years ago, there was a

17:45

mass shooter. One name's Amy Bishop. And

17:48

ah, she been a professor at the

17:50

University of Alabama and in two thousand

17:52

and ten so you may recall, she

17:54

walked into a faculty meeting and shot

17:56

six of her colleagues and my editor.

17:58

Call me and. That hey, you want

18:01

to write a story about that case And

18:03

initially I said no because this a mass

18:05

shooter not that interesting to me. I don't

18:07

really care why she did it, you know,

18:09

newsflash? like she's a little bit nuts and

18:11

that's not actually a place that I feel

18:13

the need to go. But.

18:16

Then my editor said, there's a really

18:18

interesting backstory here, which is when she

18:20

was young, like a cock and a

18:22

college kid, she actually shot and killed.

18:25

Her. Little brother with a shotgun. And

18:28

there was only one witness to that shooting.

18:30

It was their mother. And

18:32

so their mother only had two kids and

18:34

she walked into the kitchen one day and

18:36

she saw her daughter shooting kill her son

18:38

and the cops around the way. And.

18:41

When they came she said I saw the whole thing. It

18:43

was an accident. And. The

18:45

choice of that mother. right?

18:48

You. Just lost one child and you may

18:50

be about to lose the other. What do

18:52

you say to the police? That to me

18:54

was really intriguing and that was something I

18:57

wanted to understand. And in this case I

18:59

think in some ways that choice she made

19:01

helped create a situation in which her daughter

19:03

all these years later shot these other people.

19:05

So that's what intrigues me most to sort

19:08

of getting up close as I can and

19:10

trying to understand the ways in which some

19:12

people deviate from dimensional morality. Down.

19:14

On you know if you mention i'm

19:17

sorry that you mentioned Milton before and

19:19

parents laws I mean at a as

19:21

in run a continuum his his look

19:23

there Satan. You know if you're a

19:26

true believer then that's true crime. What

19:28

happened here? Why did why has you

19:30

know Satan? Com to to earth.

19:33

To tempt man and and there you have melted

19:35

and many years later. Had. To read

19:37

of we're imam make it matter of yeah.

19:39

I agree. I mean of murder. You know

19:42

a thing or how how far we fall.

19:44

Yes indeed. Well we will take a deeper

19:46

look at one of your recent pieces, the

19:48

Oligarchs Fun because I think it really gets

19:50

into these questions on this is a story

19:52

that you've recently published in the magazine in

19:54

the New Yorker. Tell us a little bit

19:56

about the story, Know maybe it would be

19:58

great if you could. Give. It

20:01

a little fun off with about it is but

20:03

also how I'm super curious about how you. You

20:05

came to it and I started reporting

20:07

it. Yeah it seemed to me and

20:09

in a strange way I mean I

20:12

find our and a know like the

20:14

you guys but when I got looking

20:16

for goods store for is a never

20:18

find them and I deserve look and

20:20

look and I don't come up with

20:22

anything any good. and then when I

20:24

just moved through the world occasionally incredible

20:26

stories fallen my lap and I were

20:28

living in London over the summer because

20:30

we're producing this series of say nothing

20:32

and. I. Was on set one day

20:34

and there was a guy who was visiting the

20:37

Sat. He was a guest to one of the

20:39

directors and we got chatting. And.

20:42

He told me about a family he

20:45

knew and London they lived in in

20:47

I'm Maida Vale, nice neighborhood and in

20:49

West London. And they had a nineteen

20:52

year old boy named Zack and Zoc

20:54

had died. and twenty nineteen? He.

20:57

Was ah, you know, luxury building. a

20:59

luxury apartment building on the towns and

21:01

he went off the balcony and into

21:03

the Thames. and he died. And after

21:05

he died, his parents learn that he

21:08

had had a kind of double identity.

21:10

He. Had been a fabulous and he'd been

21:12

moving around London pretending that he was

21:15

the son of a Russian oligarch. And.

21:18

He got mixed up with some people that

21:20

are turned out to be quite dangerous people.

21:23

And he ended up dead and the authorities had

21:25

kind of looked at this and thought it was

21:28

maybe a suicide, but it turns out that. The.

21:31

The moment the week he went off the balcony,

21:33

he'd been in that apartment with a guy who

21:35

was in a Taurus. Gangster. And

21:38

so the piece that I wrote

21:40

was about. Ah, The

21:42

parents actually Matthew and Herschelle Rattler are

21:45

their names and how after their Sunday

21:47

at died it's it's a kind of

21:49

up, it's a mystery and away they're

21:51

both kind of coming to understand the

21:54

circumstances of his death, but also in

21:56

the process. They're. Coming to understand who

21:58

their son had actually bannon. Life in

22:00

a way that they they didn't really fully

22:02

grasp when he was a loss, Can.

