Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing reminds Sarah of one of the strangest assignments of her career: Interviewing the man who presided over the end of the Cold War … about his luggage. Meanwhile, Nancy is apoplectic about an uptick in Portland violence, including a tragic and preventable murder over the weekend.
But the crux of this week’s episode is “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” a two-hour Netflix documentary about the Manti Te’o catfishing scandal that hijacked the college linebacker’s career and reputation. This was one hell of a hoax, raising questions about con artists, our capacity for belief, and love in the age of social media. Nancy sees similarities in literary hoax JT Leroy. Sarah sees similarities in that dude from OKCupid who kept her on the phone for hours but canceled every date.
Also discussed: A NYT opinion column on “the myth of maternal instinct” that places ideology over biological realities. Recommendations from the Hot Box include a podcast combining hair metal and CIA intrigue as well as a great book on the writing life, but Sarah’s ill-fated attempt to share an inspiring quote from that book includes the phrase “know your bone,” which goes over as expected …
Episode Notes:
Liz Wolfe, Nick Gillespie, Matt Welch prepping for most recent Reason Roundtable
Nancy’s Twitter thread on the murder of Rachael Abraham, the escalating violence in Portland, and a public both hesitant and hamstrung to address it.
Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist official trailer
“Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax,” by Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey (Deadspin)
Catfish, noun (via Merriam-Webster.com):
1: any of an order (Siluriformes) of chiefly freshwater stout-bodied scaleless bony fishes having long tactile barbels
2: a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes
Catfish official trailer
“No Exit Plan: The Lies and Follies of Laura Albert, a.k.a J.T. Leroy,” by Nancy Rommelmann (LA Weekly)
The Cult of JT LeRoy (in which Nancy appears), official trailer
”My Fake Online Boyfriend,” by Sarah Hepola (Salon)
“Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created,” by Chelsea Conaboy (New York Times Opinion)
“Another dismissal of biological facts that go against ideology: The NYT claims that “maternal instinct” is a misogynistic myth,” by Jerry Coyne (Why Evolution Is True)
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard
“Wind of Change” podcast (link), created and narrated by Patrick Radden Keefe, and trailer
Outro Song: Wind of Change by Scorpions
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