The Pros and Cons of Social Media Posts

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The idea that rises to the fore and becomes the basically marquee intelligence effort of Russia towards American democracy in the mid 2010s was we are going to signal jam the American discourse with a bunch of social media posts. And it seemed to me what they were trying to do was not just stoak division or get any particular candidate elected. They were trying to encourage in the American people a way of looking at their fellow citizens who disagreed with them, an attitude of contempt and dismissal.

This is the third episode in a three-part series about how to have difficult conversations with people who see the world differently, how to have better debates about contentious issues, and how to ethically and scientifically persuade one another about things that matter – in short, this is a three-part series about How Minds Change (which is also the title of my new book).

There seems to be a movement afoot, a new wave of nonfiction about how to reduce all this argumentative madness and epistemic chaos. I want to boost everyone’s signal on this issue, so I thought it would be nice to collaborate instead of compete, since that’s part of what we are all proselytizing with these books.

So this episode’s guest is Anand Giridharadas, the author of The Persuaders – a book about activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens who are on the ground working to change minds, bridge divisions, and fight for democracy.

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