22:05

I ask you to read an excerpt. From the story to

22:07

give people a sense you can indeed of got

22:09

one kid up the hockey hall of my phone.

22:12

Curtis. Ah, I'm. So.

22:14

This is actually it's it's are partly through the peace

22:17

but it's at the point right? I met Matthew and

22:19

Rochelle, the parents. In.

22:21

A chill rain Last fall I

22:23

visited the Rattlers. I'd

22:25

initially connected with them over the

22:28

summer, and we'd since had several

22:30

long and sometimes painful conversations about

22:32

their son. The

22:34

Maida Vale apartment his spare and

22:37

modern Rochelle writes about crafts and

22:39

design and the space with elegantly

22:41

decorated and bright and by colorful

22:44

glass bosses. Are frame

22:46

snapshots on a bookshelf showed

22:48

Zoc and his brother Joe

22:50

as little boys. Dressed. Up

22:52

in costumes and a school fair. Zoc

22:55

was a cute, fun goofball.

22:57

Rochelle said. Both. Rattler

23:00

parents are now sixty one.

23:02

Matthew as bespectacled, athletic and

23:04

bald. He. Has a conspicuously

23:06

analytical mind and an amiable

23:08

intensity, and he has coped

23:10

with the devastation of losing

23:13

a child by channeling his

23:15

energies into investigating Zack's demise.

23:18

Rochelle, a petite with lively eyes

23:20

and a tendency to smile even

23:22

when she's relating a sad story.

23:25

Joe. Drifted in and out as

23:27

we talk is twenty five with

23:29

corkscrew curls and has a casually

23:32

affectionate manner with his parents. In

23:34

the four years since Zack's death, the

23:37

family has had to confront the extent

23:39

to which the boy they thought they

23:41

knew. Had been living a

23:43

double existence. It.

23:45

Strikes me that. This story and

23:47

the store that you told us

23:50

before this horrible story of a

23:52

sort of fratricides on involves crucially

23:54

as you mentioned parents and it

23:56

just strikes me as such a

23:59

tough. Part of

24:01

the job at must be outta you talk

24:03

especially to parents and to family members to

24:05

whom these horrible things have happened and in

24:08

a certain of course being the chief character

24:10

witnesses and the ones who are often kind

24:12

of looking to you'd us to solve things

24:14

as well as double role have how do

24:16

you deal with that Part of it dealing

24:19

with his family's it's really hard. I mean

24:21

I don't I'm sure this is something will

24:23

talk about but I think the ethics of

24:25

true crime or pretty fraud ah in a

24:27

bunch of ways and I I don't exclusively

24:30

right. About. Crime. but I often

24:32

do, and I'm. I'm

24:34

very often sinking a lot about the

24:37

victims in off and the person that

24:39

the center of your stories already gone

24:41

by the time you start writing. ah

24:43

I'm and. I'm. Looking at

24:46

the impact that that last has had

24:48

to the people around them and that's

24:50

pretty raw and devastating. And I think

24:52

that the I'm. For.

24:54

A journalist to create is really

24:57

interesting interactions because. I. Mean this

24:59

is true. The Brothers. It was actually true when

25:01

the parents of any dish of the woman I

25:03

mentioned before who has been timeless, I'm. Sometimes.

25:07

There's a reluctance to talk initially. But.

25:10

When you go in you know you're

25:12

finding people and away at their most

25:14

isolated and vulnerable. You know they've been

25:16

living with this. Anguish. And

25:19

sometimes the people in their lives don't necessarily even

25:21

can fully grasp the extent of it. And as

25:23

a journalist, part of what I'm doing is I'm

25:25

a good listener. And. I will go in

25:27

and and if you talk like I will sit with

25:30

you. For. Three, Four five,

25:32

Seven Hours. And just.

25:34

Kind of here at all tumbling out.

25:38

The. Trick is. I'm

25:40

not a therapist. You know I'm I'm not

25:42

a minister. I'm. And.

25:44

So it's important for me to remind people.

25:47

That. Were doing

25:49

this intimate thing here. You're telling me about the

25:51

worst thing that happening your life. But.

25:54

At. A certain point it's like I'm gonna

25:56

throw the shades open. And. All

25:58

the sunlight going to come. The and and

26:00

like this conversation that we have yeah,

26:03

it's going to be reproduced in print.

