Today on AirTalk, we'll discuss the mysteries of Manti Te'o and his unreal girlfriend. We'll also consider the ever-pervasive FOMO, or fear of missing out. Later, we'll examine the place of mental illness in the gun violence debate, talk about the ground fleet of Boeing 787s, and weigh in on the intimate scenes in Lena Dunham's "Girls."
Manti Te’o: Lies, damn lies, and fake girlfriends
It was instant sporting legend: Manti Te’o’s herculean performance on the football field following the twin tragedies of his grandmother and girlfriend dying within days of one another vaulted him to national prominence. Already a star within the college football world, his tragedy-steeled triumphs pushed him to a new and more rarified stratum of cultural interest. As the best player on the best Notre Dame team in a quarter century, the senior linebacker and devout Mormon was, for all appearances, a squeaky-clean, old-school hero and role model.
But as the online news outlet Deadspin later reported, the girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, never existed, and the relationship about which he spoke so movingly was, in fact, solely conducted online and over the telephone. The story is as quixotic as it is complex: Why did Te’o fail to disclose he never met the Kekua face-to-face? How was he able to speak so convincingly of meeting this non-existent girlfriend, and of the depth of their connection? Why didn’t any of the media covering Te’o’s reports of her death find out he had never met her in person? Was Te’o really deceived, or was he somehow complicit in growing the story of his tragedy-enhanced football legend? Why would a person or people endeavor to callously toy with, and ultimately punk, someone as apparently innocent as Te’o?
Guests:
David Wharton, LA Times Sportswriter. He spoke to Te’o and Te’o’s roommate about the fake girlfriend in November while covering a Notre Dame practice prior to the USC/Notre Dame game on November 23rd, 2012.
Aisha Harris, writer for Slate Magazine
Winning one for the Gipper: great football story, shoddy journalism?
When Deadspin reporters Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey got an anonymous e-mail saying there was “something fishy” about the Manti Te’O story, they did what any responsible, well-trained journalist would do: they investigated. They made phone calls and Googled. They fact-checked. They made more phone calls and did more fact-checking. And they concluded that the story of Lennay Kekua was not only a hoax on Te’O - it was a hoax on the world of sports journalism. Kekua had never existed; she had never gone to Stanford, never met Manti Te’O, never had leukemia or died in a car crash.
How did media outlets from Indiana’s South Bend Tribune to CBS, ESPN and the Associated Press take this bizarre fabrication, based largely on Tweets, hearsay and other writers’ stories, and run the full nine yards with it? Was everyone so in love with the story of this heartbroken hero, leading the Fighting Irish to victory against Michigan State, that they let ethics slip through the cracks? Do sportswriters get a pass on due diligence for the sake of a feel-good story?
Guest:
Kelly McBride, Senior Faculty, Ethics, Reporting and Writing, the Poynter Institute
Is social media giving users crippling FOMO?
FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” has become a popular phrase in recent years – the term is used to describe the fear that you may be missing out on cooler plans, and social media is a major perpetrator. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow users to publicize their every action. Instant status updates and pictures can be posted from smartphones and transmitted to large audiences quickly and effortlessly. The result? Your plans to stay home watching a movie may pale in comparison to what your friends are doing, and you’re more likely than ever to know that.
Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT and author of “Alone, Together,” a book about the effects of social media, says that increasing intimacy with technology means that social networking has more influence on users’ emotions and decisions. FOMO is becoming more pervasive, even inspiring counter-points like JOMO (turning off a cell phone to indulge in the Joy Of Missing Out).
Is social media causing more anxiety than happiness? Does interacting with sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give you FOMO? Do you have trouble staying present and in the moment? How should users handle their fear of missing out – is logging off the only solution?
Guests:
Caterina Fake, Founder and CEO of Findery.com, where you can find and leave notes around the world; also co-founded Flickr and Hunch
Sophia Dembling, author of “The Introvert's Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World” (Perigee Books) and writer of the Introvert's Corner column at “Psychology Today”
Truth and consequence of firearms mental health registries
Yesterday, President Obama announced two dozen new initiatives to deal with gun violence - several of which focus on mental health. In his remarks he said, "We will make sure mental health professionals know their options for reporting threats of violence - even as we acknowledge that someone with a mental illness is far more likely to be a victim of violent crime than a perpetrator." His administration wants to strengthen the effectiveness of mental health registries used to stop firearms sales to potentially violent individuals.
