[Review] How To Create A Sex Scandal

Being from Texas and having a preference to read good, relevant journalism, I'm a fan of Texas Monthly. I follow their Twitter account as well.

That's how I heard about a new Max (formerly HBO Max) docu-series called "How To Create A Sex Scandal," which uses information from the Texas Monthly articles on the scandal written by Michael Hall.

I'm not a die-hard true crime fan, but true crime in Texas does pique my interest more. I guess also fictional crime set in Texas, if it's done well, but that's a bit more rare. And this one was quite interesting. A satanic panic level hunt that made its way into the courts, a malicious career foster mother. And presented in a very interesting way, in the way that the information came out. An accusation was made, there was the frenzy to agree, to "protect the kids," and then, as objective eyes were caught on the case, suddenly, maybe things aren't as they appear. And then the question is asked, why?

I don't want to say that once you've been around abuse, especially emotional kinds, manipulation, you are immune from further emotional exploitation and manipulation. Mostly, because I don't believe it's true. But I think when you process that abuse, you can often see something others can't. A woman sobbing and asking why everyone is against her, that she did so much good for her kids, may seem very convincing to others. I mean, she's crying! And why would someone lie about this, anyway? But it's this high-pitched whistle, that, like a dog, only a select few can hear. And as the ringmaster in this docu-series, Margie Cantrell, spoke; the whistle was shrieking. It's hard to even describe, hard to explain the "tells" to others so they can start to hear the whistle too. There's a way of speaking, a victimization of oneself in what they see as a "clever" way (saying "well I'm not perfect, but they came after me! I don't understand why they hate me so much!"), a mismatch of emotions. Crying at one point, showing no remorse at another, being mad at others, in a way that doesn't quite make sense. Bad vibes all around.

It definitely was an interesting watch, that I recommend. Maybe it can help you hear the whistles in your life.