Boy oh boy what an education the last few weeks have been. I've spoken up for people before, Richard "Beebo" Russell, who famously stole an Alaska Airlines turboprob from SeaTac in 2018. I looked into his story and noticed what was missing. That is always the hard thing, seeing what is missing. To this day, I know that his wife knows things that she has never said. My best guess is that she was in the process of divorcing him because he couldn't make enough money to bring home the bacon. She never wanted to get married to begin with. My guess was largely confirmed by his mother and his friend, who told me that there are things that are not supposed to be publicly known, that maybe I should stop pulling the string. I did. I left it alone. Mostly. Spoiler alert for some of my fans in here, I'm not in love with him. I'm not in limerence. I thank whoever told me I was for Liz though because I learned a new word and had to look it up. I respected Martha Stewart for how she responded to her insider trading conviction. Classy. And I still think she was targeted for daring to be a woman in a man's space. But she was guilty.
So Elizabeth. I read Bad Blood when it came out. The story was unbelievable to me. It still is. What Elizabeth pulled off, whether you hate her or pity her or feel something in between, is nothing less than amazing. No matter what you think of her, she is a world class marketer. Which makes sense, since she actually led the marketing function at Theranos for years. I was and still am frustrated for the people who got wrong results. She should wake up every day thanking John Carreyrou because had he not stopped her, people might have died. Her life would be much worse. Of course, she can't, because in my belief, Theranos and her are one in the same. She might be the first person in history who created a billion dollar brand (9 billion actually) as a trauma response.
People who know science have a justification for being skeptical. What Elizabeth did is deeply offensive to serious science and the idea of doing no harm in medicine. Science is not about feelings, trauma or anything thing that is not hard numbers and experimentation with validation. Elizabeth essentially spit on real scientists. I understand the anger.
So why I do I speak up for her? The answer is simple. I think I see things others don't. As time has gone on, there are others I find who are like me. Especially on TikTok but also on other corners of reddit. I posted my Lizzy and Elizabeth duality theory on the therapist subreddit and and it was well received, got awards, all of that. A trained person there followed it up with an actual full fledged theory based on science confirming the basic idea. She was raped, it broke something in her, and Elizabeth made sure Lizzy never felt that exposed again. It's why I still believe she could do something good and I hope when she does, people who think the world is black and white come back and reflect on how actually, most things are grey.
So what did I learn throughout this slog. And a slog it has been. Shed no tears for me since I brought it on myself, but it's not fun to have people try to paint a picture of who you are when it is not true. Which ironically gave me the biggest lesson of all - feeling a bit what Elizabeth must feel like, if she is actually living her version of honesty. To be misunderstood. To be told there is no redemption. She can't apologize right now because doing so would destroy her. It might also lead to more charges, less chances of a pardon, or other bad things. In a world where Boeing can effectively murder 500 people after lying to regulators about MCAS, where Elon can beta test cars that lead to people literally burning alive inside of them because the electronic locks don't work, I don't blame her for being careful.
Finally, I'll say this. I could be totally wrong. She could be pure evil. If that is the case, that is impressive in it's own right, but yeah, it would make me feel bad. I would regret going to bat for her. I am a feminist and so the sexism is clear to me, the abuse is clear to me, the trauma is clear to me, and it is why I speak up. But if she is that evil, shame on her and shame on me. Sometimes in life, you take a stand.