It's a debate that's familiar to psychologists and psychiatrists. Many question the effectiveness of registries and worry about the unintended consequences. A 2009 report from the American Psychiatric Association puts it this way: "Questions have also been raised about the possible counterproductive effects of [such] registries. Persons with treatable mental disorders may delay or avoid obtaining treatment because of concern about adverse consequences should their conditions become known to others or because they are unwilling to forfeit their right to use firearms for legitimate purposes (e.g., hunting), especially in regions of the country where recreational firearm use is deeply embedded in the culture."
Meanwhile in Colorado, the surviving widow of a man killed in the Aurora theater shooting has filed a lawsuit against the psychiatrist who treated the alleged murderer - for failing to report him as a danger to others.
How good are mental health professionals at assessing the risk of violence? What is the line between patient privacy and the government's right to know about potentially violent individuals? How effective could a perfect mental health registry be? Would it have stopped previous mass shootings?
Guest:
Dr. Steven K. Hoge, M.D., Director, Columbia-Cornell Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program; Member (and former chairman) of the Council on Psychiatry and Law, American Psychiatric Association; Member of the 2006-2009 Work Group on Gun Control and Individuals with Mental Illness, American Psychiatric Association
Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is grounded by regulators around the globe
After lithium-ion batteries caused a small fire in a 787 parked on the ground in Boston on January 7th, and then forced another of the planes to make an emergency landing in Japan on Wednesday when pilots smelled smoke in the cockpit, regulators around the world have grounded Boeing’s newest widebody jet. Europe, India and Japan grounded 787s on Thursday following the U.S. FAA’s grounding of the planes on Wednesday. The groundings will effect United Airlines, Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Air India, Chile’s LAN Airlines, Poland’s LOT Airlines, and Qatar Airlines.
Boeing says costs to fix the Dreamliner will hurt margins on a program. According to experts, the learning curve and additional sales will be critical in achieving the right return for the aircraft. In the meantime, Boeing’s biggest competitor Airbus could stand to reap the rewards of the 787’s recent deficiencies, and canceled orders for Boeing will send waves throughout its supply chain, which could spell bad news for U.S.-based employers.
Do you think regulators are jumping to conclusions by grounding the entire fleet after just two incidents? Would you fly on a Dreamliner after the recent news?
Guest:
George Ferguson, Senior Airlines Analyst at Bloomberg Industries
Is it brave, even beneficial, for Lena Dunham to be nude on HBO's 'Girls?'
Lena Dunham’s breakout HBO series Girls has attracted a lot of critical attention since its premiere in 2012. Dunham has been praised and derided for her representation of young twenty-somethings in New York. She has also come under fire for her under-representation of people of color. The most disputed criticism as of late, however, is related to Girls’ plentiful nudity and sex scenes. Critics tell Dunham to put some clothes on, but fans of the show’s famously-awkward sexual scenarios have spoken up in defense of Dunham, her body, and the creative choice to focus on sex for the sake of sex, rather than what some have called “the gaze.”
Much of sexuality on TV and in film is focused on making things look good – viewers are accustomed to seeing perfect bodies engaging in sex geared towards an audience eye. Dunham’s approach to sex on "Girls" is decidedly not about looking good – some of the scenes are notoriously hard to watch, and the result is, in the eyes of viewers and reviewers alike, more realistic. Dunham’s response to the critics who would rather not look at her naked on or off-screen is unsurprisingly reflective of the show’s mentality: “Get used to it because I am going to live to be 100, and I am going to show my thighs every day till I die."
What do you think of the intimate scenes and nudity on Girls? Is it realistic, or just awkward? What types of on-screen sex scenes work the best?
Guest:
Shira Tarrant, Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, California State University, Long Beach; She is the author of several books including "Men and Feminism" and "Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power."