Overthink Talking Politics with Sarah Stein Lubrano
Jan 27, 2026
Sarah Stein Lubrano, social theorist and author of Don’t Talk About Politics, brings sharp thinking about how political views form. She explores why debate and markets of ideas fail, how relationships and social contexts shape beliefs, the role of protests in building movements, and reimagining social media as democratic infrastructure. Short, urgent, and thought-provoking.
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Words Rarely Shift Core Political Beliefs
- Talking about politics rarely changes people's core political beliefs because psychological forces resist opinion change.
- Sarah Stein Lubrano shows words alone are weak compared with relationships and actions.
Debate Culture Treats Politics As War
- Ellie recounts how debate culture frames disagreements as winning or crushing opponents rather than mutual understanding.
- She links this mindset to the 'politics as war' metaphor that Lubrano critiques.
Debate Changed A Host's Social Habits
- David describes how competitive debate made him argumentative and social-skill deficient in ordinary interactions.
- He left collegiate debate to avoid becoming the combative person he was becoming.
