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rynlingI’ve been listening to more of the My Favorite Murder podcast, and I think I’m starting to understand why people hate it so much.
One of the hosts talks about writing a blog in the mid-2000s about all the drug-fueled parties she was going to in LA, and then when she made her first YouTube video it went viral and she was offered half a million dollars to host a show on the Food Network.
The other host talks about this time she was a staff writer for a sitcom, and this one time she tried to pull into her parking space only to find a BMW there. Her boss had bought the car for as a present to supplement her year-end bonus.
In other words, these two women are not like us. Both of them are filthy rich, and this podcast has made them even richer.
For me, listening to My Favorite Murder validates the anxiety I’ve felt as someone in a situation of economic precarity who has had to tolerate all sorts of creepy and criminal behavior in order to be able to keep various horrible jobs. It’s about the dangers of living in shitty apartments in shitty neighborhoods and dealing with shitty police and shitty romantic partners, and how those dangers are real. It’s about having been mugged and assaulted and raped, and having seen it happen to people around me, and having felt powerless and silenced because of victim blaming. It’s about seeing this happen to students every single semester and not being able to help them in any meaningful way because I could get into serious legal trouble for even acknowledging that it’s a thing that happens. It’s about feeling seen, and feeling like I’m not alone.
But to know that the hosts aren’t coming from a position of even average middle-class suburbia, which is a persona they both present, but rather a position in which they have security systems to protect their houses, and also their vacation houses... Idk, their incredible wealth makes their interest in crime seem ghoulish.
I remember that people used to say the same thing about Michelle McNamara, which is that she had a persona of speaking for the common woman, but how “common” can she be if she’s walking red carpets in designer dresses and attending celebrity dinners with her famous husband. Like, it’s validating that she seems to be telling your story, but it is in fact “your” story and not hers, and she’s the one profiting from it.
I mean listen, may we all be rich and famous one day and not have to apologize for our success, and may we all have the economic freedom and agency to pursue our interests, no matter how dark and macabre they may be. But at the same time, the ultra-wealthy can eat shit.
One of the hosts talks about writing a blog in the mid-2000s about all the drug-fueled parties she was going to in LA, and then when she made her first YouTube video it went viral and she was offered half a million dollars to host a show on the Food Network.
The other host talks about this time she was a staff writer for a sitcom, and this one time she tried to pull into her parking space only to find a BMW there. Her boss had bought the car for as a present to supplement her year-end bonus.
In other words, these two women are not like us. Both of them are filthy rich, and this podcast has made them even richer.
For me, listening to My Favorite Murder validates the anxiety I’ve felt as someone in a situation of economic precarity who has had to tolerate all sorts of creepy and criminal behavior in order to be able to keep various horrible jobs. It’s about the dangers of living in shitty apartments in shitty neighborhoods and dealing with shitty police and shitty romantic partners, and how those dangers are real. It’s about having been mugged and assaulted and raped, and having seen it happen to people around me, and having felt powerless and silenced because of victim blaming. It’s about seeing this happen to students every single semester and not being able to help them in any meaningful way because I could get into serious legal trouble for even acknowledging that it’s a thing that happens. It’s about feeling seen, and feeling like I’m not alone.
But to know that the hosts aren’t coming from a position of even average middle-class suburbia, which is a persona they both present, but rather a position in which they have security systems to protect their houses, and also their vacation houses... Idk, their incredible wealth makes their interest in crime seem ghoulish.
I remember that people used to say the same thing about Michelle McNamara, which is that she had a persona of speaking for the common woman, but how “common” can she be if she’s walking red carpets in designer dresses and attending celebrity dinners with her famous husband. Like, it’s validating that she seems to be telling your story, but it is in fact “your” story and not hers, and she’s the one profiting from it.
I mean listen, may we all be rich and famous one day and not have to apologize for our success, and may we all have the economic freedom and agency to pursue our interests, no matter how dark and macabre they may be. But at the same time, the ultra-wealthy can eat shit.