26:05

And. On I don't want people

26:07

one that moment comes to feel betrayed

26:09

by it, were to feel like I

26:11

missed London and so I'm I'm actually

26:13

constantly even and little ways like I

26:15

will if I'm recording the conversation or

26:17

periodically just reach out and tap my

26:19

phone. To. Kind of ostensibly to

26:21

make sure that it's still recording, but also

26:23

just kind of remind them like you are.

26:26

On. The record here and when I go. way to

26:28

right. I'm. Not gonna be point

26:30

punches like I'm not Npr. I'm

26:32

not out here trying to be are you know

26:34

your been truly quest like I'm gonna tell the

26:36

story as I see it and I many use

26:38

everything. That. You've given me. To.

26:40

You find that you have

26:42

to use different skill sets

26:44

when you engage with say.

26:47

A victim's family you know we're obviously

26:49

his parents who have lost their son

26:51

is a sympathetic characters but then also

26:54

and all dark sun and in general

26:56

and your work you deal with a

26:58

lot of unsavory L M S L

27:00

you deal and industry friend since you're

27:02

investigating dislike London Underground as kind of

27:05

Russian related mob cigars potentially and so

27:07

on and you spend time with them

27:09

and listen to them. and and and

27:11

I'm a sign of strikes me that

27:14

these are two very different types of

27:16

engagement but perhaps. As.

27:18

A report you. Find that you

27:20

are using kind of like

27:23

a similar manner and in

27:25

both cases. Or or not. maybe

27:27

some. And yeah, I mean I think

27:30

it varies. I do think to some

27:32

extent I and probably different journalist heard

27:34

are different I'm I often But Truman

27:36

Capote in our predecessors the New Yorker

27:38

author of In Cold Blood. And

27:40

it's funny because I think different porters work in different

27:43

ways. For me, I'm always trying to close the distance

27:45

between. Myself. And the

27:47

person that I'm talking with find some

27:49

common idiom. Meet. Them where they

27:51

are. But if any of you seem the

27:53

terrific film company which has made about him

27:56

writing in cold blood or you know anything

27:58

about the story your he goes. Like

28:00

the High Plains of Kansas to

28:02

report on this murder and Truman

28:04

Capote is this like tiny, very

28:06

gay, extremely sort of places like

28:08

a big New York personality of

28:11

assorted big did not often seats

28:13

are in this corner of Kansas

28:15

and he shows up and he

28:17

didn't would dilute who he was

28:19

or try and sort of seem

28:21

like them. And strangely

28:23

I think sometimes I can work because I

28:26

do think that some people it's as if

28:28

like an alien has descended on planet earth

28:30

and it like tell me your stories and

28:32

I'm. I. I.

28:35

Try and meet people where they are

28:37

and sometimes I'm. You. Know I've

28:39

interviewed murderers and and drug

28:41

runners and any number of

28:44

other people I'm. A

28:46

run a lot about the similar

28:48

drug cartel in Chapo Guzman. I'm

28:50

a really bad Ira paramilitaries you

28:52

in a bomb cities and I

28:54

don't It's not that I suspend

28:56

judgment at all because I don't.

28:59

But. I do think that at some to go

29:01

back to to the kind of the milton

29:03

paradise. Last thing I don't think it helps

29:05

anyone. If. I look at those

29:07

people. I sort of both my arms and I

29:09

look at those people on I say look at

29:11

those evil people. They're so different from

29:14

you and me. Like we have

29:16

nothing in common with them to kind

29:18

of demonize these people. and like slam

29:20

my son the pulpit. I'm I

29:22

don't think shed any light on anything, and so

29:25

I am as often as I can. Try.

29:27

To understand why they do who they You

29:29

know why they do the things that they

29:32

do. Cleopatra He said before that you're not

29:34

a therapist and you're not minister. Or

29:36

something you are is investigators and i

29:38

see like that is kind of exp

29:40

ricky area with some of these crime

29:42

stories where. Investigators.

29:44

Who represent the law which is not

29:47

the you represent as an investigator has

29:49

sailed. You know this is something that

29:51

happened in the story the oligarchs son

29:53

where police. Cell to come up with substantive.

29:55

Answers and the Samuel. He is

29:58

left reeling. it's certainly happen. With

30:00

a nothing where you know the book.

30:03

Expands to take in the

30:05

troubles and. In Northern Ireland

30:07

in the seventies. But it begins with

30:09

the murder, the unsolved murder of a

30:11

mother of ten, and by the end

30:13

of the book. We. Know

30:15

who the murderer was for your

30:18

investigation. so we you literally solve

30:20

like a cold case. I

30:22

mean Patrick T. solved a cold. He as.

30:25

Long. As

30:27

if the other hand, it's it. Were

30:30

also days and kisses.

