The Chaos Machine: An Endless Hole

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Art by Qieer Wang. Qieer Wang for NPR hide caption

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Qieer Wang for NPR

Art by Qieer Wang.

Qieer Wang for NPR

Invisibilia co-host Host Yowei Shaw gets a tip about Russian trolls in Stockton, California and falls down a hole of swirling conspiracy theories. At the center is a scrappy, controversial website that has become one of the most popular sources of local news in town. Some say it's doing important investigative journalism while others say it's spreading hateful lies about progressive leaders. In part 1 of The Chaos Machine series, what happens when traditional local news runs out of resources and reporting the narrative of a community is anybody's game?

More about Stockton:

Read:

• "A City With No Center" by Lange Luntao
• Little Manila Is in the Heart by Dawn Bohulano Mabalon
• "Notes from a Native Daughter," from Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), by Joan Didion
• "A Kingdom From Dust" by Mark Arax
• China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston

Watch/Listen:

• Stockton On My Mind (2020), an HBO documentary about Michael Tubbs (mentioned in our episode)
• Broken City Poets (2015) - a documentary by Reveal about young spoken word poets in Stockton
• Spoken word poet Brandon Leake, from Stockton, winner of the 15th season of America's Got Talent
• Fat City (1972), a film about boxing culture, set in Stockton; based on the 1969 novel by Leonard Gardner

Special thanks to the following musicians:

• Infinity Knives
• Willliam Cashion
• Connor Moore of CMoore Sounds
• Connor Lafitte
• Firephly