"Oh my God, I can't believe I just said 'expand the brand.'"
June 13, 2022 5:00 AM Subscribe
"Humans deserve and require unconditional love." (On the 4th anniversary of the You're Wrong About podcast, the AV Club's Marnie Shure interviews Sarah Marshall.)
I think Sarah Marshall must be about the same age as me, maybe a little older, but I definitely was a glutton for all the articles Cracked.com put out back then. "Everyone else are fools who are wrong about things thing, but we have the true, secret knowledge" has been catnip for me my whole life. And now, I get to listen to a wonderful person talk about how cracked.com was wrong about how common knowledge was wrong. Maybe in another generation, I can learn how YWA was wrong about things, too.
posted by rebent at 6:30 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rebent at 6:30 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
Great interview, but I really miss Michael Hobbes. He and Sarah had such a great chemistry. The newer episodes have been good and the guests engaging, but it's not quite the same.
"Everyone else are fools who are wrong about things thing, but we have the true, secret knowledge"
I don't know if you've listened to You're Wrong About before, but that's really not the show's approach or tone. It approaches its topics with compassion, which I think is why it's been so appealing.
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:11 AM on June 13, 2022 [9 favorites]
"Everyone else are fools who are wrong about things thing, but we have the true, secret knowledge"
I don't know if you've listened to You're Wrong About before, but that's really not the show's approach or tone. It approaches its topics with compassion, which I think is why it's been so appealing.
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:11 AM on June 13, 2022 [9 favorites]
Maybe in another generation, I can learn how YWA was wrong about things, too.
Well, maybe. At the end of his graphic novel From Hell, about the Jack the Ripper murders, Alan Moore had a nonfiction essay in which he discussed the history of "Ripperology" (i.e. the theories about who did it), and at the end discussed the paradox that, despite more facts surrounding the case and its primary suspects being unearthed, all that that resulted in was the decreasing likelihood that any positive identification would ever result, due to that growing body of facts being reinterpreted in any number of ways. (Not long after Moore concluded his book, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell came up with her own controversial theory about JtR.)
So, yeah, we might eventually find out something about OJ or whomever that completely changes our perspective on that. But, generally, YWA seems to be more about pointing out things that were known about the OJ case or Princess Di or whomever at the time, but didn't fit the common wisdom/popular narrative/the story as told by whoever had the biggest megaphone.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:14 AM on June 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
Well, maybe. At the end of his graphic novel From Hell, about the Jack the Ripper murders, Alan Moore had a nonfiction essay in which he discussed the history of "Ripperology" (i.e. the theories about who did it), and at the end discussed the paradox that, despite more facts surrounding the case and its primary suspects being unearthed, all that that resulted in was the decreasing likelihood that any positive identification would ever result, due to that growing body of facts being reinterpreted in any number of ways. (Not long after Moore concluded his book, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell came up with her own controversial theory about JtR.)
So, yeah, we might eventually find out something about OJ or whomever that completely changes our perspective on that. But, generally, YWA seems to be more about pointing out things that were known about the OJ case or Princess Di or whomever at the time, but didn't fit the common wisdom/popular narrative/the story as told by whoever had the biggest megaphone.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:14 AM on June 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Yes, I've listened to the entire series. I don't disagree with what either of you say about YWA, but it still is like catnip for me.
posted by rebent at 7:33 AM on June 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by rebent at 7:33 AM on June 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
I love Sarah Marshall and this is a fun enterview. Thanks! I am deeply skeptical of the concept of unconditional love, except in a very, very general sense. That's why I respect cats but not dogs. Feeling empathy for awful people is one thing. Love is not the word I would use.
posted by eotvos at 8:10 AM on June 13, 2022
posted by eotvos at 8:10 AM on June 13, 2022
@rebent, is it peak MetaFilter when You're Wrong About You're Wrong About?
posted by elkevelvet at 8:42 AM on June 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 8:42 AM on June 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
I LOVE YOU SARAH!!! I will listen to this woman discuss a bowl of oatmeal for 2 hours and be thoroughly delighted.
posted by tristeza at 2:29 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by tristeza at 2:29 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yes, I loved the repartee between Hobbes and Marshall and I do miss it. But her voice is still so unique and her perspective is so refreshing and her nerdiness is so damn infectious. I'll keep listening as long as she wants to put something out. The most recent YWA with Blair Braverman was also really great. I did an audio listen to her book, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube and it was a very good, very intense book and every bit a hero's journey. And I don't know if I would have heard more of her if not for Marshall having her on as an expert. It's a different show without Hobbes but it's good.
posted by amanda at 7:45 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by amanda at 7:45 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Growing up and even into my 20s and 30s, I've had several public figures who've admired from far away but I've learned more about them over time, their over time, their public stances on societal issues have changed .
Michael and Sarah have been two exceptions but I really take it with a grain of salt; the bigger lessons that I learned as I've gotten older is to not hold someone else (particularly a public figure) to such high esteem: you still only know a small portion of them; embrace ideas more.
Sarah and Michael have also challenged me to be a more empathic person; that people are a little more complicated in their beliefs than you may think.
I think Sarah and Michael would have been/ would be excellent mefites; when I first found YWA in 2019, it reminded me of what I've liked about Metafilter discussion over the years: re-examining societal biases, learning about issues from the recent past that I may have been too young to remember when it originally happened and have a skewed perspective on; dry humor with some inside jokes, and substantial comments and posts that may even include actual citations!,
posted by fizzix at 11:35 AM on June 16, 2022
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It's the kind of contrarian commentary that is good and well-researched, rather than contrarian-for-the-sake-of-contrarian and this-is-more-a-comment-than-a-question kind. It's refreshing.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:02 AM on June 13, 2022