The Pillar In-Depth

Enjoy the Easter egg in the Saint Patrick episode. These guys are great.

Kate does a great job of wrestling with the complicated nature of abortion and the aftermath of Roe vs. Wade. She’s not afraid to ask hard, timely questions. I appreciate exploring these ideas with her. Very professional in tone, content, and production.

So, I’ve listened to some of season 1, and it’s really odd. The episode about listening non-judgmentally featured a woman who scheduled an abortion because it didn’t feel right to be pregnant again. This was not a crisis pregnancy. She just didn’t think it was the right time, and since she’d done all the things to not get pregnant, she felt justified in aborting her baby. Not the story I would highlight if I were making an episode about being compassionate to people on the other side. But I stopped listening in the fact-checking episode. The host interviews a woman from PolitiFact, and presents the interview as if it’s meaningful. But PolitiFact is really biased, which is obvious in this episode when the host talks about how PolitiFact rated a Facebook ad talking about abortion in New Mexico (and other states) as “Mostly False.” This ad said that New Mexico allows abortion all the way until birth for any reason. PolitiFact determined that was, in fact, true, but the vast majority of abortions are performed before the 3rd trimester. How does something that is true get a “Mostly False” rating? PolitiFact is obviously not a reliable fact-checker. And this was in an episode about separating fact from fiction! So, very odd, won’t be listening to any more.

The latest from The Pillar, Kate Olivera's in-depth podcast, is fantastic. I appreciate her voice and gift of storytelling. I was moved to tears by her profile of Diamond and Let Them Live. Thank you!