1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Your whole job is to be about like empathizing with 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: the human experience enough to be able to tell a 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: story that resonates with people. And yet like, here's a 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: real human being going like hey, hey, I'm over here, 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: call me, and no. 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 2: Dms are open. 7 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 3: Like. 8 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 4: There are no girls on the Internet. As a production 9 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 4: of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative, I'm Bridge Tad and this 10 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 4: is there are no girls on the Internet. 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 5: I spend an inordinate. 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 4: Amount of time thinking about the Internet and how we 13 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 4: show up on it. Can we share parts of ourselves online? 14 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:49,959 Speaker 3: What gets lost by now? 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 4: You know the drill that nobody's online presence tells the 16 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 4: full story of who they are. We're all creating a 17 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 4: digital highlight reel and none of it is really real. 18 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 4: But what about the way is the Internet itself lattens 19 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 4: out who we are and the full scope of our humanity. 20 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 4: When you're viewing them through a screen, it's easy to 21 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 4: see people as one dimensional caricatures, distortions of who they 22 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 4: really are. And if you think about your own online experience, 23 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:15,559 Speaker 4: I'm sure you felt this. 24 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 5: One way or another. 25 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 4: Now imagine what that would be like as an exonery 26 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 4: exonerated for a high profile crime of which you were 27 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 4: falsely accused. That's Amanda Knox's reality. Amanda Knox's name is 28 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 4: still synonymous with a crime that she did not commit, 29 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 4: the murder of her roommate Meredith Kircher by Rudy Goudet 30 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 4: and Italy in two thousand and seven. Amanda spent almost 31 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 4: four years in prison before being acquitted in twenty fifteen. 32 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 4: Since her release from prison, Amanda has worked to change 33 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 4: the conversation around the criminal justice system and the people 34 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 4: caught up in it through writing, advocacy and her podcast Labyrinths. 35 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 4: But in an online landscape that profits from distorting people 36 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 4: according to the most salacious stories attached to them. Sure 37 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 4: or not, Amanda can te used to be flattened into 38 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 4: a foxy Naxi caricature, the same caricature that led to 39 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 4: her being locked up for a crime that she didn't commit. Understandably, 40 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 4: Amanda is particular about what parts of herself she shares 41 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 4: with the internet. For instance, concerned her story would become 42 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 4: fodder for tabloids and online trolls, Amanda and her husband 43 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 4: Chris waited to reveal to the world they were expecting 44 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 4: their first child until she was already born. 45 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: Soon after I gave birth, And of course I didn't 46 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: immediately tell the world that I had given birth because 47 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: I was I didn't want to emotionally and psychologically navigate 48 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: the difficulty of tackling how the internet and how the 49 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: broader world was going to react to my daughter in 50 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: those first weeks of having given birth, like I just 51 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: needed to be chill and secret and hidden and no 52 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: one to know. But of course that means that no 53 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: one knows, and I still have to keep doing my 54 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: job and responding to the world as if I don't 55 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: have a two week old baby that's keeping me up 56 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: at night, news suckling on me constantly. 57 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 4: I loved how you chronicled your journey to become parents 58 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 4: on Instagram. Did it have the desired effect you were 59 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 4: looking for, Like, like revealing it in that way where 60 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 4: by the time you were like, oh, we're expecting your 61 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 4: child was actually already here. Didn't have the desired effects 62 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 4: of just giving you all a little more space to 63 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 4: not have to wonder how the internet would react to 64 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 4: this change in your life. 65 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, and then it also did a sort of I 66 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: sort of did a bait and switch kind of thing. 67 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: Like I was when I was doing when I was 68 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: sort of revealing on a daily basis, like week per 69 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: week photos on my Instagram. It was sort of like 70 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: giving that sense to my followers, but also to like 71 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: the greater Internet in general, because of course, I know 72 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: the tabloids are constantly scanning my Instagram in order to 73 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: like steal, you know, photos of me and them of 74 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,839 Speaker 1: context and then vilify me, like I was anticipating this 75 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: and sort of addressing directly this feeling of like anticipation 76 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: and wanting more and wanting like acknowledging that, like, as 77 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: I'm getting bigger and bigger, it's very human and natural 78 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: to be like, oh my god, the baby's next, the 79 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 1: baby's next. 80 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 2: And then my. 81 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: Goal at the very end of it was to show 82 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: one image of my child and explain why I was 83 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: not going to be sharing any other photos of her 84 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: on the Internet because of how I knew both the 85 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: Internet to be a thing that maybe you should opt 86 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: into instead of automatically put into by your parents, but 87 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: also because of how much my own social media and 88 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: Internet life has been mined for content and mind for 89 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: exploitation by tabloids, and I did not want to sort 90 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 1: of offer my own daughter on a platter, And so 91 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: I wanted to like give this sense of like, yes, 92 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: we're all in it together and we all are really excited. 93 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 2: But also, this is why I'm sort. 94 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: Of withholding something from you, And I was hoping to 95 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: like make a point by revealing my pregnancy that way. 96 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, what is it like to be Amanda 97 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 4: Knox on the internet? 98 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 5: Like, what is that experience like for you? 99 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: Well, it means that I am in You know, when 100 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: I came home from prison after I was first acquitted, 101 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: I knew that I was walking into a world where 102 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: there would be a version of me in people's minds 103 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: no matter what, Like that's just a reality. People heard 104 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: of Foxy Noxy. Now they have a very clear idea 105 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: of who I am. Except it's not who I am. 106 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: And so I'm going to be perpetual in conversation with 107 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: that like prejudice about me that as I'm walking through 108 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: the world. And it made me acutely aware of how 109 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:02,599 Speaker 1: much my identity as it had been constructed, especially in 110 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: the digital space, was not actually a product of my 111 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: own making. And I think this honestly is very very 112 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: true of everyone. We all aren't totally the authors of 113 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: our identities, especially online. We like to think, I think 114 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: we have this like false sense of security that like, oh, 115 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: my Instagram feed is my own, and oh, you know, 116 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: when I present myself online, I'll people will understand what 117 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: I mean when I say a thing, And the reality 118 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: is that's not true, and we all are facing certain 119 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: kinds of prejudices as we encounter people, especially across