30:32

And a walk in the parks so is what

30:34

I know as you know that that actually puts

30:37

you in a very. Fraught position with

30:39

your subjects because. I would

30:41

have to imagine that they feel a lot

30:43

may be riding on what you find out

30:45

and on what you discover. How do you

30:48

approach that aspect of things you know you

30:50

you can't promise. To. Know in this

30:52

case to find out what happened to Zoc

30:54

Rattler. but I know that you as a

30:56

journalist want to. It's a weird your interests

30:58

converge and were to they diverged with. and

31:00

also we should mention that you're now expanding

31:03

this. That He said daddy. Daddy litigation for

31:05

the magazine actually works at your

31:07

now reporting our and. Or

31:09

yeah, I mean a couple

31:12

things. So one is that I think the

31:14

role of the investigative journalists to sort of

31:16

interesting, right? Because on the one hand we

31:18

have I'm. There's. All kinds with

31:20

would were at a disadvantage. These V

31:22

be authorities like I don't have subpoena

31:24

power. I can force anyone to tell

31:26

me anything. God when that the good

31:28

though over the be as be about

31:30

ah I'm I'm actually a subpoena power

31:32

I would love that I should say

31:34

just heard that agree. I recently met

31:36

with somebody who I will my name

31:38

I'm a source of mine and London

31:40

who I'm. You. Know is somebody

31:43

who may occasionally are over the years

31:45

has has resolve disputes in a physical

31:47

way down on us. We were talking

31:49

about the reporting that I'm doing and

31:51

some there are some individuals who won't

31:53

talk to me or won't tell me

31:55

what I was wanna know and this

31:57

guy very generous. They was like on

31:59

t was the next time you want

32:01

to talk to him just bring me

32:03

along with you and I serve gave

32:05

a little speech about you know journalistic

32:07

ethics and how I'm actually having a

32:09

are you know having somebody who might

32:11

do them bodily arm next to me

32:13

if probably not the best way to

32:15

get people to talk of the it's

32:17

but the I think if you did

32:19

that we'd be doing a to com

32:21

so about You allow me exactly I

32:23

yeah you're absolutely right President Disease rocked

32:25

investigative journalist that are not see I'm.

32:28

In. The case of say nothing. I.

32:30

Did at the you know it's it's

32:33

it's a a book about this terrible

32:35

abduction and murder of a mother of

32:37

ten in Nineteen Seventy Two, a woman

32:39

and Jean Mcconville. and at the end

32:42

of four years of researching this, I

32:44

figured out who had actually pulled the

32:46

trigger. and I after a lot of

32:48

consultation with lawyers in the Us and

32:50

Ireland and Northern Ireland and London. I.

32:53

Named this person in the buck. in the person

32:55

had never been identified before and is still alive

32:58

but. They. Were

33:00

arrested. Because

33:02

as an for very good reason, the

33:04

police have a higher burden of proof

33:06

than I do. and so I would

33:09

never have published the name if I

33:11

wasn't a hundred percent certain that I

33:13

was rights because it would be a

33:15

grotesque thing to accuse somebody of. but

33:17

at the same time this was a

33:19

coke is murder from Nineteen Seventy Two

33:21

are no living witnesses apart from the

33:23

person I accused. no physical evidence arm

33:25

and so nothing happened with it's. So.

33:28

I'm very mindful of that. and I think

33:30

the hard thing after Say nothing is it

33:32

In a way I either is as a

33:34

certain extent to which my reputation precedes like

33:36

if they if somebody googles me. They.

33:39

Do know that about me. And so in the

33:41

case of the brothers from the first time I

33:43

met with them, I said if I write about

33:45

this I need you to know it may be

33:48

a mystery that I don't solve. Ends. I.

33:50

Don't want you do. To.

33:53

Talk. With me. On.

33:55

The assumption that I'm going crack the

33:57

case because both because it puts pressure

33:59

on. The on but also because I

34:01

would be. it would be disingenuous of me

34:03

right to make. To. Make a promise

34:06

that I'm not going to be able to deliver

34:08

on. So the one thing I can tell you

34:10

as I will. Get. Into

34:12

this and throw everything I have at it

34:14

and try and arm shed some new lights

34:17

on the situation and in this case I

34:19

think the authorities had done such such a

34:21

terrible bungling job. Try to get to the

34:23

bottom of the son of the Death of.

34:26

Of. The brother son died on.

34:29

That almost any effort on my part would

34:31

be an improvement on what the police have

34:33

done. This and to have to have

34:35

a certain type of personality or character

34:37

to be a true crime. Reporter

34:40

a certain south for I like

34:42

at it it's only you can

34:44

do it no as know and

34:46

I think. You can I send my full

34:48

timers balls of steel? Bonus! I was. Gonna say

34:50

that. and then I was like when I. Saw you

34:52

wanna either. I know I really my

34:54

place by a is. It.

