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PODCAST

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and media

David Beckemeyer

If politics and media leave you feeling angry, overwhelmed, or exhausted, Outrage Overload is for you.In about 30 minutes every few weeks, we explore how outrage spreads, how polarization distorts perception, and how media and technology amplify emotional extremes.Through conversations with leading scientists, researchers, and authors, we unpack the psychology, incentives, and systems shaping today’s political climate — and offer practical tools to think clearly, stay grounded, and respond

science social sciences

All Episodes

37:43

BONUS - An anthropologist goes to CPAC - Alexander...

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/05/24

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 soundbites, and dare I say, outrage. And journalists eat it up, serving up the most outrageous moments to

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37:31

13. This is really primal stuff - Ritsaart Reimann

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/05/17

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 research to propose some hypotheses for what’s going on as well as some ideas for improving the situation.The

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34:19

12. Not everybody wants to talk to a sexologist, yet...

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/05/03

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.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.HOTLINE: 925-552-7885Got a Question, comment or just

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33:19

BONUS - ChatGPT vs. Human Political Persuasion - Hui Bai

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/04/26

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 voters and legislators, threatening accurate perceptions of politicized events.These can ultimately

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36:47

BONUS - We dismissed him as a buffoon - Kevin Bass

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/03/29

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 community should be more open to criticism in order to rebuild trust. Listen and you decide.Support the

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27:12

9. A lot of angry reactions - Steven Rathje - Part Two

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/03/22

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 shut out. This makes it impossible for researchers to examine the impacts of these platforms on

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37:47

8. A lot of angry reactions - Steven Rathje - Part One

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/03/08

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.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We

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28:01

7. What took us five years of research he understood...

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/02/22

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.”Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.HOTLINE: 925-552-7885Got a Question,

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23:46

BONUS - Ninety-nine percent were so nice

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/02/15

This BONUS episode tells the story of a small-town mom who is robbed at the ATM and posts a heads-up to neighbors on the social media site Nextdoor only to be attacked with victim blaming and partisan politics.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.HOTLINE: 925-552-7885Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd

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33:21

6. Stealing their dishwasher - Kurt Gray

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/02/08

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 Hill.I got a chance to speak to Dr. Gray about new research from he and his postdoc, Curtis Puryear,

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46:28

BONUS - Twitter and Mastodon - David Troy

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/02/03

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.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.HOTLINE:

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34:59

5. Holocaust Denial - Luke Berryman

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/01/25

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 005Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on

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32:24

4. We've Met the Enemy. And it's Us. - Sean Evans

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2023/01/11

I sit down with Sean Evans, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Union University, to nerd-out on outrage and political science. We talk about how the parties have changed over the past fifty years, third parties and ranked-choice voting, accountability of our elected officials, and, yes, even some optimism.Episode 004Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter

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39:24

3. It Just Said "See Incivility" - Russ Charvonia

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2022/12/21

Episode 003In this episode, we speak with Russ Charvonia, author of the book The Civility Mosaic and President of the Worldwide Civility Council. Civility is not just about being nice. It’s about mutual respect and more.Civility is also not an end in itself but rather we need to look at it as a means through which we can have the discourse we need to have.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter

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33:14

2. Buckle Up - Peter Ditto - Part Two

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2022/12/08

Episode 002.In this episode we conclude our interview with Professor Peter H. Ditto, where we continue our discussion of political polarization and "outrage porn" including how we overestimate the extremism of the other side and their hatred of us and various other distortions that get in the way of productive dialogue, as well as things like the Big Sort and loyalty tests.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the

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29:49

1. Buckle Up - Peter Ditto - Part One

Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and... ·

2022/12/08

Episode 001 In this episode we speak with Peter H. Ditto, Professor of psychological science at UC Irvine who is an expert on motivated reasoning, and especially motivated moral reasoning. He worked with a team of all-star scientists to look at a major social problem in our society: political polarization. In this episode, we explore this groundbreaking work.Support the showShow Notes:https://outrageoverload.net/ Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog. Follow the show on Twitter

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141 results

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