the 120 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: distance of the Internet. As much as it brings us close, 121 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: it also keeps us distant from each other because we're 122 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: not physically there. And so I feel like I have 123 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: a unique perspective of like I feel like I have 124 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,280 Speaker 1: because I've been such like pushed to such extremes through 125 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: the Internet that had like utterly vilified and also like 126 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,600 Speaker 1: totally reached out to buy people like total random strangers 127 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: who just say, oh my gosh, I'm so inspired by 128 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: what you went through and how you've dealt with it, 129 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: like I have. I have personally felt all like and 130 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: pushed against all of the edges of the Internet and 131 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: the way that it works. So I feel like I 132 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: appreciate in a sort of fine tuned way how the 133 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: Internet works and how much of myself and therefore everyone 134 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: else is a construct of these like interplaying you know, 135 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: impulses and that sense of ownership that really, really we 136 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: have a false sense of ownership of ourselves online and 137 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: we really don't own ourselves online. Actually, there's a really 138 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: interesting did you hear about the woman who was an 139 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: artist and she had like you know, as an artist does. 140 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: She has an Instagram account. I think it was called 141 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: the metaverse. Her Instagram has gone metaverse, right, and like 142 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: Facebook decided, oh, we're the metaverse now, so we're just 143 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: gonna delete you. They have that power, and they have 144 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: that power which like again reinforces that sense of like, 145 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: well do we own ourselves on the internet? 146 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 4: Do we own ourselves on the internet? So w E 147 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 4: b du Boi has this concept of double consciousness, whereby 148 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 4: black folks experience consciousness in two distinct ways at once, 149 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 4: the way that we understand and see ourselves and the 150 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 4: way that we are aware of being seen by a 151 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 4: white supremacist society. And I've always felt this concept was 152 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 4: really useful, not just in navigating the IRL world, but 153 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 4: in navigating my own online experiences as well. When I 154 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 4: share myself online, I'm very aware that it's a convergence 155 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 4: of two consciousnesses, who I actually am and who people 156 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 4: are perceiving me to be. I don't even really consider 157 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 4: my online persona to be me. I think of her 158 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 4: as my avatar, a stand in for my digital experiences, 159 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 4: completely distinct from the real life me. I spend a 160 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 4: lot of time thinking about our digital experiences and the 161 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 4: experience of showing up online and just what that's like 162 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 4: for us, and I often referred to my online self 163 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 4: as my avatar. 164 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,439 Speaker 5: You know, I don't even see her as really myself. 165 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 5: I see her as a. 166 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 4: Stand in, and so I can only imagine what that 167 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 4: experience is like for you, as this person who has 168 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 4: been vilified and really turned into a caricature. How you 169 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 4: might feel that there are these all these different competing 170 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 4: versions of yourself out in the world, but at the 171 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 4: same time really knowing, you know, this isn't me like 172 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 4: having this composite sketch version of yourself of what people 173 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 4: see you as, all these different projections of people's understandings 174 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 4: of who you are or who they want you to 175 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 4: be or need you to be. When I was preparing 176 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 4: for this interview, I was reading some headlines and there 177 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 4: was this one tabloid story that had clearly taken a 178 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 4: picture of you and your husband, maybe when you were 179 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 4: out at a party or something. And there are so 180 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 4: many pictures of you and your husband that anybody could 181 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 4: use to accompany a story about you, but they had 182 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 4: clearly gone out of their way to choose a picture 183 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 4: or y'all were at a party to kind of add 184 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 4: to this media created idea that y'all were weird. You know, 185 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:14,680 Speaker 4: it's like they went out of their way to say, 186 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 4: look at these two, aren't they weird? Look at this 187 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 4: weird picture? But it's like they chose the picture. This 188 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 4: is obviously something that you wanted to use to create 189 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 4: to tell the story that you were trying to sell, 190 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 4: and that story was these two are weirdos. And for you, 191 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,199 Speaker 4: it must be so difficult to retain and protect your 192 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 4: sense of self when there are so many forces out 193 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 4: there projecting all of these competing, negative, out of context 194 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 4: versions of who they think you are or who they 195 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:43,599 Speaker 4: want you to be or need you to be. 196 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah, No, it's true, especially because and I 197 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: think this is true of other people as well, Like 198 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: it's not like it just limits itself to the Internet space, 199 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: like it definitely has repercussions in my actual real life. 200 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: It makes it so that it's difficult for me to 201 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: make friends or to get a regular job. Like these 202 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: are always that the stigma of whatever that person, that 203 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,319 Speaker 1: that idea of me that's in someone else's mind impacts 204 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: me on a on an actual level. Like I actually 205 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: went to prison because people were, you know, cherry picking 206 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: moments of my life and portraying them in the worst 207 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: possible light, and like I went to actual prison for that. 208 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: So like and you know, to this day, you know, 209 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 1: I'm not being put in a jail cell because of 210 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: people talking badly about me on the internet and portraying 211 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: me as a weird person. But it does mean that, 212 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: you know, if I go and take a meeting with someone, 213 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: I'm wondering, are they taking a meeting with me because 214 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: they want to see how weird I am or they 215 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: want to you know, or are they actually seriously interested 216 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: in my professional work? Do they even know about my 217 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: professional work? Because of course the tabloids are really happy 218 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: to tell stories about me going to parties, but they 219 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: don't ever talk about the work that I do because 220 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: that doesn't go with their story. 221 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 2: So I don't know. It's made me acutely. 222 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: Aware of how powerful storytelling is, and it's made me 223 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: think about, like, well, who is allowed to tell stories? 224 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: And what stories are they telling us? And how are 225 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: we complicit in them the choices they are making as 226 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: storytellers in selling us a product. 227 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 3: Let's take a quick break at our back. 228 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 4: Last year, Amanda spoke out about the film Stillwater, which 229 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 4: stars mac naman as a father who travels to Europe 230 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 4: to see his daughter who has been in prison for 231 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 4: the murder of her roommate and lover in France. There's 232 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 4: going to be a spoiler for the film in just 233 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 4: a moment. Director Tom McCarthy said he was quote inspired 234 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 4: by Amanda's experience. 