34:56

Strikes me as first was scary And you

34:59

know when you meet with these characters who

35:01

are have been known to resolve disputes in

35:03

a physical manner and and so on? It's

35:05

suggest even isn't on the level of that.

35:08

It seems to me like you need to

35:10

have a kind of like. A

35:14

very particular kind of attitude towards

35:16

your work. or kind of, I

35:18

don't know, does that make sense?

35:20

Because I'm pretty sure we have a colleague

35:23

move mobile son who's like. In.

35:25

The Trenches in Ukraine right now you

35:27

know, getting bombed and writing about it

35:29

and that's a level of. That's.

35:31

A level of bomb of bravery ah

35:33

and commitment that I don't have. I'm

35:35

not covering war and pretty careful. I

35:37

my wife on is even more careful

35:40

and has a strong point of view

35:42

about what stories I do and don't.

35:44

do you know have my my in

35:46

house council who occasionally. okay so that's

35:48

early years Wix years me away from

35:50

certain stores. Yeah, yeah, I think it may

35:52

also be true. Patrick, Is it not set

35:54

your young son one's face time with a

35:56

member of the similar? A. Drug cartel

35:58

is is also true. This is

36:00

a great the as was really funny.

36:02

I'm. Very. Funny or or a

36:04

high Very funny how hot the this is.

36:06

This is going back years ago So I

36:09

had I have two sons and the younger

36:11

one was about three or four and the

36:13

only one was about seven. We would go

36:15

on Saturday mornings. I would take them because

36:17

the older boy was doing kids karate and

36:19

on. The. Younger guy would come and

36:21

I would during the karate class I would

36:24

sit cross legged on the floor watching with

36:26

the other parents and your adds to the

36:28

my lap and I would give him my

36:30

phone and to entertain himself. He would tax

36:32

my wife just long strings of images. That.

36:35

Were sitting there. The little

36:37

guys sitting on my lap doing this

36:39

I'm said have turned out and suddenly

36:41

I hear this dissonant noise, something that

36:43

doesn't really make sense and I looked

36:46

down over his shoulder at the phone

36:48

in his hand and I see he

36:50

has somehow open space time and see

36:52

his face timing with this former lieutenant

36:54

from the sinner lowered drug cartel who

36:56

was one of my sources. like a

36:58

Saturday morning at nine am and us

37:01

know my that is looking at the

37:03

sky and this guy is looking at

37:05

my son. You know they. Can terrific

37:07

little face the build the frame on

37:09

his own. I honestly don't know which

37:11

one of them was more surprised. Ah

37:14

and I frantically hundred switch it off

37:16

and later tests tested him I'm very

37:18

apologetically and said i'm so sorry that

37:20

was my son ah on accident and

37:23

he he wrote back to the like

37:25

no problem. And

37:28

are like. To

37:31

see this. Is

37:36

his critics at large my that

37:38

a cascade tbsp do when we

37:40

didn't read through. Find. Out. The

37:50

best conversations I have with my colleagues are

37:52

the ones that happened when no one. Is

37:54

looking when we're not hundred percent

37:56

sure yet? what to write? Hopefully

37:59

having conversation. Like this can help

38:01

you figure out your own point of

38:03

view. That's kind of our job as

38:06

Washington Post opinion columnists. I'm Charles Lane

38:08

deputy opinion Editor and I'm Amanda Ripley

38:10

and and shipping colonists bring to bring

38:12

you into these conversations on a new

38:15

podcast called Impromptu All impromptu Now wherever

38:17

you us. So.

38:28

That our to widen are aperture. A little bit and

38:30

me and I'd like to know. First of all from

38:32

both of you at your relationships are teacher

38:34

clan. My own is a bit conflicted.

38:36

yeah, because I wanted to come clean

38:38

and say there are moments when in

38:40

the snobby side of me is like

38:43

a homing. No, no, You know all those.

38:45

People who were just gobbling up these

38:47

stories of murderer and one after another

38:49

and they can't get enough. And I'm

38:52

not like that. And then of course

38:54

you know something like The Jinx. Comes

38:57

on and thus. Those who

38:59

are murder. He belongs to one

39:01

of the richest families in New

39:04

York City for best known for

39:06

you know the guys. Also suspect

39:08

with his wife suffers from New

39:10

York. First made headlines after you.

39:15

Do remains also.

