Shittown

[Kyle]

Holy hell. You guys have to listen to this podcast. And thanks to Mike for mentioning it on his podcast. It's from the team at Serial and This American Life. Basically this reporter goes to super-rural Alabama to investigate a murder, and then things take a weird right turn and becomes about something else completely. That's all I want to say because anything else would be too spoilery.

Also- it's only seven episodes and they released them all at the same time.

Here's the non-spoilery stuff I loved about this podcast: it really is a fair, beautiful portrayal of the rural south. Warts, racism and all, it dives deep into the people and culture of rural Alabama. And I'm sure a lot of people start listening to it and think, "Jesus, what a horrible nightmare of a place," just stick with it. Because the truth is so much more complicated than that.

In arguing about Trump these past few months, I've talked a lot about how a lot of Trump supporters based their decisions because of alienation they feel due to poverty. My point is, instead of villainizing Trump supporters as a bunch of racist backwater hillbillies, we need to actually open a dialogue and discuss issues. And a lot of that involves understanding where rural folks are coming from. And there not all bad people. And that's what's awesome about this podcast. It gives faces to the people of the rural south and, even if you're not going to agree with them, gives you a level of understanding you didn't have before. It's just so well done. You need to go out and listen to it now.

[Kyle]

And for people that have listened to it, I thought you'd appreciate this picture of John B's maze:

[Mike]

Right?

[Phoebe]

I'm not very happy with Trump supporters as a class right now; I'm not clear on why I should care about empathizing with them. I don't need to convert a one of them to achieve my goals; I want only a fair, non-gerrymandered voting system, an activist movement to counter direct lies more effectively, and gradual demographic shifts.

[Kyle]

[Mrs.Darcs]

Thank you for posting the picture. I binged all 7 the day it came out and I was profoundly moved by it. Those people know how to make a podcast (This makes.me forgive Serial season 2)

The ending about John's property (I hope that isn't spoilery) broke my heart though.

[Mike]

[El Jefe]

I'll get it to after I catch up on NPR. Only 120-plus episodes to go! At one a month or so...I'll be...fuck it. Nevermind.

[Phoebe]

Ok, I listened to one, though I didn't find anything to help me better understand Trump supporters or think it worthwhile to try. Maybe the value here has nothing to do with politics? I don't know. I'll give episode 2 a try but if there's a big payoff coming up, where does that happen?

[Mrs.Darcs]

This podcast has nothing at all to do with politics. In fact the only time I think Trump is mentioned is in the last episode, and only in passing. It's a human interest/mystery and is beautiful and amazing. There are racist assholes in it though. FWIW

P.S. I have only listened to it through once, it was kind of heartbreaking for me (not a bad thing, btw) but I had no memories of politics.

[Kyle]