235 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 3: I was pretty fascinated with the Amanda Knox case back 236 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 3: a long time ago and did a pretty deep dive 237 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:14,719 Speaker 3: into it. 238 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 4: Okay, so here's the spoiler. In the film, the character 239 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 4: inspired by Amanda is revealed to have been withholding relevant 240 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 4: information about the murder that she has not shared with authorities. 241 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 4: That she paid the man who actually killed her roommate 242 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 4: and told him to get rid of her, but it 243 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,719 Speaker 4: was a miscommunication. She meant to throw her out of 244 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 4: the apartment, not murder her. Amanda says this isn't so 245 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 4: much a fictionalization as it is trafficking in a specific 246 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 4: falsehood that still persists all these years later, that even 247 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 4: if she didn't actually kill Meredith Kircher, she must have 248 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 4: been involved in some way. On medium, in a piece 249 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 4: called who Owns My Name, Amanda writes, I continue to 250 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 4: be accused of knowing something I'm not revealing, of having 251 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 4: been involved, even if I didn't plunge the knife. How 252 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 4: McCarthy's fictionalized version of me is just the tabloid conspiracy 253 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 4: guiltier version of me. By fictionalizing away my innocence, my 254 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,439 Speaker 4: total lack of involvement, by erasing the role of the authorities, 255 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 4: and my wrongful conviction, McCarthy reinforces an image of me 256 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 4: as a guilty and untrustworthy person, And with Matt Damon Starpower, 257 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 4: both are sure to profit handsomely off of this fictionalization 258 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 4: of the Amanda Knox saga. That is sure to be 259 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 4: plenty of youers wondering maybe the real life Amanda was 260 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 4: involved somehow. Yeah, I mean that was one of the 261 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 4: reasons I was so interested to talk to you today. 262 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 4: Your tweets about the film Still Water. You know, I 263 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 4: had never really thought about the idea of profit, right, 264 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 4: So who not just who is telling someone else's story, 265 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 4: but who is making money off of it? And it 266 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 4: seems to me that so many different Hollywood executives and actors, etc. 267 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 5: Etc. 268 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 4: Are it's okay for them to tell this like deeply 269 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 4: fiction realized story about that purports to be about your 270 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 4: life and make money from it. 271 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 5: And it's like everyone else, it seems like everyone. 272 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 4: Else is allowed to a tell your story and then 273 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 4: profit from it except for you. 274 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 5: You know, what is that like to experience? 275 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: Well, it's so surreal that most people just assume that 276 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: I am profiting off it, right, Like the number of 277 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: people who reached out to me to be like, oh, 278 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: congratulations on Stillwater, so great that you're getting another project, 279 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: and it's like, Nope, nope, no one, uh no one 280 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: talked to me about that, Like I have nothing to 281 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: do with that, and no, I am in no way 282 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: benefiting from it. In fact, I am just bearing the 283 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: cost of whatever story they liked to tell about me 284 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: this time. 285 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 4: So, and you know, thinking about the Netflix documentary, this 286 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 4: is something that I thought was so interesting, where the 287 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 4: filmmakers reached out to you and they said, we are 288 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 4: not int we only want to tell this story if 289 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 4: you are part of that storytelling process. I can imagine 290 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 4: folks coming to you and saying, listen, we're going to 291 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 4: tell this story whether you want me to tell it 292 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 4: or not. So you've got to decide whether we're telling 293 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 4: it for you or if you're going to be a participant. 294 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 4: It almost kind of feels like a shakedown, you know, 295 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 4: when it's. 296 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 2: Like, oh, it totally is. 297 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 5: How would we get to a. 298 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 4: Place where like, you're not being shaken down to be 299 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 4: forced to participate against your will in a story that 300 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 4: is meant to be about you. I mean, I'm just 301 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 4: like I can't even imagine what that must be like 302 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 4: to experience and how difficult that must be to navigate. 303 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, it's not just a thing that happens 304 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: to me, like it happens to a lot of people, 305 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: a lot of like you know, exoneries, wrongfully convicted people 306 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: come out of prison and they're told if you don't 307 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: tell your story right now to us, like you're never 308 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: going to have another chance and no one's ever gonna 309 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: believe you. And of course you're walking out of prison. 310 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: You know you've been exonerated, but you're still carrying the 311 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: stigma of the accusation. You still are trying to like 312 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: figure out how to get back on your feet, and 313 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: you like to be put on the spot and asked 314 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: to process the worst experience of your life for someone 315 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: else's entertainment product is and like the I guess, like 316 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: what I was hoping to do by writing that essay 317 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: for The Atlantic, and you know, doing like the tweets 318 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: about still Water in particular, was because I wanted to 319 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: point out that this is a way that we are 320 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: treating real human beings without And I don't know if 321 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: the people who are doing it realize what the human 322 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,959 Speaker 1: cost is because they're in their own little like echo chamber. 323 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: Journalists are in their echo chamber and they're thinking, well, 324 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:36,640 Speaker 1: I have to get the scoop, and if I don't 325 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: get the scoop now, I'm going to move on to 326 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 1: the next story and try to get that scoop or 327 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 1: the you know, the the Hollywood filmmakers are thinking, oh, well, 328 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: I'm just going to like be inspired by something that 329 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 1: happened in real life, and then I'm just going to 330 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: let the writer's room do what it does, and that's 331 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 1: just how stories are made. And why would someone who 332 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: is my inspiration feel any kind of ownership over that? 333 00:17:57,480 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 2: It's my art? 334 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: And it's like, well, did you did you pause to 335 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: think how this was going to impact the human being 336 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,919 Speaker 1: who is your purported source or inspiration? Like, do you 337 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: as a storyteller, as someone who is sharing information, oh, 338 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: the person who is the source of that inspiration or 339 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: your story anything? And that's a question, Like I'm asking 340 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 1: the question and I'm offering a new perspective, which is, well, 341 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: maybe you didn't think about this before, but here's how 342 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: it's impacted me. Here's how when you keep telling a 343 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: story over and over and over again about a girl 344 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: on girl sex crime, you are actually misrepresenting what happened 345 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: to my roommate who was raped and murdered by a 346 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: man and me who had no part in a girl 347 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: on girl sex crime. So do you understand that when 348 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: you keep telling that story over and over again, that 349 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: is what ends up being the definitive story about me, 350 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: whether you intended that or not. And do you understand 351 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,920 Speaker 1: that that's also what's