Misinformation Podcasts
Mar. 3rd, 2023 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingLast month I listened to three investigative journalism podcasts about how misinformation is generated and circulated.
The Dropout
https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/the-dropout/
This is the podcast about Elizabeth Holmes, an overprivileged young woman from Washington DC who went to California to pursue a weird sci-fi fantasy about medical blood testing. She dropped out of Stanford when leaders in the field of bioengineering told her that her sci-fi fantasy was impossible, and she got money from a bunch of high-profile investors to start a Silicon Valley medical tech company. The “technology” this company “produced” was all smoke and mirrors; but, because of the big names and the giant amount of money involved, Holmes somehow managed to keep her company afloat for more than a decade. I don’t think she intended to fraud people; I think she was just deeply delusional.
I listened to the original first six episodes. Of these episodes, I think only the first four are worth listening to, as the fifth and sixth episodes are interviews with people who are annoying and really shouldn’t have been interviewed.
The Opportunist
https://kastmedia.com/podcasts/the-opportunist/
I listened to the eight episodes about Sherry Shriner, whom I think it’s fair to call an internet cult leader. Using a mixture of Christian-influenced New Age spiritualist concepts, Shriner spent more than a decade using Facebook to create a community of people who deeply and sincerely believed a lot of QAnon-adjacent bullshit. The earth is being attacked by demons, political leaders have been killed by aliens and replaced with clones, you need to protect yourself with crystals, angels are real and maybe you are one, etc. The influence of this cult on people’s lives was so profound that a few members committed suicide because of it; and, in one case in particular, the partner of one of Shriner’s victims was charged with murder because the judge didn’t understand how internet-based cults work.
I feel a bit conflicted about The Opportunist. The host is either unwilling or unable to understand tone and nuance, which leads her to tell stories in stark shades of black and white. Her attitude is appropriate when she’s talking about malicious scam artists who actively hurt people, but not so much when she talks about creative performance artists who are trying to offer social commentary. I wouldn’t recommend this podcast in general; but, in the specific case of Sherry Shriner, I appreciate the host’s uncompromising attitude of “what this person was doing was unequivocally bad.”
QAnon Anonymous
https://soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous
The three hosts of this podcast have teamed up to share their research on QAnon, which continues to be an ongoing trainwreck. They cover a lot of far-right internet conspiracy theories, from clones to nanomachines to Hillary Clinton literally eating the faces of children. They also get really deep into the antivaxxer movement, and they talk about all the ways in which QAnon ideas and discourses have gone mainstream. In addition, they do a lot of traditional reporting that involves going to QAnon rallies, New Age conspiracy theory conventions, and so on. Somehow this is a comedy podcast, which helps mitigate how extremely upsetting the subject matter is.
I haven’t listened to more than a dozen of the most recent episodes, as one of the hosts is trying to express a Gilbert Gottfried style of humor that I find obnoxious. Despite that one guy, this is an interesting podcast with good writing, good repartee, and good guests. I especially enjoyed “Episode 217: QAnon’s Movie Obsession” (here’s a direct link).
This is all very interesting and good information to know, but I think I might be done with these podcasts for the time being. I won’t lie – listening to all of this unreality all at once put me in a strange headspace.
The Dropout
https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/the-dropout/
This is the podcast about Elizabeth Holmes, an overprivileged young woman from Washington DC who went to California to pursue a weird sci-fi fantasy about medical blood testing. She dropped out of Stanford when leaders in the field of bioengineering told her that her sci-fi fantasy was impossible, and she got money from a bunch of high-profile investors to start a Silicon Valley medical tech company. The “technology” this company “produced” was all smoke and mirrors; but, because of the big names and the giant amount of money involved, Holmes somehow managed to keep her company afloat for more than a decade. I don’t think she intended to fraud people; I think she was just deeply delusional.
I listened to the original first six episodes. Of these episodes, I think only the first four are worth listening to, as the fifth and sixth episodes are interviews with people who are annoying and really shouldn’t have been interviewed.
The Opportunist
https://kastmedia.com/podcasts/the-opportunist/
I listened to the eight episodes about Sherry Shriner, whom I think it’s fair to call an internet cult leader. Using a mixture of Christian-influenced New Age spiritualist concepts, Shriner spent more than a decade using Facebook to create a community of people who deeply and sincerely believed a lot of QAnon-adjacent bullshit. The earth is being attacked by demons, political leaders have been killed by aliens and replaced with clones, you need to protect yourself with crystals, angels are real and maybe you are one, etc. The influence of this cult on people’s lives was so profound that a few members committed suicide because of it; and, in one case in particular, the partner of one of Shriner’s victims was charged with murder because the judge didn’t understand how internet-based cults work.
I feel a bit conflicted about The Opportunist. The host is either unwilling or unable to understand tone and nuance, which leads her to tell stories in stark shades of black and white. Her attitude is appropriate when she’s talking about malicious scam artists who actively hurt people, but not so much when she talks about creative performance artists who are trying to offer social commentary. I wouldn’t recommend this podcast in general; but, in the specific case of Sherry Shriner, I appreciate the host’s uncompromising attitude of “what this person was doing was unequivocally bad.”
QAnon Anonymous
https://soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous
The three hosts of this podcast have teamed up to share their research on QAnon, which continues to be an ongoing trainwreck. They cover a lot of far-right internet conspiracy theories, from clones to nanomachines to Hillary Clinton literally eating the faces of children. They also get really deep into the antivaxxer movement, and they talk about all the ways in which QAnon ideas and discourses have gone mainstream. In addition, they do a lot of traditional reporting that involves going to QAnon rallies, New Age conspiracy theory conventions, and so on. Somehow this is a comedy podcast, which helps mitigate how extremely upsetting the subject matter is.
I haven’t listened to more than a dozen of the most recent episodes, as one of the hosts is trying to express a Gilbert Gottfried style of humor that I find obnoxious. Despite that one guy, this is an interesting podcast with good writing, good repartee, and good guests. I especially enjoyed “Episode 217: QAnon’s Movie Obsession” (here’s a direct link).
This is all very interesting and good information to know, but I think I might be done with these podcasts for the time being. I won’t lie – listening to all of this unreality all at once put me in a strange headspace.
