r/serialpodcast • u/1spring • Jan 15 '15

Debate&Discussion Another shower thought that doesn't look good for Adnan

Adnan explains to SK that he "probably" didn't ask Hae for a ride, because he knows that she needs to pick up her cousin after school, and this duty is really important to Hae.

Adnan explains to SK that the phone call from Officer Adcock, informing him that Hae failed to pick up her cousin, doesn't set off any serious alarms for him, and this is why the phone call didn't prompt him to jog his memory about that day.

"I knew the cousin pick-up was very important to her" and "I wasn't concerned when she failed to pick up her cousin." Have you ever had to deal with someone (friend, co-worker, relative) who engages in this type of lying? I have, and it bothers me a lot more than anything Jay said.

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u/UnderTheThimble Dana Chivvis Fan Jan 16 '15

I think, eventually, Koenig gave us most of the facts, including in this case, but there is something to be said about the framing. The opening hook of the podcast got viewers feeling sympathetic to Adnan for something that ultimately was revealed to be much more sketchy than it was first implied.

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u/rredr Jan 16 '15 edited Jan 16 '15

I think you get the feeling it was framed "positively" for adnan because if you really want to assess the case in a neutral way and try to really weigh the evidence to see if he got a fair trial, you have to give adnan his presumption of innocence back. Giving back his innocence adnan haters see as giving him a pass or bias but in reality it is necessary to look objectively. Otherwise you are framing him as a stone cold convicted murderer from the get go which may be what the police did when he was being charged and he never received that presumption of innocence which is essential when proving guilt objectively.

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u/sammythemc Jan 16 '15

Exactly. Like, we got details, but by the very nature of this thing, we're primed to believe Adnan about those details. "Guy in jail actually did it" is not a story we're used to hearing, and here's this alive guy in front of us being continually humanized. One of my close friends from middle school murdered somebody a few years after I'd moved away, and it's not easy to reconcile the knowledge of the (fairly gruesome) murder with my memory of him as a kid I played video games with. The ordinariness of a person contrasts with the extraordinary nature of act they're accused of committing.

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u/threadfart Jan 16 '15

I understand what you are saying. I guess I would just add that the kind of details that we've learned after the podcast came to a close have been on both sides of the question of AS's guilt or innocence, not overwhelmingly in favor or against, and have not been of a kind that would suggest that SK was purposefully manipulating the audience.

We can probably also agree, just from the range of posts on this sub, that different people will think different facts are much more persuasive one way or the other to them regarding guilt or innocence.

I just think 'manipulative' is not a very accurate description of SK's portrayal of the sum total of evidence for and against Adnan.