happening to people who are even 352 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: more disempowered than me, because I can't tell you the 353 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 1: number of people that I've tried to advise and who've 354 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: reached out to me saying, there's only one person who's 355 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: ever interested, like been interested in my story. And I 356 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,160 Speaker 1: don't know if I trust them. Should I trust them? 357 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: Is this my only chance to tell my story? I 358 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: don't know if I'm ready yet, but they're telling me 359 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: that I have to do it tomorrow, and if I 360 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: don't do it, like these are all huge red flags 361 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: for me that are just showing how like other people's 362 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: lives are being taken from them in various different ways. 363 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: And the last thing I want to see for someone 364 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: who's just spent years in prison for something they didn't 365 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: do is for them to feel like, oh now my 366 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: story is being stolen again from me, but in a 367 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: whole new way. 368 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 4: We owe ex Hoonaes and the wrongly convicted so much better, 369 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 4: Like they deserve so much better than as soon as 370 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 4: they're out being put in these situations where they can be. 371 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 4: I mean, they're already so vulnerable they deserve they don't 372 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 4: deserve this, and I have to I mean, do you 373 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 4: think it's possible to have a different kind of media 374 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 4: landscape for exoneries where they don't feel like they have 375 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:30,360 Speaker 4: to immediately continuously retell this traumatic thing that happened to them, 376 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 4: or else, you know, maybe the tabloids will make up 377 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 4: their own story about what happened. You know, you do 378 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 4: you believe in a world where a different kind of 379 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 4: landscape is possible for these folks. 380 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: I mean, sure, I'm trying to invent it along the way, 381 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: but I think that like the thing that I'm sort 382 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: of experimenting with with my own journalism and my own 383 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:55,720 Speaker 1: podcast Labyrinths, is this sort of more like collaborative experience 384 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: between the storyteller and their subject, because I think that 385 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: there's been this longstanding perspective that if you are at 386 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 1: the center of your own story, you can't have a 387 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: storyteller's perspective of that story, Like you can't have authorship 388 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: over your own story because you're going to be biased 389 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: or you're going to misrepresent things, and you can't be objective. 390 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: But first of all, I want to point out that 391 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: the storyteller is not by definition objective. Just because they 392 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: aren't personally in the story doesn't mean that by telling 393 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 1: the story, they aren't putting themselves in the story, and 394 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: they aren't approaching that story from a certain perspective. And 395 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: it's also totally discrediting the idea that someone who's at 396 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: the center of their own story might have a valuable 397 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:51,239 Speaker 1: perspective about it, like they might, having had felt this 398 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: human experience firsthand, have some interesting human things to say 399 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,359 Speaker 1: that is worth being a part of the story. 400 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 2: And so I'm just. 401 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: Trying to like convey that, Yeah, not all of us 402 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: are professional storytellers, but professional storytellers can help people tell 403 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: their own stories. And of course everyone should be held 404 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: accountable to the truth, like as long as we're not 405 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: like making up crazy you know, conspiracy theories to account 406 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 1: for non evidence, Like you know, evidence still matters, and 407 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: the truth still matters. But it's okay for you to give, 408 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: like as a storyteller, to offer someone the opportunity to 409 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: voice their own experience and that's still a valuable story. 410 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,360 Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, you know, we're all experts in our own experiences. 411 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 4: And I hate this myth of objectivity that if you're 412 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 4: close to a story or it's happening to you or 413 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 4: to your community, you couldn't possibly be objective. I feel 414 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 4: like it's really at least in journalism. I feel like 415 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 4: it's really been used to create a really like sexist, racist, 416 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,119 Speaker 4: classist narrative that like, oh, yep, it is straight white 417 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 4: men who are objective. Everybody else is just gonna be biased. 418 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 4: You shouldn't even list, like they're not gonna be a 419 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 4: reliable source of something that happened to them or their community. 420 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 4: And it just really erases the fact that, like, people 421 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 4: know what's up with themselves. People know people are, Like 422 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 4: give people the space to be experts in their own experiences, 423 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 4: in their own. 424 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: Stories, and don't pretend that you don't have your own 425 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,160 Speaker 1: baggage that you're bringing to the story by who being 426 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 1: whoever you are exactly you know, So just take ownership 427 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,439 Speaker 1: of like be self aware, like do enough like self 428 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: auditing to be aware that maybe I might be approaching 429 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,919 Speaker 1: this story or that story from a certain perspective and 430 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,199 Speaker 1: let that be like acknowledge that in your own storytelling 431 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: process and as you are encountering the person, because they 432 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: might be coming from a whole completely new perspective that 433 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: you don't have access to. And if you are automatically 434 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,439 Speaker 1: defining yourself as the objective party and them as the 435 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:01,400 Speaker 1: subjective party you are automatically making, like doing a hierarchy 436 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: of whose prejudice and whose bias counts more than another's. 437 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 4: I find it interesting that your story is not often 438 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 4: framed as a story of someone who was wrongfully convicted 439 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 4: and then exonerated, right. I think there's probably so many 440 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 4: people out there who like think they know the Amanda 441 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 4: Knox story, you know, heavy scare quotes, but they probably, you. 442 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 5: Know, don't know Meredith Kercher's name. 443 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 4: They probably don't know the name of the Italian prosecutors 444 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 4: who like bungled this case. They don't know the name 445 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 4: of the actual guilty party. And it's just so interesting 446 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:42,639 Speaker 4: to me how what you went through obviously like was 447 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 4: a huge part of your life, but the way that 448 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 4: that story is told often I don't know it at 449 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 4: the same time denies agency of the actual major players 450 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 4: of what happened to your roommate, while also giving you 451 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 4: this like outsized role in that story. 452 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 5: It's like, like, why aren't why aren't. 453 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,400 Speaker 4: These other hugely like huge major parties of what happened. 454 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 5: Why are they not household names? 455 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 4: Why are they not the names that are like connected 456 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 4: to what happened there? 457 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 5: Why is it just you who. 458 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 4: Like actually was kind of a like like side character and. 459 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 5: All of that. 460 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, That's one of the things that I've always like 461 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: pushed back against with people, is like when you when 462 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: you think Amanda Ox, the first thing that you think 463 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: of is murder, because that's you know, that's ultimately what 464 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: it comes down to, Amandon Ox, murder and my stuff, Like, 465 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: I have never witnessed a murder. I've never participated in murder. 466 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: I've never been you know, the the closest I've been 467 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: to murder is I maybe what could have been murdered 468 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: that night if I hadn't met raphael a five days 469 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: earlier and was spending the night. 470 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 2: At his house. 471 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: Like that's that's my experience of murder. And the fact 472 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:01,159 Speaker 1: that that action, that horrific action, that that happened to 473 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,119 Speaker 1: first of all, my friend Meredith, who is the victim, 474 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: and people don't remember her. The fact that that action 475 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: is not actually prescribed to her murderer and instead people 476 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: think of me when they think of her murder. That 477 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 1: just goes to show that it really does matter what 478 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: you call a thing. And when you call Meredith Kircher's 479 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: murder the Amanda Ox saga, you are doing a disservice 480 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: to the truth because I played no role in that. 481 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,120 Speaker 1: The amandon Ox saga for me is I'm on trial 482 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: for something I didn't do, and now I'm trying to 483 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: like reclaim my life in a world that doesn't want 484 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:36,719 Speaker 1: me to reclaim my life, you know. 485 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,680 Speaker 2: Like that's my experience. 486 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 5: But like. 487 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: It drives me crazy that it's so so often that 488 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 1: the person who actually committed this crime is referred to 489 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: as an afterthought, like he's either not named at all, 490 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 1: he's called the other guy who was accused, you know whatever, 491 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:02,879 Speaker 1: Like no one cares about that. And to me, that 492 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: conveys that, like people don't actually really care about what 493 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,120 Speaker 1: happened to Meredith. They care about the scandal, and they 494 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:13,440 Speaker 1: care about the sexiness that they can you know, portry, 495 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 1: you know, project onto, Like the sexy idea is what 496 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,160 Speaker 1: resonates with people more than the actual human experience. 497 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I just it's impossible to not see all 498 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 4: the ways that you've become this character. So either it's 499 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 4: like she's weird, or she's like an American loud mouth 500 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 4: or like a temptress. It's like you kind of become 501 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 4: this thing that this character that anybody can project whatever 502 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 4: they want onto and it doesn't like who you actually 503 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 4: are as a human who went through something traumatic is 504 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:48,959 Speaker 4: just gone in a conversation. 505 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. 506 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: And and then you know, even when i'm you know, 507 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: it's found out that I'm innocent, and I'm held fully innocent. 508 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: The again that like mystique of who is Amanda Knox? 509 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: Really it's like, well, here's an idea, like I have 510 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: a podcast where I talk really openly about all my 511 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: ideas and all my experiences. 512 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 2: Have you considered listening to that? 513 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: No, No, of course not, because then Amanda is actually 514 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: authoring her own experience. We want to talk about her. 515 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:19,120 Speaker 1: We don't actually want. 516 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 2: To talk to her. 517 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: And it's it's just like, I mean, you aren't obviously 518 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: you're talking to me, and I greatly appreciate that because honestly, 519 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,439 Speaker 1: like what a frickin' gift in the world to just 520 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: talk to another human being, like a real person. Like 521 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: I can't tell you enough how much it means to 522 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 1: me that you reach out to me and say I 523 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: actually care about what your experience is. I you know, 524 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: I don't want to just talk about you. I want 525 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: to talk to you like thank you for that. 526 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 2: It means a lot. 527 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 5: I mean, I deeply appreciate that. I really do. 528 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 4: But again, like when the Stillwater conversation was happening, I 529 00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 4: think something that was so frustrating is it's not like 530 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,959 Speaker 4: you're not like you, Yeah, you have a great podcast 531 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 4: that's critically acclaimed, you have a. 532 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 5: Huge body of work. 533 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 4: The fact that they wouldn't even reach out to you, 534 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 4: like I just randomly DMD you on Twitter and you replied, 535 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 4: It's not like it was hard. I'm one person who 536 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 4: maybe a podcast out of my kitchen, right, It's not 537 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 4: like you're making it difficult to find yourself or and 538 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 4: it's not like you're not having these public conversations about 539 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 4: who you are and your story and your experience. 540 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 5: And I think it is people just don't want to 541 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 5: hear it. 542 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 4: It's more gratifying to talk about you than it is 543 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 4: to give you space to talk about your experiences. And 544 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 4: I think that's so clear. I don't think people. I 545 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 4: just think that people are just really wrapped up in 546 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 4: the story they have in their head and retelling that 547 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 4: over and over again. 548 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 5: And I really appreciate it that you pointed. 549 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 4: Out that that film they weren't just fictionalizing it. They 550 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 4: were kind of parroting the salacious, you know, girl on 551 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 4: girl sex crime like lie that was told to have 552 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 4: you locked up for so many years. And that's not apolitical, 553 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 4: that's not neutral, that's not fictionalizing something that was not 554 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 4: like it's different to I guess I feel like the 555 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 4: fact that they relied on what was the dominant narrative 556 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 4: that led to you being falsely imprisoned is so hurtful, 557 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 4: but also like deeply political and not neutral, Like that's 558 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 4: a real choice and to not even acknowledge or deal 559 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 4: with that again is a real you know, or just 560 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 4: a real choice like that did I guess I didn't 561 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 4: like how in that interview. I think it was Matt Damon. 562 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 4: He was like, oh, well, you know, we got to 563 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,719 Speaker 4: thinking like what if it was like this, and it's like, no, 564 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 4: you just parroted the incorrect lie that led to you 565 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 4: being falsely imprisoned. 566 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 2: Yeah. 567 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 1: No, it was just lazy storytelling on their part, like 568 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: they were like, oh, we're inventing things, and it's like 569 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 1: you didn't invent shit, my friend, good job you invented 570 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: Frances opposed to Italy, Like good jobs lazy. 571 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 2: It's lazy. It's lazy. 572 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's too bad because like, honestly, again, my 573 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 1: position in all of this has been I'm really easy 574 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: to talk to and I'm actually like, I think we 575 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: could have a really worthwhile conversation here. I feel like 576 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: maybe I was overlooked, but like here's an opportunity to 577 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: not overlook me, and that's okay, Like let's talk about 578 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: that and nothing just crickets today, Oh yeah, nothing nothing. Yeah, 579 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: it's you know, they've moved on to the next story 580 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter that there are repercussions in my life. 581 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: So I mean, it's just insane, Like how like, how 582 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: removed do you have? Like your storyteller, your whole job 583 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: is to be about like empathizing with the human experience 584 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: enough to be able to tell a story that resonates 585 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: with people. And yet like here's a real human being 586 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: going like. 587 00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 6: Hey, hey, I'm over here, call me and no, you're open, 588 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 6: DMS are open, Like I'm really nice. 589 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it's it's a fascinating experience and 590 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: I feel like, again, it's it seems like it's this weird, 591 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: extreme thing because it's not every day that you know, 592 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: someone's life is turned into a Hollywood movie. But I 593 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: feel like there are versions of this that happen all 594 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,239 Speaker 1: the time to people all the time. What story is 595 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: being told about you and what circumstance by whom and 596 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: how are they not allowing you to be a part 597 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:46,320 Speaker 1: of the conversation like that that happens all the time 598 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 1: to lots of people. And it's something that I always 599 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: have a little bit of a red flag for because 600 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: it just seems like it's it's one of it's it's gaslighting. 601 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 2: Honestly, it's when you're. 602 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: Not allowed to have a voice in the story that 603 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: defines who you are. You basically are being told by 604 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: the rest of the world that you don't matter, and 605 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: your perspective doesn't matter, And we're going to tell you 606 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: who you are and what you mean and why. 607 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 3: You matter. 608 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: More. 609 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 3: After a quick break, let's get right back into it. 610 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 4: Who gets to have a say in their own story? 611 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 4: In a media moment where we're looking back on the 612 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 4: way that women from Pamela Anderson to Monica Lewinsky were 613 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 4: unfairly maligned by society, it's a question worth asking, and 614 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 4: at first reachs back to Amanda because I saw her 615 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 4: tweets about the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears. 616 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,160 Speaker 4: Now she wasn't condemning the film or the filmmakers, but 617 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 4: rather posing a complex question. She tweeted, with all these 618 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 4: new Britney Spears documentaries out, I'm asking myself, did Britney 619 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 4: participate in. 620 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 3: Any of them? 621 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 4: Did she consent to them? Did she want them to exist? 622 00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,720 Speaker 4: Does anyone care? The answer to the first two questions 623 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 4: is no, she did not participate. 624 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:16,880 Speaker 5: Or grant her approval. 625 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 4: And while I'm sure the documentary of filmmakers would have 626 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 4: preferred that she gave them her approval, when she didn't, 627 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 4: they plowed ahead anyway. Is that okay? She goes on 628 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 4: to say, I'd like to live in a world where 629 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,959 Speaker 4: Brittany and Britney alone. Guess to decide if she wants 630 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 4: her personal legal drama to serve as your next Netflix binge. 631 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 4: When filmmakers Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn reached out to 632 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,479 Speaker 4: Amanda about making a Netflix documentary, they said they would 633 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 4: only go through with the film if she participated, and 634 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 4: it's a big part of why she agreed to do 635 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 4: it in the first place. They had the ethical sense 636 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 4: to understand that I would be deeply impacted by that 637 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 4: film and that my consent and participation mattered. They decided 638 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 4: it was better to make no film than one without me. 639 00:34:59,239 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 3: She tweeted. 640 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 4: When I first reached out to you, I was in 641 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 4: the process of researching an episode for the podcast about 642 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,719 Speaker 4: the Free Britney movement, and when I saw your tweets, 643 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 4: it really so I stopped my research because one of 644 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 4: the points that you made was, you know, hey, this 645 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:21,760 Speaker 4: documentary was made without Britney Spears's consent, and I really 646 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 4: had to have to really have a deep think about 647 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 4: what that meant, right Like, I was very happy that 648 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,799 Speaker 4: Britney Spears's conservatorship was overturned. I was happy to see 649 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:33,400 Speaker 4: the role that that documentary maybe played and some like 650 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 4: public awareness of it. But I never even thought to ask, 651 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 4: what does it mean that this content was just released 652 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,319 Speaker 4: without her say, without her voice, against her will. And 653 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 4: I think we're in this moment where there are so 654 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 4: many different pieces of media asking us to look back 655 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 4: to how women were maligned, you know, And I guess 656 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 4: I wonder, like, what does it mean that so many 657 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 4: of those you know, documentary podcast what have you are 658 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 4: created about about a woman without her side of the story, 659 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 4: without her voice, and then sometimes against her will, Like 660 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:13,759 Speaker 4: like what do we do with that? How do we 661 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 4: find a balance to be Like, Oh, well, maybe it's 662 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 4: good that this documentary helped her overturn her conservatorship, but 663 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 4: it's also fucked up that it happened against her will, 664 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,439 Speaker 4: Like isn't that just another way of violating someone who's 665 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:28,440 Speaker 4: already been like so maligned and violated. 666 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:29,399 Speaker 3: Yeah? 667 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:34,319 Speaker 1: Yeah, Like did Brittany ultimately want her you know, her 668 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: like family drama to be so public because like she 669 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,399 Speaker 1: didn't get a choice in that right. Did it make 670 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: a difference in her trial? Is she grateful to all 671 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: the people who supported her? Of course? But it is 672 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: interesting to me and I and I think it is 673 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: again one of those moments where it's worth pausing and asking, like, wait, 674 00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 1: what is her perspective in all of this, Like, since 675 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:06,400 Speaker 1: everything is going to be impacting her the most, shouldn't 676 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,920 Speaker 1: she have some kind of say? And And you know, 677 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,400 Speaker 1: I'd be curious to know like how Britney feels today 678 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,799 Speaker 1: about the fact that there were documentaries made without her 679 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:23,759 Speaker 1: consent and yet they played a you know, a supportive 680 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: role towards her, Like that's an interesting, you know, mental 681 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 1: space to be in in terms of like over the 682 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,839 Speaker 1: course of your own life. Again, there's it's but again 683 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: it's almost like a hint of that conservatorship, right, like, 684 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: we know what's good for you, so we're gonna do it, 685 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,959 Speaker 1: even if you don't want us to, Like, ooh, it's 686 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: just there. 687 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 2: It's me. 688 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:50,080 Speaker 4: It's like a weird thing to have to unpack, right, 689 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:54,920 Speaker 4: And I guess I I'm I want to see more 690 00:37:55,200 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 4: public like media makers wrestling with it because I feel like, yes. 691 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:04,440 Speaker 5: It's a complicated square to circle, but yep. 692 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 4: I want to I want to see that you're that 693 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,359 Speaker 4: you're aware of this, you know, aware of this dichotomy 694 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 4: is a thing that exists and the thing that we 695 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:14,280 Speaker 4: should be asking questions about and pushing up against exactly. 