Documentarians have made an art form of projecting expertise, and an air of professionalism is often essential to winning the trust of a source— or a viewer. But Patrick J. Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern, the protagonists of the three-part docuseries “Telemarketers,” on HBO, don’t bother with the trappings of authority. Lipman-Stern is an untrained filmmaker who models himself after Michael Moore; Pespas, Lipman-Stern’s call-center co-worker turned co-investigator, conducts interviews wearing sunglasses and pauses between questions to fidget with his phone. The pair first met in 2003, when Lipman-Stern, a fourteen-year-old high-school dropout, took a job at the only place that would hire him: a fund-raising organization in New Jersey called the Civic Development Group, which would soon be fined for what one news anchor called “the biggest telemarketing scam in American history.” The thirtysomething Pespas had a criminal record and a drug problem; he was also the best in the game.
Denne historien er fra September 11, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra September 11, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
YULE RULES
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.”
COLLISION COURSE
In Devika Rege’ first novel, India enters a troubling new era.
NEW CHAPTER
Is the twentieth-century novel a genre unto itself?
STUCK ON YOU
Pain and pleasure at a tattoo convention.
HEAVY SNOW HAN KANG
Kyungha-ya. That was the entirety of Inseon’s message: my name.
REPRISE
Reckoning with Donald Trump's return to power.
WHAT'S YOUR PARENTING-FAILURE STYLE?
Whether you’re horrifying your teen with nauseating sex-ed analogies or watching TikToks while your toddler eats a bagel from the subway floor, face it: you’re flailing in the vast chasm of your child’s relentless needs.
COLOR INSTINCT
Jadé Fadojutimi, a British painter, sees the world through a prism.
THE FAMILY PLAN
The pro-life movement’ new playbook.
President for Sale - A survey of today's political ads.
On a mid-October Sunday not long ago sun high, wind cool-I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a book festival, and I took a stroll. There were few people on the streets-like the population of a lot of capital cities, Harrisburg's swells on weekdays with lawyers and lobbyists and legislative staffers, and dwindles on the weekends. But, on the façades of small businesses and in the doorways of private homes, I could see evidence of political activity. Across from the sparkling Susquehanna River, there was a row of Democratic lawn signs: Malcolm Kenyatta for auditor general, Bob Casey for U.S. Senate, and, most important, in white letters atop a periwinkle not unlike that of the sky, Kamala Harris for President.
