Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and media

Episode 20 – How to Break Free from Social Media’s Outrage Cycle – Yevgeny Simkin  Yevgeny Simkin discusses the damaging effects of social media and the need for structural changes in the media landscape. He argues that while social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be harmful, there are other social media platforms like Stack Overflow and LinkedIn that are beneficial because they ince...

BONUS - Why a Free Press Matters: Yevgeny Simkin's Mission with Samizdat Online David sits down with Yevgeny Simkin, the visionary founder of Samizdat Online, an anti-censorship platform reshaping the dynamics of information flow in autocratic regimes. Join us as we explore the dire need for uncensored news and the role of technology in breaking down barriers. Yevgeny delves into the importan...

Outrage 19 – What do scams and outrage porn have in common? – Christopher Chabris In this episode, David interviews Chris Chabris about his book "Nobody's Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What to Do About It." They discuss the cognitive habits that make us susceptible to scams and outrage, and how to avoid falling for misinformation and manipulation. They explore the concept of focus a...

Sorry Guys, We Stormed the Capitol – Ben Hamilton Ben Hamilton is the author of "Sorry Guys, We Stormed the Capitol: Eyewitness Accounts of January 6th." He is the founder of the Chasing History Project, which aims to document controversial events and provide firsthand accounts. Hamilton has a background in history and has conducted extensive interviews with individuals who witnessed the...

Dave Troy discusses the importance of addressing the underlying cultural factors that perpetuate disinformation and polarization in society. He emphasizes the need to go beyond surface-level analysis and focus on building social connections and trust between people of different backgrounds. Dave suggests that the current political climate in the United States is unsustainable and calls for a reinv...

In this episode, we are joined by esteemed guest Jon Marshall, a renowned historian, who provides invaluable insight into the historical significance of this indictment. Together, we examine the profound implications for our democracy and the delicate balance between national security and accountability. However, the story takes an unexpected turn as the indictment becomes highly politicized. We e...

Tobias Rose-Stockwell is our guest for this episode. His brand new book is  OUTRAGE MACHINE How Tech Amplifies Discontent and Disrupts Democracy—And What We Can Do About It Together, we’ll examine the historical context of societal stability and the shifts that have led us to this current climate of anger and polarization. We’ll explore the role of media, including social media platforms, in fueli...

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Michael Serazio, a former journalist, who interviewed political consultants to uncover the nuanced methods that fuel the era of outrage politics. He helps us understand the hidden tactics employed by savvy political consultants. In a world consumed by outrage and polarizing narratives, this thought-provoking conversation lifts the curtain on the strategi...

In this thought-provoking Street Outrage BONUS  episode of the Outrage Overload Podcast, host David Beckemeyer leads a candid discussion with guests Stephanie and Luz from the Unfiltered Trio Podcast, exploring the challenges of engaging in difficult conversations, the impact of wokeism, and the rise of cancel culture in today's society. Together, they dive into the complexities of navigating...

I sit down with Hesha Abrams, an acclaimed author, speaker, and mediator. Abrams  has spent decades studying the art of conflict resolution and has developed practical tools for diffusing tension and promoting dialogue.  The divisiveness in America has also had a significant impact on our personal lives. Many people have reported feeling isolated and alone because they feel like they cannot talk t...

How we can try to make sure news enlightens rather than enrages us How do we stay informed without falling into the traps of outrage media and political polarization? With the rise of misinformation, disinformation, and biased news coverage, navigating the media landscape has never been more challenging. Outrage-inducing content, driven by engagement algorithms, dominates our screens and threatens...

The Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC, started in the 1970s to unify and enforce GOP ideology. It remained a fairly small affair for its first 25 years of existence. As conservative media grew in popularity, CPAC evolved into more of a live conservative entertainment experience. It is perhaps best known for hosting controversial figures and delivering controversial sou...

There’s been a drum beat, suggesting that social media and information silos, echo chambers, are a driving force behind our divisiveness and polarization. New research suggests this may be overstated. It may have more to do with the very nature of how we come to know or believe things in the political realm. In this episode, I sit down with researcher Ritsaart Reimann who looked at decades of rese...

Some scientists have made the analogy that our left / right politics in the United States are like a toxic marriage. In this episode, we lean into that analogy with clinical sexologist and relationship coach, Tiffynee Terry-Thomas. Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David Support the show Show Notes: https://outrageoverload...

In this BONUS episode, we speak with researcher (Max) Hui Bai of the Stanford Impact Labs. about his recent recent study looking into the effectiveness of ChatGPT AI at influencing humans’ political attitudes. The researchers write: “Due to the availability of LLMs, anyone can now “write” unlimited amounts of persuasive messages. It is now much easier to create misinformation campaigns targeting v...

Part two of our two-part series with Dr. Alex Korb, a neuroscientist, researcher, professor, and best-selling author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.” In part one, focused on some of the brain systems involved in outrage porn and political polarization. In this episode, part two, we take a look at what we can do to be less s...

On this episode of the Outrage Overload podcast, we’re going to learn what’s going on in our brain when we’re confronted with outrage porn and ways to better handle the resulting emotions with Dr. Alex Korb, a neuroscientist, researcher, professor, and best-selling author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.” We will cover this...

I speak with Kevin Bass, an M.D./Ph. D. student, who recently wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek titled It’s Time for the Scientific Community to Admit We Were Wrong About COVID and It Cost Lives that has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. We discuss the issue of trust between the scientific community and the public, that the temperature needs to be lowered, and that perhaps the scientific co...

This is part-two of a two-part series with Dr. Steven Rathje discussing research that found that social media creates incentives for out-group animosity, which can be a factor in increasing polarization. It is also harmful for mental health and society. In this episode, we also talk about the increasing problem of transparency of social media platforms and how independent researchers are being shu...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Steven Rathje, building on research from prior episodes, we look at how out-group animosity drives engagement on social media. Part one of a two-part series. In this episode you will learn about negative affect language, moral language, negativity bias, social identity theory, and much more. Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply...

I got a chance to sit down with professor Jeffrey M. Berry to catch up on what has changed (and what hasn’t changed) with the outrage industry since the publishing of his book “The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility.” Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David Support the show Show Notes: https:/...

The unsettling story of a small-town mom whose life takes a shocking turn after an ATM robbery. What begins as a simple warning to her neighbors on Nextdoor—a platform meant to foster community—spirals into a chaotic blend of victim blaming, political division, and social media-fueled outrage. We explore how engagement-driven algorithms and the tendency to distort events for partisan purposes ampl...

Moral panics are not uncommon. Back in the 1980’s there was a moral panic over the game Dungeons and Dragons. Some parents believed D&D was the work of the devil, a gateway to joining a Satanic cult. It wasn’t “but this didn’t stop people from worrying about it,” says my guest on this episode, Dr. Kurt Gray, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...

In this bonus episode, I geek out with an old friend, David Troy. We talk about Twitter and the Twitter-alternative, Mastodon, along with some geopolitics and other things. This episode was record February 2, 2023 and is being released nearly unedited for timeliness. Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David Support the show...

I speak with Luke Berryman, the founder of The Ninth Candle, to discuss holocaust denial and bothsidesism. I discovered Luke Berryman from an article in Education Week titled “How Holocaust Denial and Other Bogus Claims Are Poisoning Schools” with the sub-title “Don’t be fooled by bothsidesism.” Episode 005 Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-...