my god https://www.elle.com/life-love/a35021224/martin-shkreli-christie-smythe-pharma-bro-journalist/

I do not know how to go about my day after this

ok took an hour to digest and I think the thing is that this piece is a terrifyingly well-wrought illustration of the Malcolm

Smythe was the the typical morally indefensible journalist, attempting to cultivate a relationship with Shkreli to further her career and sell a book. The fact that she lost control of the relationship she was trying to steer is awful and ironic.

At that point, Smythe becomes a story, and Clifford enters the picture as the new morally indefensible journalist, presumably managing to land Smythe through a similar process to how Smythe tried to land Shkreli, before things got out of control.

Smythe goes along with becoming the story because she thinks she can exploit her exploitation. Clifford presumably knows better, knows that Smythe is not acting rationally, but goes along with it because, hey, what a story right?

It’s very well structured and feels awful because it is.

Citation here https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Journalist_and_the_Murderer.html?id=Dceuj0i_RnMC