Folks we return from hiatus with a couple of bonus episodes from our Converts Edition starting Friday, and then we’re back with a NEW THEME, looking at another aspect of the complicated relationship between Friends Like These. Catch up on what you missed in this thread...
In this edition of WFLT, we’ve tried to answer that trickiest question: what makes someone change their mind? I spoke to a cop-turned-activist, psychologists, science writers, and former elected officials about times they did and didn’t start thinking differently.
In the first episode of this edition, psychologist Carol Tavris shared a sad truth: after we decide what we believe, we ignore evidence that contradicts ourselves and seek out information that affirms our beliefs. crooked.com/podcast/why-mo…
It turns out our brains have a defense mechanism built in to stop us from changing our minds: when our core beliefs are challenged, we feel scared or uncomfortable. Psychologist @Jonas_Kaplan joined me to talk about how our brains fight back. crooked.com/podcast/why-yo…
If argumentation and reasoned debate can’t change someone’s mind, what about doing it forcibly? Science writer Kathleen Turner is next up in “WFLT: Converts Edition” to talk all things MIND CONTROL. crooked.com/podcast/when-y…
You don’t have to look hard to find them. Get away from bad-faith tweets predicting that BLM protests will re-elect Trump and listen to what @owasow told me about the impact of Civil Rights protests on electoral politics and public opinion in the 1960s. crooked.com/podcast/when-p…
A VERY important follow-up to our conversation from @owasow:
@RDerekBlack used to host a white supremacist radio show. Now he’s an anti-racist activist. How did he get from Point A to B? Two hints: there were a lot of steps in between, and he realized that white supremacy is all around us. crooked.com/podcast/when-d…
Have you ever had a moment of clarity that meant you could never look at the world the same way? They're called "white light moments," and Neurotheologian Andrew Newberg studies them. He joined me to talk about what those moments do to us when they happen. crooked.com/podcast/how-wh…
When his son told Tea Partier @bobinglis he couldn’t vote for a climate change denier, Bob had a moment of clarity. Today, he’s trying to convert other conservatives to the imperative for climate action. crooked.com/podcast/the-he…
In retirement, @NormStamper had a realization: during his 34-year career as a police officer, he’d been one of the bad apples. In this episode, how you go from tear-gassing protesters at the Battle of Seattle to calling for a reset of American policing. crooked.com/podcast/the-co…
One thing we’ve learned on “WFLT: Converts Edition” is that conversion stories don’t always move from the dark to the light. Cordelia Scaife May embraced the dark. How she – and her $ – went from supporting Planned Parenthood to white nationalists. crooked.com/podcast/from-f…
White liberals across the country have shared similar conversion experiences this summer while watching police violence from Portland to Rochester. For @BetsyHodges, that moment came 28 years ago while watching LAPD officers assault Rodney King. crooked.com/podcast/the-mo…
Religious conversion stories are as American as apple pie, and their history dates back to before the founding of the country. I talked to historian Thomas Kidd about that history, as well as the impact the past has on the present. crooked.com/podcast/americ…
@julierehmeyer is a science writer with chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that many doctors don’t treat as the disease that it is. To get better, she had to trust the ideas of others with CFS rather than those of medical professionals. crooked.com/podcast/the-sc…
Sometimes trying to convert others doesn’t end the way you want it to. In this episode, we delve into the book “Left Behind,” which tried to scare unbelievers into becoming fervent disciples of Christ. That’s… not what happened. crooked.com/podcast/scared…
The people who believed in conversion therapy weren’t all religious. How do you get secular, mainstream psychologists who believed in it deeply to give that up? That and more, on this episode of “WFLT: Converts Edition.” crooked.com/podcast/can-yo…
And last but MOST CERTAINLY not least, a round-up episode touching on what we have learned so far from “With Friends Like These: Converts Edition.” What can make a person change their mind? Can we reach those who won’t? And, where do we go from here? crooked.com/podcast/what-w…
I’ll be back to (start) answering that question THIS Friday with a new episode of “With Friends Like These: Converts Edition.” I talked with @TheRickWilson and @SteveSchmidtSES, co-founders of @ProjectLincoln, as part of @TexasTribune’s #TribFest20.
Subscribe to @crooked_friends wherever you get your podcasts and the new episode will show up right in your feed AS SOON as it comes out. Talk to you then.
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