696 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 1: I think that if there were that again, it's that 697 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: like self auditing, that introspection, that awareness that you could 698 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: have that your actions could have unintended consequences, and that 699 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:31,279 Speaker 1: you are thinking about the people who like you know you. Presumably, 700 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: if you're a documentary filmmaker who's making a documentary about Brittany, 701 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,040 Speaker 1: you can presumably assume that whatever it is that you 702 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: end up doing is going to impact her. So like, 703 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: maybe think about how and why and and how you 704 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:51,239 Speaker 1: can mitigate potential harm, because that's what you don't want 705 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: to do as a as a storyteller. You don't want 706 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: to just harm other people for the sake of a story. 707 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:58,719 Speaker 2: I mean, at least I would hope. 708 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,320 Speaker 4: So yeah, And I mean I think in this moment 709 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 4: where we're really interested in like looking back at the 710 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 4: way that the way that media, our media ecosystem harmed 711 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 4: women unfairly. 712 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 5: So I full. 713 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,680 Speaker 4: Disclosure live for a like you're wrong about style podcast 714 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,320 Speaker 4: as like, oh, let's go back and like revisit. 715 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,400 Speaker 5: But part of me wonders. 716 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 4: If we are so busy looking back that we're not 717 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,280 Speaker 4: seeing the ways that's happening now, Like, Okay, Britney Spears 718 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,880 Speaker 4: was unfairly maligned, you were unfairly maligned, Jane Jackson unfairly 719 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:34,800 Speaker 4: maligned all these people. 720 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 5: But are we are we Like, what's. 721 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 4: The point of that kind of content if it does 722 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,960 Speaker 4: not prime us to see it happening before our eyes 723 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 4: in real time? Like I don't want to have to 724 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,759 Speaker 4: wait five years down the line for the podcast that 725 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 4: tells us not that the media shouldn't be profiting off 726 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,840 Speaker 4: of the pain and you know, shittiness to like a 727 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:55,840 Speaker 4: vulnerable person. I don't want to have to wait for 728 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 4: a look back retrospective on that. What's the point of 729 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:00,880 Speaker 4: this media if it doesn't allow us do this now. 730 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:02,840 Speaker 2: That's a really great point. 731 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,479 Speaker 1: And I think that that is that is another way 732 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:10,240 Speaker 1: that if we are going to be spending time looking back, 733 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: because I think it's a worthwhile thing to do, let's 734 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: not do it just for a sake of like nostalgia. 735 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: We can all feel good about ourselves today because we're 736 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:22,919 Speaker 1: not doing that like they did in the nineties. Like that, 737 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 1: there's the danger of it approximating that where it's like, 738 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,120 Speaker 1: oh man, we were terrible to women in the nineties. 739 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,440 Speaker 1: We can feel totally. We can pat ourselves on the 740 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,799 Speaker 1: back today. There is nothing wrong with the way that 741 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,040 Speaker 1: we're treating women today because look at what we did 742 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:40,920 Speaker 1: in the nineties. Like it's important to take stock of 743 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:46,320 Speaker 1: how things were, how things have changed, but also how 744 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 1: things haven't changed, and if we can see echoes of 745 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,719 Speaker 1: what happened in the past happening today and try to 746 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:56,240 Speaker 1: be better. 747 00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 4: Definitely, I mean This brings me to one of my 748 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,880 Speaker 4: last questions, you know, what kind of world, Like, just 749 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 4: given what we know about how the media and the 750 00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 4: internet can treat women, what kind of world do you 751 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,160 Speaker 4: want for your daughter to grow up in? And like, 752 00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:13,759 Speaker 4: what will you tell her about your life? And what 753 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:15,560 Speaker 4: will you tell her about the kinds of the kinds 754 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:17,800 Speaker 4: of experience is that she can expect. 755 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 5: From the world. 756 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, what I'm hoping that we're heading towards is 757 00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 1: a world where everyone is more media literate and understands 758 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: not just how the industry functions, like how how does 759 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: it even just how do you on a day to 760 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,520 Speaker 1: day basis put content out into the world, Like well, 761 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:42,600 Speaker 1: they're you know, there are incentive structures, and there's a 762 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: monetary aspect to it, and like there's a whole business 763 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,719 Speaker 1: side of it that's important to know when you're consuming information. 764 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: There's a human psychological role to it, Like what stories 765 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,760 Speaker 1: quote resonate with people and with whom? And why why 766 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,719 Speaker 1: do certain stories get up lifted and others get squashed? 767 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,920 Speaker 1: Why are some people's stories just you know, discarded as 768 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 1: if they aren't valuable and other peoples are constantly in 769 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,719 Speaker 1: the headlines like these are all really important questions that 770 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 1: I think as consumers we should be asking, because we, 771 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: as consumers ultimately have the power to say, you know what, 772 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 1: I'm not going to tune into your style of content anymore. 773 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,879 Speaker 1: I'm going to tune into something else that I think 774 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:32,759 Speaker 1: is more responsible or ethical or truthful, and that that's worthwhile. 775 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,520 Speaker 1: So I hope that that's the world that we're gearing towards, 776 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:44,640 Speaker 1: because as social media has democratized content creation, we all 777 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,920 Speaker 1: feel like we can have a hand not just in 778 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: consuming media but also in producing it. That's my hope. 779 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,480 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's actually going to happen, but 780 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:59,239 Speaker 1: I'm hoping that I'm going to let my daughter sort 781 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:04,480 Speaker 1: of take the lead in how much she wants to 782 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,480 Speaker 1: know and how important my experience is going to be 783 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:09,839 Speaker 1: for her, because one thing that I'm worried about is 784 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:13,000 Speaker 1: her feeling like, you know, as much as I feel 785 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:15,680 Speaker 1: very much in the shadow of the worst experience of 786 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,239 Speaker 1: my life, like, I don't want her to feel like 787 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:20,759 Speaker 1: she's forced to live in the shadow of the worst 788 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:24,399 Speaker 1: experience of my life. She should be able to have 789 00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,440 Speaker 1: her own life if she wants and if and I 790 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,480 Speaker 1: hope to raise her as a very curious, thoughtful person, 791 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 1: and so I my guess is that she's going to 792 00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:35,440 Speaker 1: be curious. And of course, if she's going to be 793 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,839 Speaker 1: coming to the Innocence Network conference with me every year, 794 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:40,960 Speaker 1: meeting other wrongfully convicted people, like, she's going to start 795 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:45,879 Speaker 1: to notice that there's a there's an interesting pattern happening here, like, oh, 796 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:46,799 Speaker 1: you were in jail, You. 797 00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:47,200 Speaker 2: Were in jail. 798 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 1: Why has everyone been in jail? Like, you know, she's 799 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,600 Speaker 1: gonna know this, and she's gonna ask questions. And I 800 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: think I'm going to be honest with her one hundred 801 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:03,440 Speaker 1: percent of the time always answer her questions. But of 802 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:05,719 Speaker 1: course I'm not gonna like give a six year old 803 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:11,879 Speaker 1: tutorial on crime scene footage, you know, Like so yeah, 804 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,520 Speaker 1: al wait until she's seven, when we're all that's that's 805 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:18,200 Speaker 1: the appropriate age. So yeah, I think that like I 806 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:22,719 Speaker 1: want her to feel like she it's not a taboo subject. 