Sweeney Talks

Told in a slightly hyperbolic style, the host can't resist trotting out endless "take a listen to this witness at her utter shock" or "you can hear the panic in his voice" and i don't hear anything. I mean the revelations are unsettling, you don't have to add jewelry. Also the "chats with my producer" are quite transparently a device to shape the story, and are sort of like what true crime shows on cable rely on- a fluffy bridge to the next part of the story. All these things are needless. Its almost like they aren't really schooled in podcasting, more tv tabloid journalism. Other than these flaws, its very informative and pretty much nails Epstein and Ghislaine to the wall along with Prince Andrew. What surprises me is that they must have really thought they would get away with it.

For those who might find it useful theees a study (Risk Factors for Violence Among Stalkers) which looked into a bunch of variables to see what might enable people to predict whether a stalker would be violent. Among the variables were: whether the stalker had a previous relationship with the victim before the stalking, severe mental illness, explicit threats, substance abuse, and prior criminal history (violent and then separately nonviolent history). Very interestingly, only one variable was predictive (to be fair some of the other ones had a slight predictive ability, but only because they were more common in the people who had the main trait. So one trait is sufficient to make an accurate prediction). This but the way was shocking to me. None of the scariest ones had an influence: Criminal history, threats of violence, etc. The only one that matters (at least for most cases - you never know for sure because there are always exceptions or rare cases): Previous sexual relationship with the victim. I’m surprised too. And the strength of the correlation is stunning. People who did have a previous relationship before stalking committed physical violence in 89% of cases. Which is absolutely terrifying. Conversely, people who did not have a previous relationship: only 5% committed violence. I do NOT mean to minimize this extremely serious crime. ALL stalkers should be taken seriously. I just thought this would be something I’d want to know if I were in that situation. For anyone with this experience, obviously take all of it seriously, but if you’re being stalked by a former partner, this is life threatening. Do NOT use the delay tactic except to make a plan. But once you are ready, call the police immediately. In a way this isn’t surprising. As the show mentioned, many stalkers are mentally ill or severely socially inept. People like that can be violent (and certainly absolutely terrify people) but at the end of the day they cause Harm but they’re not necessarily sociopathic. I’d absolutely still seek help btw I don’t mean to play it down. But domestic abusers have a very high rate of sociopathy, and DV is *the* number one predictor of a murderer. Both of their partners, of random people, AND mass shootings. If you find yourself with an abusive partner, and especially if there is violence, you are worthy of love and please realize that even though it’s a horrible thing to accept, you are in a life threatening situation. I don’t mean like getting a fender bender. I mean like potential imminent harm. It may seem impossible to even imagine leaving, but you CAN and while it will be hard at first, your life will eventually become better than you can even imagine. Even if you end up having financial struggles or you become a single parent, or both, your abuser has normalized your situation but NOTHING is worth living like that. And studies show that kids raised by an abusive parent end up with lifelong serious challenges, MUCH worse (it’s not remotely close) than children raised by single parents or even by single parents in poverty. Love and safety is incredibly important. That said, it’s not too late for the kids. Don’t blame yourself for not leaving earlier. It’s not your fault. You were brainwashed. The only important thing is that you leave now. Or if you don’t have an exit plan, then in one or two days. Call RAINN and they can help you make a plan and give you advice. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS ❤️❤️

I am an newcomer to Sweeney’s work, falling into his reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine this past year. I have swiftly been catching up with his body of work, and this podcast is some of the best yet! I find these recent conversations intensely riveting and didn’t want the episodes to end. The plugged-in, aware, boots-on-the-ground perspective is simply not to be found in most media.

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