Beyond the Echo Chamber

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Original Air Date: 
June 16, 2018

When did we retreat to our Red and Blue Facebook pages? It’s not just that America is politically polarized. We live, work and play in Red and Blue tribal bubbles, filling our social media feeds with news sources that affirm our place in that order, rather than challenging it. That isolation is breeding an ugly, seething hatred of the other side that feels poisonous and dispiriting. So what can we do? In this hour, we hear how conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes lost his faith in the GOP and why a former CEO of NPR left his liberal bubble. Also, how Black Twitter has created its own safe space.

Awash in a sea of Trumpian conservativism
Articles

Charlie Sykes spent more than two decades hosting a popular conservative talk-radio show, railing against Obama and pushing Paul Ryan and Scott Walker onto the national stage. Today, he’s a Trump critic who's disillusioned with the Republican Party.

Length: 
15:10
Ken Stern
Articles

Ken Stern has lived and worked in a liberal bubble for most of his life, including his ten years as the CEO of NPR. Then, Ken decided to get out of his liberal bubble into Red America, where he found that he agreed with a lot of what he heard.

Length: 
12:05
Black Lives Matter is just one movement whose online presence took root among black Twitter users.
Audio

One person’s bubble can be another person’s safe space — a place where you don’t have to pretend and where you can feel supported and understood. For many black Americans, that place is Twitter. Media scholar Meredith Clark explains why.

Length: 
10:33
American economist James Buchanan won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Audio

Historian Nancy Maclean wanted to know where the billionaire Koch brothers got their libertarian ideas, and she found that the economist James Buchanan was a huge influence. She says most people don’t realize just how disruptive these ideas are.

Length: 
12:31
Articles

Let’s remember that it wasn’t that long ago that liberals and conservatives were often friends. Jeanne Safer and Richard Brookhiser met during the good old days of American politics. She’s a lifelong liberal; he’s a senior editor for the conservative National Review. They’ve been happily married for more than 35 years.

Length: 
5:32
Show Details 📻
Airdates
November 04, 2017
June 16, 2018
Guests: 
TTBOOK
Journalist
TTBOOK
Media Executive
TTBOOK
Media Scholar
TTBOOK
Historian
Psychotherapist
Journalist
Last modified: 
June 16, 2018