Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 251 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.

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On this week’s episode, our critics discuss the MTV series Catfish, which is based on the 2010 documentary film of the same name. One of the show’s executive producers, Nomi Ernst Leidner, joins the Gabfest to dissect the knotty issues surrounding long-distance online relationships, fake personal profiles, and the mechanics of reality TV production. Then, our critics consider Frank Rich’s recent column in New York magazine, in which he lays the blame for privacy’s death not on the NSA or media corporations, but on American exhibitionism and our increasing lust for attention. Is he right? Do Americans no longer care about privacy? Finally, the Gabfest’s own Dana Stevens recently published a blistering screed against flip-flops—breezy summer sandals or unhygienic harbingers of the apocalypse?

Here are links to some of the things we discussed this week:

• The 2010 film Catfish.
• MTV’s Catfish TV series.
• The Wrap’s interview with host Nev Schulman.
• Dana Stevens’ review of the film, for Slate.
• The Culture Gabfest episode that featured the film.
• “When Privacy Jumped the Shark,” by Frank Rich for New York.
• Reporter Glenn Greenwald and commentator Glenn Beck talk Edward Snowden.
• Frank Rich’s writing for the New York Times on the Lewinski scandal.
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
• A Pew Research poll on Americans’ opinions on NSA spying.
• “Your Flip-Flops Are Grossing Me Out,” by Dana Stevens for Slate.
• BuzzFeed’s “22 Important Reasons Why No One Should Ever Wear Flip-Flops."

Endorsements:

Dana: The TLC reality show about a cake shop in New Jersey, Cake Boss.

Julia: The novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple.

Stephen: Edmund Wilson’s book on the Civil War and the birth of modern America, Patriotic Gore.

Outro: “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Dan Pashman. Our intern is Sam McDougle.

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