The "Embedded" podcast by NPR released a three-episode miniseries called Alternate Realities. The pod, hosted by reporter Zach Mack, is a personal project: the topic is Zach's father (who asks to remain nameless), who has adopted some pretty out-there viewpoints: he follows a YouTube "prophet" who predicts dire, apocalyptic developments in the near future. Zach and his father don't see eye to eye, and the same is true for Zach's sister Kira, who came out to her dad, was told that her lesbianism was "a choice" and is subsequently no longer on speaking terms with him.
Zach has argued with his father about these weird opinions till he was blue in the face, without making any headway. But, somewhat to his surprise, his dad is willing to put his money where his mouth is: at the beginning of 2024, he bets Zach $10,000, to be paid at the end of the year if a list of 10 predictions fails to come true. This outlandish list predicts that Obama, Biden and a bunch of other people will be arrested for treason, and the U.S. will be under martial law, by 31 December 2024.
His son makes the podcast around this bet, talking to experts about these kinds of conspiratorial viewpoints, and about what will and won't work to get people like Mr. Mack out of the proverbial rabbit hole. He also talks to his dad about the alienation from friends and family that his views have caused, and how he's spending money on canned food and other survival stuff because he thinks the end may be nigh.
Predictably, New Year's Eve 2024 rolls around with none of dad's predictions having come true, and equally predictably, Mr. Mack rationalizes this by saying there's a slight delay on all these dramatic developments, so he was kind of right. But fair's fair: he pays his son the $10,000 as agreed. In the meantime, he's become estranged from his wife as well. The miniseries ends without a real resolution: the father is sticking to his guns, and his son, daughter and wife still have difficulty accepting this.
I think there are two important points that the miniseries doesn't address.
First, the fact that Zach's father seems pretty unfazed by the fact that zero of his ten predictions have come true when he said they would. Not only that, he also seems pretty blasé about having to fork over ten thousand bucks.
There's a telling moment somewhere mid-podcast where Mr. Mack casually remarks that even if he's wrong, he still got something out of this bet, because he got to spend time with his son. When I heard this, I kept listening to see if Zach would come back to this remark, but he doesn't.
My theory is this: Zach's father bribed his son to spend time with him, because Zach won't give him the time of day otherwise. Did Zach's dad actually believe that his predictions would come true? Maybe, maybe not. What he did know is that it would be worth it anyway. It's evident from the podcast that people generally shun him; it's the price he pays for his outrageous beliefs. This "bet" is just his way of being less lonely, without compromising his delusional mindset. Best of all, his interactions with his son are about those beliefs.
Second, there's what I consider the intolerance exhibited by Zach, his sister and his mother. Don't get me wrong: I completely and 100% disagree with everything Zach's dad claims to believe. He indeed lives in an alternate reality.
But at the same time, his opinions are mostly just that: opinions. He comes across as a generally kind person, who is fully aware that other people don't agree with him and find him kooky, and is OK with that. But as he says to his son, "I can't pretend not to believe what I believe, and you wouldn't want me to pretend."
He disagrees with his daughter's so-called "choice" to be a lesbian, but he still says he loves her, and doesn't want her out of his life. He spends money on survival gear out of the joint account of himself and his wife, but I wonder if it amounts to the $10,000 he paid his son. I also get the impression that he's not proselytizing. (That's pretty typical: many conspiracy theorists are only too happy to arrogantly be the one "true believer" surrounded by people too "stupid" to realize the real way of the world.)
If you knew someone like this, someone you love, who was behaving like this, would that be enough to kick them out of your life? Maybe Americans, who famously used to avoid the topics of politics and religion in polite conversation, are more rigid in this than Europeans. To me, as a European, this mentality is pretty alien. For example, I don't believe in God, but it doesn't follow that I need to push religious people out of my life --least of all members of my family. To quote Tanita Tikaram, "I don't care about their different thoughts / Different thoughts are good for me."
Inadvertently, Zach reveals himself to be not as liberal as he considers himself to be. It's one thing to have a cold, aloof attitude toward his father; it's quite another to turn him into a podcast project for NPR, putting out not just his insane beliefs but also his sad, lonely existence for all the world to see. If this podcast has a villain, it's not who I expected it to be.
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