I think I mentioned that I'm a fan of a YouTube channel called JCS-Criminal Psychology (also known as Jim Can't Swim); it's basically a webseries centered on the dissection of real-life police interrogation footage. And he's developed enough of a following that he's developed at least one imitator: Matt Orchard - Crime and Society. He recently released this video (which I watched three times the day it came out):
And I decided it was interesting enough to go on for quite a bit, and certainly on-mission enough that I decided to devote an entire new thread to it.
If you're familiar with his work, it's a bit of a change of pace, going from crime videos dissecting police interrogations like he's Jim Can't Swim's Australian pen pal (which, to be fair, Matt pretty much is) to dissecting the downfall of public figures who may not have been officially arrested and convicted, but who got caught doing something bad (that said, JCS does this on occasion as well although those videos are currently unlisted because JCS gonna JCS). In this case, Ted Haggard and John Edwards.
It was nice to revisit Ted Haggard's downfall, especially that little bit from Root of All Evil where Haggard dismisses Dawkins' expertise in evolutionary biology, and even has the gall to tell him "don't be arrogant" even as he says shit like:
And, as those of us who were following the news know, he got outed as, well, not quite the Kinsey Zero he insisted he was. Somehow, I never saw the interview where he strenuously denied ever taking meth, and then, when asked what he was doing calling him, he said "I wanted to buy some meth."
It was interesting seeing Teddy-boy struggling to adjust to a world where he was barred from his calling, but I'm kind of disappointed that Matt didn't mention that he's still up to his old tricks in the Colorado Springs ministry. Don't know if he's taking meth or screwing guys still, but at least he's got a lower profile than he had been.
The Edwards affair (pun not intended, but appreciated once noticed), however, is one I honestly didn't follow when it happened. I guess I was more focused on Obama to the point where I didn't bother looking into his scandal. But looking in-depth into it, I find myself wondering about a certain damage control strategy that I think might have mitigated the whole "screwing another woman while your publicly beloved wife's battling her metastatic cancer" thing: In Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, a man is rendered quadriplegic in an industrial accident. Jan (the man) convinces Bess (his wife) to find another lover, not out of despair, but because he believes that if she screws other guys and tells him the details, it'll be as if they're together and it'll keep his spirits up. It ends up working, even if she ended up dying as a result of a particularly brutal episode, but at least he somehow ended up ambulatory.
What would have happened if John Edwards told the nation that his affair with Rielle Hunter was actually his wife's idea, so Elizabeth Edwards could vicariously make love with her husband through Hunter even as her health failed her and she couldn't actually do it? On the one hand, it's probably going to be a tough sell for Elizabeth at the very least, and the Enquirer reporters who blew the whistle on the whole affair might find some details that could contradict the story. On the other hand, it's probably one of only two possible ways for him to spin this whole thing as somewhat redeemable, and I suspect that just saying "we have an open relationship, you got a problem with that?" probably wouldn't have sit well with the political scene of 2008.
And I decided it was interesting enough to go on for quite a bit, and certainly on-mission enough that I decided to devote an entire new thread to it.
If you're familiar with his work, it's a bit of a change of pace, going from crime videos dissecting police interrogations like he's Jim Can't Swim's Australian pen pal (which, to be fair, Matt pretty much is) to dissecting the downfall of public figures who may not have been officially arrested and convicted, but who got caught doing something bad (that said, JCS does this on occasion as well although those videos are currently unlisted because JCS gonna JCS). In this case, Ted Haggard and John Edwards.
It was nice to revisit Ted Haggard's downfall, especially that little bit from Root of All Evil where Haggard dismisses Dawkins' expertise in evolutionary biology, and even has the gall to tell him "don't be arrogant" even as he says shit like:
Quote:I don't communicate an air of superiority over the people because I know so much more, and if you only read the books I know, and if you only knew the scientists I knew, then you would be great like me. [...] As you age, you'll find yourself wrong on some things, right on some other things. But please, in the process of it, don't be arrogant.When I first saw it, I was struck by the blatant arrogance and hypocrisy in that little spiel, and it stuck in my mind enough that I made it part of my sig on a long-deleted forum. (Dawkins has proven himself to be kind of arrogant, but at least in Evolutionary Biology he's earned the right to be strident.) The clips of Jesus Camp were also enlightening, since I didn't really read his encounter with Levi as another indication of his narcissism at the time, and I'm still torn between seeing it as passive aggression or a legit attempt at constructive criticism (maybe if he used Mozart as a positive example, it could have been clearer.)
And, as those of us who were following the news know, he got outed as, well, not quite the Kinsey Zero he insisted he was. Somehow, I never saw the interview where he strenuously denied ever taking meth, and then, when asked what he was doing calling him, he said "I wanted to buy some meth."
It was interesting seeing Teddy-boy struggling to adjust to a world where he was barred from his calling, but I'm kind of disappointed that Matt didn't mention that he's still up to his old tricks in the Colorado Springs ministry. Don't know if he's taking meth or screwing guys still, but at least he's got a lower profile than he had been.
The Edwards affair (pun not intended, but appreciated once noticed), however, is one I honestly didn't follow when it happened. I guess I was more focused on Obama to the point where I didn't bother looking into his scandal. But looking in-depth into it, I find myself wondering about a certain damage control strategy that I think might have mitigated the whole "screwing another woman while your publicly beloved wife's battling her metastatic cancer" thing: In Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, a man is rendered quadriplegic in an industrial accident. Jan (the man) convinces Bess (his wife) to find another lover, not out of despair, but because he believes that if she screws other guys and tells him the details, it'll be as if they're together and it'll keep his spirits up. It ends up working, even if she ended up dying as a result of a particularly brutal episode, but at least he somehow ended up ambulatory.
What would have happened if John Edwards told the nation that his affair with Rielle Hunter was actually his wife's idea, so Elizabeth Edwards could vicariously make love with her husband through Hunter even as her health failed her and she couldn't actually do it? On the one hand, it's probably going to be a tough sell for Elizabeth at the very least, and the Enquirer reporters who blew the whistle on the whole affair might find some details that could contradict the story. On the other hand, it's probably one of only two possible ways for him to spin this whole thing as somewhat redeemable, and I suspect that just saying "we have an open relationship, you got a problem with that?" probably wouldn't have sit well with the political scene of 2008.
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
![[Image: harmlesskitchen.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/yxR97P23/harmlesskitchen.png)
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
