On: Right to Remain Silent

[sjmulder]

In the first segment, why is the focus on his supposed irresponsibility of posting that joke to Facebook, instead of the braindead legislation that allowed this silliness to end up in court?

[drhodes → sjmulder]

It's the nature of `This American Life`. it's not a show about politics, it's about individuals and their experiences.

[cemerick → drhodes]

It's sometimes about politics, but when it's about politics, they make the show about politics.

In any case, on-the-nose commentary about the legislation involved would be really boring in comparison.

[code_duck → sjmulder]

The show is more about telling stories than informing people overtly about topics. However, in doing so often listeners end up becoming engaged in the story, and thus very much aware of the underlying issues. People listening to this are bound to wonder why such a thing would be occurring in our society.