September 09, 2018

How to Communicate with People You Disagree With

These days, it can be hard to voice an opinion without ruffling someone’s feathers, especially on social media. We talked to a social activist who offers a set of tools to help Americans bridge the divide. Then, you’ll hear from a journalist who studied the origins of America’s opioid addiction crisis. Why are these drugs so firmly entrenched in the population?

Episode Segments:

Talking Across the Divide Justin Lee is a social activist, and author of Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World America is more polarized than ever. Mr. Lee talked about his years of experience in trying to bridge the gap between the homosexual community and the Christian church. He explained how to communicate with people who have opinions that are diametrically opposed from your own, how to empathize with them, and how to possibly change their minds. He outlined five key barriers that make people resist differing opinions.
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Addicted America Beth Macy, journalist, and author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America discussed her investigation into the origins of America's twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction and how this national crisis has become so firmly entrenched. She talked about the most promising methods of treatment for opioid addiction and why some are considered controversial. She also outlined several grassroots efforts to fight the epidemic.
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Socially Responsible Businesses American corporations are gradually becoming more socially responsible. Timothy J. Mohin, environmental advocate, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Advanced Micro Devices, author of Changing Business from the Inside Out: A Treehuggers Guide to Working in Corporations outlined the reasons behind this trend, and explained how “treehuggers” working inside the system can lead the effort. He said young professionals now view “having an impact” as a much more important career goal than many other more traditional priorities.
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Justin Lee Justin Lee has spent more than twenty years building bridges between conservatives and progressives on matters of faith and public policy. He is the founder of the world’s largest LGBT Christian advocacy organization and the author of Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate. Learn more at geekyjustin.com.

Beth Macy Beth Macy is a journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. Her writing has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard and the 2013 J. Anthony Lukas Word-in-Progress award for "Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local -- and Helped Save an American Town," published by Little, Brown and Company in July 2014. She lives in Roanoke, Virginia, with her husband Tom, her sons, and rescue mutts Mavis and Charley. Beth's Blog