And I thought that is the value of telling these stories, if it helps others make sense of their experiences or feel less alone. They told of cases in which they had been similarly manipulated, and they didn’t have the clear proof that we did. But when this article came out, I heard from so many people with stories, and a lot of them were women and people of color-people who are already struggling to have their truths recognized in the larger public sphere. SV: It feels simplistic to say let the truth out and everything will be okay. I had to weigh: what are the costs and benefits of telling the story.
JB: Does your decision to tell the story align with a philosophy of telling the truth simply because it’s the truth? I had to weigh: what are the costs and benefits of telling the story? It felt like the potential harm was that it would be weaponized-which it was-but I felt like the benefits were that it could create a more nuanced discussion of some of these issues. And then, after that we just had to let it go. In the end, Marta ended up giving one interview to a Spanish newspaper, but we really talked to the interviewer beforehand. Somebody wrote to Marta for Fox News, asking her for an interview. But then, once the story came out, I knew I couldn’t control how it was used beyond just not giving interviews. And so I tried to make clear within the story that I think Title IX has value. There are people who want to dismantle Title IX entirely as it relates to sexual assault and misconduct. Sarah Viren: One way of understanding what Jay did was that he weaponized Title IX and he used stereotypes about gay people to prop up the lies that he was telling. I’m curious about what you dealt with in terms of going public with your story, knowing that it might be used to undermine #MeToo or Title IX, to push the idea that false allegations are common. Jennifer Berney: I came to your work through your viral essay in the New York Times Magazine and, like a lot of people, I found it fascinating because of the complicated ways it intersects with #MeToo. I spoke to Viren on Zoom to ask her about punishment, reckoning, and hoping for redemption. Whiles together, using them to discuss themes of trust, doubt, and deception and to ask the question: how do we know what is real?
Sarah Viren’s book To Name the Bigger Lie weaves the stories of Jay and Dr. Whiles was a man who was both inspiring and harmful, who taught students to think critically and develop their own set of values, but who also pushed religion and holocaust denialism. These events, it turns out, unfolded in Viren’s life as she was working on a book about conspiracy and truth through the lens of her high school philosophy teacher.
0 kommentar(er)