39:18

Realize Oh, and I'm and mercy

39:20

more. Yeah, and you know an

39:22

address glued. To my seat thinking well

39:24

course, I'm an investigator, you know. Here's my

39:26

i've got my investigative cap on I that

39:29

I can figure out what happened with Robert

39:31

Durst since so clearly there's something about the

39:33

stories that appeal to us for very good

39:36

reason and mean we're dealing with the extremity

39:38

of human experience. Yeah, whether it's about someone

39:40

who commit crime or. Someone who has

39:42

it was the victim of a

39:44

crime or or the family. The victim

39:47

of the crime and we want to

39:49

look into. These dark corners versus it.

39:51

Whether true or not, you know this

39:53

is where great art. Comes. From:

39:55

So what do you guys think it's behind some

39:57

of it's I mean what's your own relationship? Too.

40:00

Her crime fighter. I don't listen to

40:02

to crime podcast sir or anything like

40:04

that. But. There are certain

40:06

tax and the genre say that.

40:08

I think. Are. Important to

40:10

me on a cultural level, you know, I mean

40:12

and in cold blood that, ah, Patrick.

40:15

Just mentioned The Capote He, you know

40:17

it's. This cans

40:19

in story of these two.

40:22

Criminal. Drifters who.

40:25

Commit this and crime. But then it's

40:27

not just that, it's a portrait of

40:30

the whole community. Which. Is

40:32

just kind of like touching

40:34

and beautifully written. I.

40:37

Love Helter Skelter so you know

40:40

Googly Eyes the of book about

40:42

the Manson Murders because that was

40:45

really like a mystery. You

40:47

know it was a mystery. Some, but

40:49

beyond the satisfaction of that and and the

40:51

solving of that, there's just. This.

40:53

Whole cast of characters. There's this

40:56

portrait of culture at a certain

40:58

extremely volatile moment in American history

41:00

and so I am interested in

41:02

it when it's done very well

41:05

and when it's kind of expands

41:07

or view of what culture is

41:09

that a particular moment. Of

41:12

the group can also be used to sort of. Oh

41:15

god, or stoke our own senses. Of

41:17

history. Sometimes it is telling a story

41:19

about you remember right that you've digestive

41:22

at different stages of it's life rights

41:24

or member when this was on the

41:26

news and then I remember like Oj

41:29

from ago, different drivers, the classic example

41:31

of how I or just like even

41:33

words Simply as a New Yorker I've

41:35

always loved to Odds are. Ah,

41:38

Law and Order. Because.

41:40

It's as with some a headline stuff and

41:42

I remember and it's always so thinly veiled.

41:45

only since when it's like I'm on the

41:47

horrible domestic violence case between Chris Brown and

41:49

Rian Us and I'm I'm I'm with the

41:51

names were but it was like brisk Clown

41:53

M T on our Citizens and. He

41:56

needs. No. Did this. He

42:00

didn't mean to do it. He her. Boyfriend.

42:08

Nice houses and. Ala.

42:15

Caleb pray. This

42:19

is the thing that you remember right arm

42:21

and so it's it's It's interesting, so we

42:23

investigate our feelings about something Once we've had

42:25

the distance of time. I do think that

42:28

that's. Sort. Of part of the appeal. Somebody

42:31

may have noticed that there was

42:33

an unknown when it was a

42:35

year ago or so. Maybe not

42:37

even Netflix release this. this series

42:39

about Jeffrey Dahmer. From

42:42

Tuscany to you mate Now this is gonna

42:44

be. There

42:51

was a human shields. Freezer.

43:03

Each containing human heart. Of

43:07

the containing said male genitalia.

43:16

In the bedroom. Sale

43:18

was five. More schools.

43:22

And. It was massive. It was like the

43:25

biggest opening of anything ever on Netflix.

43:27

Ah, and their I just didn't get

43:29

it. It was well done, but I

43:31

just felt as though it was. It

43:33

was some. it just felt kind of

43:35

grizzly and it was interesting. I mean,

43:37

a lot of dollars. Victims were a

43:40

young men and boys of color and

43:42

there there is some interesting sociological stuff

43:44

in the series about the way in

43:46

which this is actually probably part of

43:48

the reason that he continued to committees

43:50

crossers long as he did and wasn't

43:52

apprehended. Arm but to me

43:55

the price you have to pay

43:57

in in Sociology, anthropology and of.

44:00

Reaching our understanding of something beyond the

44:02

crime itself is a fairly high. Bar.

44:05

And so I didn't. To me that dahmer saying it was

44:07

it was I didn't I was mystified that it did as

44:09

well as it did. However,

44:12

Or. That was produced by Ryan Murphy and an

44:14

earlier Ryan Murphy series which is the People vs

44:16

or J Simpson. The the dramatization us I thought

44:18

was fantastic and together with Vince I'm saying I

44:20

think actually with the passage of time that we

44:22

were able to look back we're both able to

44:24

look back to the passage of time and see

44:27

the ways in which see maybe things we didn't

44:29

know that the time but then also. If.

