For the Weekend Warriors, Weirdos & Whackjobs - Issue #130
I fear this is another email
This week, we had our compulsively readable, delight of a writer back in the fold. In paid inboxes, Some Lawyer brings us an informative piece: How to do your own homework. A woman’s private Talkspace therapy transcripts were produced in court, sparking questions about privacy, privilege, subpoenas, and what actually happens to deeply personal data once it lives inside these platforms. Part legal explainer, part OSINT walkthrough, part warning about the collision between apps and AI data collection.
This will unlock next week, and paid subscribers will have a Justin original to look forward to.
Also out to paid subscribers, a new installment of High Spirits, Volume 14. This one is a silly romp with some poltergeists out of Tennesse, ride on lawn mowers, and golden retrievers.
What Justin Recommends
Book | Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime by Mike Presdee
“Cultural criminology uses the ‘evidence’ of everyday existence, wherever it is found and in whatever form it can be found; the debris of everyday life is its ‘data’...[l]ife histories, images, music and dance, all have a story to tell in the unravelling of crime.” – Mike Presdee
The field of cultural criminology is one that I have stumble-fell in love with as a way to think about what ‘crime’ is and what it means. The field spends less time on statistical models and more time in the ‘debris’ of everyday life that swirls around a criminal act. In this book, Mike Presdee invites your gaze to fall on these everyday activities that can be transgressive or criminalized, and just who gets to determine what exactly is a crime in the first place. From joyriding cars, to the consumption of hate and humiliation via reality TV, from rap to the rave, from the corner, to the alley and the boardroom – Presdee highlights the ‘carnival’ of crime and its participants in all their swirling, complex, foggy glory. While this may not be a book that everyone will want to curl up with, for those of you with an interest in criminology, sociology, or true crime, Presdee’s book is one that you will undoubtedly dog-ear and highlight heavily.
Enjoy your weekend, glorious reader.
Love,
Your Bullshit Hunting Crew