807 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: It's absolutely like anything about me and my experiences on 808 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:30,440 Speaker 1: the table for her, should she need it and want it, 809 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 1: but that she doesn't need to feel like it needs 810 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: to be an important part of her life because honestly, 811 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: like no one's trauma, no one should feel like they 812 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,040 Speaker 1: are bound to their trauma as if it's the most 813 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,879 Speaker 1: important thing in their life either, So I think that's 814 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:49,319 Speaker 1: another important thing. 815 00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:51,440 Speaker 5: Yeah, that's such a good point. 816 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,960 Speaker 4: There are so many interesting pieces of who you are 817 00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:00,839 Speaker 4: that like that's just one of a quilt of who 818 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:03,680 Speaker 4: you are. And you know, thinking about your daughter, are 819 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:07,040 Speaker 4: you written so beautifully about sort of long prison sentences 820 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:08,880 Speaker 4: and for you how it was a kind of like 821 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,160 Speaker 4: forced infertility. Do you see criminal justice and reproductive justice 822 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:14,359 Speaker 4: as like linked in that way? 823 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I think that nobody's noticing that. I mean, 824 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,960 Speaker 1: and it's and it's hard for like the it's hard 825 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,760 Speaker 1: for men to write. Like sure, men are not limited 826 00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:28,880 Speaker 1: in that way, Like they don't have a very specific 827 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:31,200 Speaker 1: window when they're fertile, but they do have a very 828 00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:36,279 Speaker 1: specific window when they're capable of forming the kinds of 829 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:40,279 Speaker 1: relationships that would turn into families even and so like 830 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,680 Speaker 1: for me, I think that especially with the way that 831 00:45:43,719 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: there are prison sentences in this country where they just 832 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,560 Speaker 1: are nonsensically long, Like no one should be sentenced to 833 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,200 Speaker 1: three hundred years in prison, Like it just doesn't make 834 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:56,879 Speaker 1: any like just just be reasonable, like let's consider what 835 00:45:57,080 --> 00:46:00,319 Speaker 1: the sentence is going to mean for an actual human 836 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,640 Speaker 1: beings life and take that into consideration when we're thinking 837 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:08,360 Speaker 1: about sentencing. And I think that the ways that women 838 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: have sort of been pushed into a justice system that 839 00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,320 Speaker 1: was built by and for men, and their needs and 840 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:21,320 Speaker 1: physical realities aren't really taken into consideration in that process 841 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:27,439 Speaker 1: is an incredible disservice to an incredible harm that we're 842 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:33,560 Speaker 1: committing as a society. Like it matters that by sentencing 843 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:37,080 Speaker 1: someone to such a long amount of time, you are 844 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:42,480 Speaker 1: effectively limiting not just their freedom, but so much more 845 00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 1: about their life that is fundamental to being a human being, 846 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 1: Like I never should have faced the prospect of never 847 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,440 Speaker 1: getting to have a family of my own for because 848 00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:58,520 Speaker 1: I was accused of a crime I didn't commit, and 849 00:46:58,600 --> 00:46:59,680 Speaker 1: yet I did. 850 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,400 Speaker 4: Well, Amanda, thank you for using this platform to speak 851 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:09,040 Speaker 4: up for other wrongly convicted folks. 852 00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:13,359 Speaker 1: And even rightfully convicted folks, because like here, the other 853 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:15,319 Speaker 1: reality is like a lot of the women that I 854 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,160 Speaker 1: met in prison, they did commit crimes, they were also 855 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:22,240 Speaker 1: victims of crime before they ever committed crimes, And how 856 00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:24,880 Speaker 1: is it that society had let them fall through the 857 00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:29,520 Speaker 1: cracks and had refused them good opportunities to be productive 858 00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:33,000 Speaker 1: people and just punished them in the process, like the 859 00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:36,839 Speaker 1: amount of like you know, I was one of the 860 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:41,719 Speaker 1: most fortunate people in that circumstance, and I and I 861 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:43,920 Speaker 1: say that as an innocent person who is wrongly accused 862 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,720 Speaker 1: and put in prison. So like, you know, it's it matters. 863 00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:51,200 Speaker 1: We're all sort of implicated in the way that society 864 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:56,640 Speaker 1: limits the opportunities of people, and we should be mindful 865 00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: of that. 866 00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:57,600 Speaker 4: Oh. 867 00:47:57,640 --> 00:47:58,200 Speaker 5: Absolutely. 868 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:00,719 Speaker 4: I feel like every time you talked to women who 869 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:05,040 Speaker 4: are in prison, it's it's like, oh, you were obviously 870 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,920 Speaker 4: coerced or like you are a survivor of domestic violence 871 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:14,319 Speaker 4: or trafficking like it is, and just I mean, I'm, 872 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 4: I'm this is such a along our conversation, but I'm 873 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,360 Speaker 4: right there with you. I think like when you actually 874 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,960 Speaker 4: look at who we are locking up sometimes for like 875 00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,279 Speaker 4: just comically long amounts of time and the circumstances they 876 00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:29,799 Speaker 4: came from, it's clear that we are not making our 877 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:30,840 Speaker 4: community safer. 878 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,920 Speaker 5: We are just spreading more harm. And I'm right there 879 00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:34,239 Speaker 5: with you. 880 00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:38,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well, it's it's a difficult thing to look 881 00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:40,239 Speaker 1: at because I think a lot of us would just 882 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,680 Speaker 1: like to think, oh, well, just put the bad people 883 00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:44,960 Speaker 1: in somewhere else. We'll just take bad people and put 884 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:48,080 Speaker 1: them away. And it's like, that's that's not it's not 885 00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:51,640 Speaker 1: just good people and bad people. It's not just who 886 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,200 Speaker 1: gets put away versus who doesn't get put away? Is 887 00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:58,399 Speaker 1: not doesn't also fall neatly along those lines, like, let's 888 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:02,799 Speaker 1: be real, it's way more complic than that, and oftentimes 889 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,920 Speaker 1: it's actually just the most vulnerable people who end up 890 00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:06,880 Speaker 1: get putting away. 891 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:11,480 Speaker 4: Amanda, where can folks keep up with Labyrinth and all 892 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:13,360 Speaker 4: the amazing work that you are doing? 893 00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:17,160 Speaker 1: Well, thank you for asking. You can go to Knox 894 00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:20,000 Speaker 1: Robinson dot com to follow all of the work that 895 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:22,640 Speaker 1: me and my husband do. We have a Patreon so 896 00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,400 Speaker 1: Patreon dot com slash Knox Robinson. You can follow me 897 00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:30,600 Speaker 1: on Twitter at Amanda Knox and on Instagram at Amama Knox. 898 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:38,879 Speaker 4: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech? I 899 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:40,759 Speaker 4: just want to say hi. You can reach us at 900 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 4: Hello at Tegodi dot com. You can also find transcripts 901 00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:45,960 Speaker 4: for today's episode at tengody dot com. There Are No 902 00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,120 Speaker 4: Girls on the Internet was created by me bridget Toad. 903 00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:51,840 Speaker 4: It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed. Creative Jonathan Stricklet 904 00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:54,680 Speaker 4: is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our producer and 905 00:49:54,719 --> 00:49:58,520 Speaker 4: sound engineer. Michael Almato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, 906 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,319 Speaker 4: bridget Toad. If you want to help us grow, rate 907 00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:05,080 Speaker 4: and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 908 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,520 Speaker 4: check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 909 00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:08,480 Speaker 4: get your podcasts