Episode 74: A Conversation about Outrage Culture with Tommy Powell

A Year of Listening

This week’s episode is a little different. Over the next few months we will be hosting a series of dialogues with friends and listeners around topics of disagreement. In an effort to practice what we preach about engaging polarizing topics with compassion, civility and nuance, we’re going to be doing just that. This week I sat down with my husband Tommy to discuss the idea of “outrage culture.” We both have different reactions to the way our culture has responded to the consequences of former acts of indiscretion and it’s a topic we’ve returned to again and again. We’ll pick up this conversation again, this time with a microphone.

This discussion wasn’t perfect, by any means. And it ended up leading to another conversation the next night off mic. I’m sure we’ll circle back to these things again and again. The point of this episode, and the others like it, are to practice engaging with people we disagree with, particularly our loved ones, on those points of disagreement. To practice listening for understanding and not argument, sharing to bring points of unity not just to prove a point and to refrain from demonizing others based on their differing opinions. It’s easy to walk away from these kinds of conversations with our loved ones. But if you can stay in it you may open each other up to more nuanced and complex understandings of the issue.

Also mentioned in the episode:

Clive Cussler books