Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has made quite a splash in modern politics, and will no doubt continue to leave his mark. In this episode, the season finale, I sit down with my good friend William Farnbach to talk about why it's so hard to

ABC's and The Wall

Sep 24th, 2019 46m 44s

President Trump's proposed border wall has become one of the most divisive subjects in current politics. Jake Christensen joins me in this episode to talk about the real issues behind the border crisis, and what we can actually do to help solv

Moral Foundations (or how to persuade people who think very differently than you)

Sep 17th, 2019 12m 52s

Whether your goal is to understand others better, or to be more powerful and persuading in your conversations, this one's for you. In this episode I share some insights from Jonathan Haidt - you can read more about his work in his fascinating

Elephants and Internets

Sep 10th, 2019 13m 36s

Is productive, rational conversation on the internet possible? And if so, what do elephants and 19th century prophets have to do with it? In this episode, I give a few tips on improving our online political conversations. The internet is a gr

Gun Control and De-Escalation

Sep 4th, 2019 1h 3m

Westin Cross joins me for this episode, wherein we discuss possible steps we could take in reducing the extreme gun violence we face as a country. I also look at some tools for when conversations start getting heated; how we can use Contrastin

#MeToo and Conviction

Aug 27th, 2019 56m 56s

As we discuss the Me Too movement, and how we can powerfully stand up for ourselves and for truth, I'm joined by Morgan Reber (the host of She Speaks). Like Captain America said, sometimes we need to plant ourselves next to the river of truth,

Books, News, and Resources

Aug 20th, 2019 9m 34s

Have you ever just felt overwhelmed at the thought of politics? Don't know where to start or where to get good, unbiased information? In this bonus episode I share some of my favorite tools for getting news, and some of my favorite books on imp

LGBTQ Stories and the Power of Questions

Aug 13th, 2019 35m 36s

This week I'm with Michael Garrett Johnson to talk about gay rights and faith issues. We also talk about the power of using good questions to enable and further conversation, as questions keep us humble and looking for feedback. Our goal, agai

LGBTQ Stories and Gratitude

Aug 6th, 2019 31m 13s

Gratitude is one of the greatest forces of good in the world. There is power in finding gratitude for our diversity, and gratitude for the different perspectives we can give each other. In this episode Ken Nukaya joins me to tell me his story,

New Facts and Puzzle Pieces

Jul 18th, 2019

How do we react when someone offers us new information? Do we celebrate, recoil, or counter-attack? In this bonus episode I get a little more detailed with some concrete tips and tricks to improve our conversations. If we truly are blind men wo

Abortion and Motivation

Jul 18th, 2019 48m 6s

I'm joined for this episode by Haley Beckstrand to talk about abortion, and why it's so hard for us to understand one another's motivations. Motive Attribution Asymmetry is the idea that we assume our own ideology is based on love, while our o

Introduction to Elephants

Jul 18th, 2019 4m 55s

Welcome to the Elephant Dialogues! Our mission is to improve the way we talk about politics, and overcome the contempt, anger and frustration that dominates so much of politics today. In this episode, I'll explain the concept and plan for this

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