How My View Grew

In this final curtain call of How My View Grew, I describe why I'm bringing the podcast to a close and offer ways for us to stay connected. Resources Every episode of How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts Keep up with my writing on my Medium page Listen to my interview on the Lucy Ann Lance Show about ScreenWise Ann Arbor's initiative to make the Ann Arbor Public Schools phone-free all day. Watch a D...

Another engaging riff with David Storey, Boston College philosophy professor and Spartan Race athlete. This time I take center stage. We explore why Americans are collectively depressed, why Democrats ignore power politics, why turning off phones and turning toward each other feels great, and how all of this is related. I make a case for phone-free schools. Dave helps me see even bigger benefits....

In this five-minute episode of How My View Grew, I offer six ideas for Democrats and Never-Trumpers who haven't given up: Doing something is better than doing nothing. We're lousy at predicting the outcomes of our actions. The 2026 mid-terms are super-important. Winning in 2026 requires two distinct tasks. Dems and Never Trumpers need a new mood. Biden-to-Trump voters need permission structures, n...

Status differences, real and perceived, and the resentment that comes with them. Republicans use them to fire up voters and win elections. Democrats largely ignore them. To regain power and reverse the authoritarian tide, Democrats will need to take status differences seriously. My five-minute take. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View...

In this five-minute episode, which concludes season three, I share five thoughts that I think you will enjoy even though they're neither profound nor useful. Co-ed Sleepovers Love Overestimated Pronouns Everywhere What Men Do A Bold Child **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to pod...

Part two of a provocative conversation with David Storey, associate professor of philosophy at Boston College. **Key takeaways** 0:45 The right has coded expertise as feminine 2:45 How ironic: the manosphere exists in disembodied cyberspace 6:00 What Fight Club was all about 11:00 The retro-romantic part of MAGA 13:00 The war on terror was a weak halfway house between the Cold War and MAGA 17:00 T...

Part one of a fascinating and just plain fun conversation about the manosphere with David Storey, associate professor of philosophy at Boston College. Our first experiment in doing a "high-brow brocast." Big ideas with a casual vibe. **Key takeaways** 4:00 Beards, mustaches, and the aesthetics of Trumpism 7:15 When my mask threatens your identity 12:10 Why this philosophy professor competes in Spa...

This past Saturday, I attended the No Kings protest in a Midwestern college town. I walked in with a spring in my step, yet left early with a frown on my face. In this 5-minute episode of How My View Grew, I explain why. It's a good-news, bad-news tale. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever yo...

In this episode of How My View Grew, Greg Thomas describes how jazz saved him from hating so-called "white people" and how he learned to see the Black American experience as a hero's journey that is central to American history and culture. **Key takeaways** 3:00 Early-life learning about rabid southern racists 9:00 "I gotta pick up an instrument" 13:30 The pathologizing of Black Americans by "whit...

When right-wingers in the United States were in the wilderness for decades, they didn't just sit on their hands. They envisioned bold ways to change the country. When they came to power, they were ready to act. Setting aside whether you like those ideas, ask yourself this: if Republicans could do this, why can't Democrats? Are liberals and progressives incapable of imagining what they'll do when b...

Let's admit it. The Trump presidency isn't just creating chaos and destruction with sadistic glee. It's also exhausting. What's exhausting isn't only the President, but also the mafia state he has built, many journalists who cover him, and progressives who frame the situation ideologically. In this 9-minute episode, I describe seven causes of Trump Mafia State Fatigue: The Bullshit Asymmetry Princ...

The first 100 days of the Trump presidency have brought destruction and chaos at astonishing speeds. Yet we've also seen demonstrations of courage, strength, and grace. In this 4-minute episode, I describe ten such bright spots. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. **S...

In this episode of How My View Grew, I offer nine ways that leaders of key American institutions—Congressional Democrats, the Supreme Court, universities, and law firms—can act differently when facing a warlord Administration. How do you act toward people whose primary modes are force and intimidation and who honor no laws, constitutions, or norms? **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin s...

Why have so many liberals and progressives felt shocked by the first two months of the second Trump Administration? Why, instead, did so many assume that "they would never do that?" In this short solo episode, I offer a possible answer. Liberals and progressives have a massive blind spot. They don't know who and what they are dealing with—namely, a worldview that is deeply entrenched in human cult...

The first two months of the new Administration in Washington DC have brought shocking degrees of chaos and disruption. Many people who didn't vote for the current President feel like they've been punched in the face and knocked to the ground. How in a situation like this do you get back up? What actions can you take to lift your mood and make things in the world better? This week's guest on How My...

This is the final episode of season two. After taking a short break, we'll return in March with season three. In episode eight of this season, I introduced a way to depolarize politics and evoke more constructive moods: escaping the drama triangle. In this five-minute episode, I answer a related question: how do you escape the drama triangle? Here are four steps you can start using today. **Subscr...

Kim Stanley ("Stan") Robinson is one of the world's most acclaimed and popular science fiction novelists, first famous for his Mars Trilogy. For the past two decades, Stan has been telling vivid stories in which climate change is catastrophic yet people invent ways of reversing it. What he imagines is so bold it takes your breath away, then fills you with hope and resolve that you didn't know exis...

In this 10-minute episode of How My View Grew, discover a powerful method for depolarizing politics and improving relationships: the drama triangle. Invented to support families in high-conflict situations, the drama triangle opens a new window into understanding political polarization, emotional intelligence, and difficult conversations. Listen in as I describe the victim, the persecutor, and the...

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, many American citizens are willing to tear everything down. Where did these destructive inclinations come from? Might they partly reflect the way that voters learned history back in school? How well are we teaching history through the eyes of people living then so we can learn from their experiences? To what extent are we introducing students to their cu...

In this short episode of How My View Grew, I offer an alternative to the false choice between despair and hope. After the recent U.S presidential election, many people in my orbit are feeling despair. Their response: search for signs of hope. But what if this is a false choice? What if we could gain access to other moods that are more constructive and powerful? Say hello to resolve and curiosity,...

When new political leaders promote disruptive and even violent change, then people accustomed to pressing the gas pedal on change may choose instead to hit the breaks. Liberals become small "c" conservatives. In this episode of How My View Grew, I suggest that after November 5, 2024 every liberal in the United States became a small "c" conservative. Instead of pushing for change in society, libera...

The human brain craves certainty. It convinces us we know how next week's U.S. presidential election will turn out. We don't. Things are uncertain. Yet, we can imagine different scenarios. In this nine-minute episode of How My View Grew, I describe five scenarios for the election and its aftermath. Then, I invite you to consider three "no-matter-what commitments." These are stands we can take no m...

In the upcoming U.S. presidential election, democracy, many say, is on the ballot. But is democracy versus autocracy the best description of the stakes? Not according to Stephen E. Hanson, co-author with Jeffrey Kopstein of the new book The Assault on the State. The democracy/autocracy distinction is about how people come to power. It doesn't address how leaders rule their staffs and administratio...

In this five-minute episode of How My View Grew, I offer five perspectives about being a man today: It's confusing Men and women are different There is no need to apologize for being a man Long live the healthy masculine It's time for a new Bro Code **Resources** "Men are lost. Here's a map out of the wilderness" by Christine Emba in the Washington Post. "How to Be a Good Guy" by Janet Crawford an...

Why might a liberal Democrat with progressive values hold a conservative disposition? Could it make sense to both advocate for positive change and honor traditions and the social cohesion they foster? Might this represent the twin challenges facing today's Democratic Party? In this 30-minute episode of How My View Grew, Boston College philosophy professor David Storey explores these questions thro...