44:31

You remember when that series came out more

44:33

recently? They're all kinds of issues we're going

44:36

with in terms of policing and race and

44:38

so forth. I mean, the Residences in our

44:40

present moment where so profound that I thought

44:42

revisiting in in that series and then also.

44:46

The. At really incredible have any be

44:48

seen it but the yes the and

44:50

documentary ah ok made in America which

44:52

is just throwing and astonish August dancing

44:55

multipart documentary. The

44:57

reality of Black America

44:59

and way. To

45:02

only improve was.

45:09

First mooted was comes.

45:14

I love that. I mean, I I really go in

45:17

for that. So I think that when I think when

45:19

people approach things in a kind of. Thoughtful.

45:21

Sensitive way that absolutely is. Using

45:23

the kind of the whole bag

45:25

of tricks narrative tricks to seduce

45:27

you and por un and plan

45:29

your fears in your anxieties. I'm

45:31

fine with all that's on, but

45:34

I do think that You want

45:36

to. You want to think about

45:38

the fact that there are real

45:40

victims. Their families are still out

45:42

there. You want to kind of tell the

45:44

stories with a certain amount of sensitivity and

45:46

rigor, and then I think, ideally you want

45:48

to eliminate something larger ah, about the world

45:51

and not just sort of fixate on the

45:53

arm you know, As as very often the

45:55

case, they think it's almost a cliche, right?

45:57

The kind of dead white woman, the median.

46:00

The. First real, and then you never

46:02

really advanced much beyond that. Yeah,

46:04

I mean, I'm not immune. I just want to

46:06

be. Clear when I talk about my snobbery

46:08

like. I'm I'm not. I'm not

46:10

immune. To the.

46:13

Explicitly exquisite rush of like the

46:15

breath on the back of your

46:17

neck feeling like there's a lot

46:19

to be said for are watching

46:21

or reading or listening to something

46:23

that satans your senses in this

46:25

intensely. I mean you're talking about

46:27

a narrative bag of tricks like

46:29

one reason frankly like crime can

46:31

be very useful thing to tell

46:33

the speaker stories about the society

46:36

were in. Worth the moment in

46:38

the culture is because of suspense

46:40

and you know there's there's no

46:42

stronger narrative tool. The Not

46:44

Like I'm thinking i physically

46:46

your recommendation Patrick I've started

46:48

reading The Last Girls which

46:50

is Robert Cookers book about

46:53

the investigation am and the

46:55

victims. Of the Go Beach murders, you

46:57

know that book was written and twenty

46:59

thirteen. Or published in Twenty Thirteen and the

47:01

murder was found this year So that book

47:03

came out almost a decade before the murder

47:05

was named and I was starting to read

47:07

his books thinking, well, how's he going to.

47:09

Do this because I know that she

47:11

doesn't know who did this. Nobody knew

47:14

who did this until they pulled out

47:16

this you know horrifying architect from his

47:18

creepy little house and and Rihanna him.

47:21

And the way those it is, she

47:23

begins. With. Each. Of

47:25

the victims by giving you a kind

47:28

of snapshot view into their lives as

47:30

as young people as as children than

47:32

his young women and men. And this

47:35

to me. As

47:37

as and brilliant and moving and very unsettling.

47:39

After his gone through each of the victims

47:42

he returns to them but this time. They

47:44

were all you know, all working a sex workers

47:46

as escorts. This is how they all got. A

47:48

metre matter horrible end he returns

47:50

the people they became their aliases

47:52

moving into this next chapter of

47:54

their lives. That like you can

47:56

see this transformation happening for each

47:58

of these people and. One

48:01

obvious thing it does his recent are

48:03

the victims and not just the grisly

48:05

nature of the crime but you get

48:07

a deeper view into the stories that

48:10

the human aspect of what is going

48:12

on. And the

48:14

same time I thought to off a cannot read

48:16

this before I go to bed. not because I'm

48:18

afraid of someone bursting. And for the windows on.

48:21

But. Because you have this point of view

48:23

over what happened to these other people and

48:25

or something so unsettling about that like been

48:27

forced into this kind of intimacy with the

48:29

victims, not not even with the doer of

48:31

evil and just kind of knowing something they

48:34

don't. I think that. There's like

48:36

seductive about that as the reader the

48:38

you know audience. And there's also some kind

48:40

of horrible about worth of and of god's

48:42

eye view right? A sort of like surveillance

48:44

and almost complicity because assault. It's.

48:47

It's like you almost wanna yeah like this

48:49

it don't turn around is there was a

48:51

nice you know. By. For saying

48:53

what I don't say that are yeah professor

48:55

when I was of one can't leave here

48:57

Yeah you air right now and I feel

48:59

that I'm and I think it's brilliant book

49:02

I'm an and com last girls would recommend

49:04

it to to argue but I think in

49:06

a weird way I'm I don't know what

49:08

the conversations were when Bob Corker wrote that

49:10

book but I could imagine when you're pitching

49:12

that as a book to a publisher that

49:14

they say well we haven't found the killer

49:16

So what's the book rights And I think

49:18

the brilliance of it was that actually that's

49:20

com or I'm sure this was the intention.

49:22

From the beginning, right that was. it's not

49:25

actually about that. I. Do wonder

49:27

like. Your.

49:29

Experience of this You know, working on something that's

49:31

a magazine piece and then having a be a

49:33

book. And them working on

49:35

it for the screams of understanding

49:38

as you do maybe uniquely the

49:40

life cycle of these stories on.

49:43

One, But what do you think?

49:45

The entertainment industry. Wants.

49:47

And expects out of his stories and into

49:49

may be like has there ever been a

49:51

time when if you're on a drama set.

49:54

Or. Something And he knows that you know the

49:56

way that things are gonna put a strain

49:58

wildly from your original intent. In a way that

50:00

makes you feel different ethically about it than you did

50:02

when you're writing the story. Have you had to like

50:05

intervene and say that's not what this is Or yeah,

50:07

I mean it's hard. it's hard hard thing. I think

50:09

that the I have thought about this a lot in

50:11

the last two years because a number of things that

50:13

I worked on are you know in the process our

50:15

have then. Turned into

50:17

dramas and it's strange records for me, The

50:19

North Stars is soft. It's that everything is

50:22

factual, and it is sometimes the case that

50:24

people aren't crazy about what I publish or

50:26

that they don't want me to be writing

50:28

about it at all. Arm but

50:30

I'd I'd sir move forward And the

50:33

constraint for me as always that I

50:35

go out and I do the work

50:37

and I tell a story. that's true.

50:40

And the hard thing about drama is

50:42

that it's you do a very faithful

50:44

adaptation of almost any book. It is

50:47

going to be a bad adaptation that

50:49

the process of turning something into a

50:51

televised drama is is in. innately. if

50:53

it's gonna be good, you actually need

50:56

to sort of referred off a bit

50:58

and condensed certain sections and. Expand certain

51:00

others and takes or narrative shortcuts and

51:03

that's a thing that as an author

51:05

is like. It's a tricky thing right?

51:07

cause you're sort of their on the

51:10

sidelines watching them do this on I

51:12

am. Pretty good about does making

51:14

peace with the idea that there's like a a

51:16

cultural product that I create with my hands and

51:18

I put it out in the world and that's

51:20

mine and then sometimes there's an adaptation of it

51:23

that is just a more complicated things on what

51:25

I have tried to differently and in the case

51:27

of Say Nothing is I'm a producer on Say

51:29

Nothing and I have tried to be there. I

51:31

was there onsat I was trying to sort of

51:33

say i'm we want to get this as right

51:36

as possible. There are some short cuts you can

51:38

take absolutely necessary and then there are others that

51:40

I would say what's not Do that because you

51:42

have to That. This is a real story

51:44

about real people, their allies. They're out there. Yeah,

51:47

I mean have a strong dose

51:49

of ethics. Never, never never heard

51:52

anyone. Yeah, yeah. I'll

51:54

just spoiled. Hardest loss for everybody who.

51:56

Doesn't know what happens in and let you know that. saying that

51:59

at. The about

52:01

our. On. That know we are officially of

52:03

time. Catch her breath and keep. Thank you so

52:05

much for joining at a. They on. And.

52:10

Say you are looking apart. The

52:13

I. Like

52:30

using of critics at large as a

52:32

cascade Pbs ideas as doubles With happened

52:34

this past weekend in Seattle Something straight.

52:36

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52:39

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52:42

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52:44

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52:50

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53:01

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53:35

I'm Deborah Treatment Six Netted or as

53:37

the New Yorker and host of the

53:39

New Yorker Fiction Podcast. On the podcast

53:41

I ask a great contemporary writers to

53:44

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53:46

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53:48

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54:00

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or creating story is.

54:04

This inclinations that we

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all have to stop

54:09

spinning. And

54:11

you can hear writers like George Saunders discuss

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54:15

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54:17

then make you see the scene. but

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