Wormwood: A Trip Back in Time, Literally

Em Carpenter

Em was one of those argumentative children who was sarcastically encouraged to become a lawyer, so she did. She is a proud life-long West Virginian, and, paradoxically, a liberal. In addition to writing about society, politics and culture, she enjoys cooking, podcasts, reading, and pretending to be a runner. She will correct your grammar. You can find her on Twitter.

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8 Responses

  1. DensityDuck says:

    It’s intriguing to compare this (a fictionalized presentation of real events that really happened to a real person using that real person’s real name) to the recent flap over a computer-model recreation of Anthony Bourdain’s voice reading a letter written by Anthony Bourdain.

    Like…the former is okay, the latter isn’t?Report

    • Jaybird in reply to DensityDuck says:

      Well, given that the son is in charge of it, that changes things a hair.

      I mean, compare to Ottavia Busia’s statement:

      I think that the kid telling his dad’s story (and maybe investigating what he thinks is his murder) puts this in not only a difference of degree but a difference in kind.Report

      • Rufus F. in reply to Jaybird says:

        I mean, Errol Morris has been doing this for a looooong time. It was way back in 1988 that he got snubbed for an Academy Award nod for his excellent film The Thin Blue Line because it used reenactments in a documentary. But, it also got a man off death row and out of prison, so I don’t know that he was terribly concerned.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    The more I read about the MKUltra stuff, the more I can’t even believe it.

    “The operation was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964 and further curtailed in 1967. It was officially halted in 1973.”

    1973. That’s after I was born.

    You find out that Whitey Bulger was touched by the MK Ultra program. Ted Kaczynski, as well (though I understand he gets really upset when asked about this sort of thing).

    “After retiring in 1972, Gottlieb dismissed his entire effort for the CIA’s MKUltra program as useless.”

    I sure hope so.
    But it’s not like he’d have said “Oh, we figured out how to get people to do stuff.”

    I’m pretty sure that they didn’t achieve 95% of the goals of the program. That 5%, though…Report