For the last few months, I dipped my toe into a true crime podcast:
Rabia and Ellyn Solve the Case.
Ellyn Marsh is an entertainer and true crime obsessive, and Rabia Chaudry is an attorney who advocated for Adnan Syed (she's the person who convinced Serial's Sarah Koenig to do a story on the case).
As a person who has an unhealthy fascination with crap, I 100% understand the appeal of the "true crime." It's the worst (and best) of humanity with the benefit of being real life.
I just dropped the podcast. The trigger for this was the two part series on Jan Broberg.
Jan Broberg is someone who was the victim of a serial pedophile who involved himself with her family. Their families because fast friends when they became neighbors. He took both families on nice vacations and helped the Brobergs out financially. He seduced Jan's mother and father, mostly so he'd have the power of shame over them. He eventually brainwashes middle school age Jan into believing that aliens had commanded her to have a baby with him. The story is pretty wild in terrifying ways.
Rabia and Ellyn had a part one of this podcast. They discussed the case based on public documentation. One thing they couldn't get their heads around was how the Brobergs continued to associate with this man. They were extremely critical of the parents, accusing them of putting their reputation ahead of the safety of their children.
Well, Jan Broberg is a public figure - telling her story to raise exposure of sexual predation, so she volunteered to come on the show for a part 2. According to her, their criticisms about her parents were mostly wrong. The Brobergs weren't putting their reputation ahead of the safety of her daughter. A lot of the wilder events happened because Jan was brainwashed and just old enough to circumvent her parent's authority with the help of this man. The family was, unfortunately, tricked and outwitted by a clever predator, even after they knew of his abuses.
I'm so annoyed at this podcast after part 2. It's not that it was discussing this case based on misleading public documentation, it's the attitude between parts 1 and 2. At first, there's all of this righteous indignation at the parents, and in part 2, there's this self-serving obsequiousness to Jan Broberg. A lot of the host's talk on part 2 is minimizing or justifying their words in part 1.
This podcast was sold to me on the idea that the hosts would take a critical look at these cases based on original sources, not just to be another form of gossip. I was already suspicious from previous episodes that this wasn't always true. This two-parter on the Brobergs really cemented in my mind i can't always trust the hosts to do the work.
This and the billion-page Amanda Knox threads I've seen on other forums makes me think I need to be careful about what true crime media I consume. There is a surprising lack of truth in true crime.
True crime and the media that loves it.
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