Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle

Former mayor of Minneapolis Betsy Hodges comes on to talk about how the Rodney King uprisings started her journey to anti-racist activism — and what happened when, in 2015, her anti-racist ideals ran up against the realities of governing a city rocked by the shooting of a black man by white police officers. Her piece on the King uprisings is here. Her op-ed in the New York Times about how white liberals stand in the way of progress on police violence is here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would turn a passionate, witty feminist into a xenophobic white nationalist? This week’s episode tells the story of Cordelia Scaife May, the eccentric heiress whose fortune underwrote both the Pittsburg Children’s Museum and the most influential network of immigration restrictionists in American history.Our episode owes much to the New York Times’ investigative report on Scaife May last year, [“Why an Heiress Spent Her Fortune Trying to Keep Immigrants Out”] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his 34 years in law enforcement, Norm Stamper participated in — or approved of — the gassing of protesters “hundreds” of times. Yet, he thought of himself as a reformer. He was, he thought, one of the “good guys.” His first book was intended to pull back the curtain and expose those *other* cops. Five years into retirement, he realized he was one of those other cops all along. Today, he’s advocate for not just changing policing policy, but resetting the whole system. Find out how he got there.That first book is Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing (2005). The one that reflects who he is now is To Protect and Serve: How to Fix America’s Police (2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) was proud of his Tea Party bona fides, until his son said he couldn’t vote for a climate change denier. Inglis wound up changing his mind, and gained one vote but lost a lot more — he’s now a former congressman, on a mission to recruit more conservatives to the climate cause.You can find out more about Inglis’ organization at RepublicEN.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 How White Light Moments Change Your Brain, with Andrew NewbergIf you’ve listened to the show at all this season, you’ve learned that the brain doesn’t want to change. And when it does change, it’s usually a slow process of erosion or evolution. So... what about the white light moments we’ve all heard of, if not experienced? Throughout history, there are accounts of people who undergo an instantaneous conversion of some kind: a flash of insight or comprehension that changes their lives forever. “Neurotheologian” Andrew Newberg joins us to talk about his research into what’s behind the white light, and what it does to us when it shines.You can find out more about Andrew and his research on his websiteHis book about white light experiences is How Enlightenment Changes Your BrainIf you’d like to hear Ana talk about her own white light experience, that discussion is here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek Black thought he was done with the white nationalist movement when he wrote a public letter renouncing the ideology he grew up in. Then he realized that white nationalism wasn’t just the racists that used to listen to his white nationalist radio show and read his white nationalist website — white supremacy was everywhere, people just weren’t talking about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can’t escape the images of protest and unrest happening in our country this week. But what will be their lasting impact on Americans’ — especially white Americans’ — views? We look back to the 1960s civil rights movement for clues. Princeton political science professor Omar Wasow work focuses on how the two different waves of protest in that era effected both voting patterns and Americans’ interest in cause of ending racial discrimination.SHOW LINKSHow 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Votinghttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/agenda-seeding-how-1960s-black-protests-moved-elites-public-opinion-and-voting/136610C8C040C3D92F041BB2EFC3034CIf you’re able to donate, here’s how to support people and groups protesting police violence and working to combat racism and injustice: Go to crooked.com/bailfunds to support community bail funds around the country, and go to crooked.com/changefunds to support 11 groups fighting racism and police brutality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So far this season of “WFLT: Converts Edition,” we’ve focused on why the brain resists change — but that doesn’t mean that people give up on trying. Previous episodes have taught us that arguing doesn’t work and that people’s beliefs can be impervious to facts. But what about the blunt force approach? What about… brainwashing?We'll talk to science writer Kathleen Turner, author of the book, "Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control.”Thanks to our sponsors!Best Fiends: If you’re looking for a fun way to pass the time while engaging your brain and enjoying breathtaking visuals and a gripping story, your answer is Best Fiends, free on the Apple App Store or Google Play.Crooked Media’s own Adopt-a-State program! Ahead of this year’s elections, the team at Crooked has been hard at work trying to find the best ways for all of you to impact its results aside (of course) from casting your own ballot.Now they have an answer: Vote Save America’s brand new Adopt A State program. The Adopt A State program lets you directly support the work of organizers, volunteers, and candidates in the six key battleground states that will be most important to winning a progressive majority in 2020: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina.When you sign up to adopt a state at votesaveamerica.com/adopt, you’ll get specific calls to action—things you can do yourself, from home, right now—that will make a huge impact on the races in these states.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when someone tells you something that challenges a deeply held belief? On the surface, it may feel annoying or uncomfortable, but according to research from the University of Southern California by Jonas Kaplan and Sarah Gimbel, it’s more than that.When people are presented with information that runs contrary to what they already believe, “The response in the brain that we see is very similar to what would happen if, say, you were walking through the forest and came across a bear.” On this episode, Kaplan joins the show to talk about this research, and how that instinctive, adverse reaction is the brain trying to protect itself — an attempt to keep your idea of yourself stable and whole. Oh, and Crooked Media fans should know: Kaplan and Gimbel figured this out by studying the stubborn brains of a bunch of liberals. Sources:Kaplan and Gimbel were guests on this episode of the You Are Not So Smart podcast (which was one of the inspirations for this whole season!). The paper about their study is here.The study on how even split-second decisions are hard to change gets a write-up here.Thanks to our sponsors!Ritual, the multivitamin, reinvented. Get 10% off during your first three months at ritual.com/FRIENDSKiwico, the seriously fun subscription box for kids. Get YOUR FIRST MONTH FREE on select crates at kiwico.com/FRIENDS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our first themed season, “With Friends Like These: Converts.” We’ve always been interested in why and how people change their minds about what they believe — mostly because it just doesn’t happen that often.Once we we make a choice about who we are or what we want to do, we start ignoring the evidence that might prove us wrong: that’s what “confirmation bias” is.Social psychologist Carol Tavris joins us to discuss the phenomenon, offer examples of it, and delve into the mystery of why some people seem capable of resisting the habit of rationalization and some people don’t.Further reading and sources:“Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me),” by Carol Tavris and Elliot AronsonEzra Klein discusses confirmation bias and how the self-reinforcing effect of polarization this previous episode about his book, “Why We’re Polarized.”We discussed the ways we push each other into further and further away once we decide what we believe in this episode with Lilliana Mason, “When Ideology Is Identity”, about her book, “Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.”One of the most influential accounts of extreme rationalization in action: “When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group the That Predicted the Destruction of the World,” which tells the story of a doomsday cult whose members’ certainty about their beliefs only increased after the apocalypse failed to occur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices