Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle

Latest Episodes:

America Is a Nation of Converts, with Thomas Kidd Jul 24, 2020

Show notes

Thousands of people crowding public venues to hear the word of the Lord. Men fainting, women claiming to be healed, all rejoicing at being “born again.” When you think of “converts,” this may be what you picture, because it’s a familiar scene — more familiar than you may realize. The quintessentially American revival meeting was born before the country itself, in the mid-1700s, during what we call today “The First Great Awakening.” Our guest this week is Thomas Kidd, a historian at Baylor University of The Great Awakening and colonial society. I brought him on to walk us all through the specifics of it, and to speculate on how the American thirst for spiritual change reverberates today.

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The Moment You Realize You’re White Jul 17, 2020

Show notes

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.

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From Feminist to Fascist Jul 10, 2020

Show notes

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”]

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“The Cop Who Realized The Bad Apple Was Him” Jul 03, 2020

Show notes

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).

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”The Heart Decides and Reason Justifies”: A conservative climate activist’s evolution Jun 26, 2020

Show notes

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.

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How White Light Moments Change Your Brain, with Andrew Newberg Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

How White Light Moments Change Your Brain, with Andrew Newberg

If 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 website

His book about white light experiences is How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain

If you’d like to hear Ana talk about her own white light experience, that discussion is here

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When Denouncing Racism Isn’t Enough Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

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.

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When Protests Changed Minds Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

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 LINKS

How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/agenda-seeding-how-1960s-black-protests-moved-elites-public-opinion-and-voting/136610C8C040C3D92F041BB2EFC3034C

If you’re able to donate, here’s how to support people and groups protesting police violence and working to combat racism and injustice: Go tocrooked.com/bailfundsto support community bail funds around the country, and go tocrooked.com/changefundsto support 11 groups fighting racism and police brutality.

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When Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own May 29, 2020

Show notes

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.”

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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.

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Why Your Brain Doesn't Want You to Change May 22, 2020

Show notes

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.

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