Outrage Overload: Rethinking politics, division, and media

95. The Legal Glitch That Engineered Our Political Rage – Larry Lessig

Why Overturning Citizens United Isn't the Only Way to Stop Super PACs Host David Beckemeyer speaks with Larry Lessig, the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leaders

73. Rethinking Autism Advocacy – Ari Ne’eman

What If Inclusion, Not Normalization, Was the Goal? Too often, conversations about autism happen without autistic voices at the table. In this episode, we talk with Ari

94. Making Politicians Accountable to Voters – Ramon Perez

Reimagining Democracy: Using AI and Mobile Tech to Break the Outrage Machine Congress currently sits at a near-record low approval rating, yet individual lawmakers are r

Civic Voices: What Occupy Taught Us About Grassroots Power - Mila Atmos

When a public movement erupts, media attention almost immediately centers on the spectacle—the street confrontations, the viral headlines, and the rapid-fire political co

93. The Structural Battle for the DOJ – Alex Lovit

In February 2025, we explored how an expanding executive branch was stretching traditional boundaries. In this follow-up episode, we turn our attention to the primary ins

92. Breaking the Duopoly Loop – Nathan Smolensky

Are we really trapped in a permanent political doom loop, or is the two-party duopoly actually more vulnerable than it looks?  We often look at heavily gerrymandered, "s

Bonus: "Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising" (from Future Hindsight)

Today we have a special bonus episode for the Outrage Overload community. We are sharing the premiere episode of a brand-new, six-part documentary series from our sister

Civic Voices: Reclaiming the Narrative at America 250

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, national pride has hit a 25-year record low. The milestone itself has fractured into institutional tugs-of-war, wit

91. Flipping the Financial Incentives of the Outrage Economy - Don Templeman

In this episode, we sit down with Aemula co-founder Don Templeman to break down the hidden architecture of media manipulation, audience capture, and algorithmic polarizat

Outrage Overload x The Politics Guys: Deconstructing Polarization

Why does our modern political landscape feel so intensely divided, and why does it seem like the media environment is constantly dialed up to eleven? In this special cro

90. Can You Build a Political Tribe Out of the Moderates Left Behind? – Paul Chapman

The U.S. House of Representatives used to pass roughly 900 bills per session in the 1950s. Today, that number has plummeted to just 50 or 60. Our legislative branch isn’t

DOCUMENTARY - When the State Loses Moral Legitimacy

We tend to think of a nation’s strength in concrete terms—the size of its military, the reach of its laws, or the stability of its economy. But this special audio documen

89. The Mentalization Gap - Lura Forcum

Why is it so easy to dismiss "the other side" as irrational or heartless? According to researcher Lura Forcum, the answer lies in a cognitive process called mentalization

88. The Cost of Purity and the Power of Pluralism – Allison K. Ralph

In this episode, we dive deep into the historical and psychological drivers of political polarization with Dr. Allison Ralph, head of Cohesion Strategy. Allison shares h

BONUS - Navigating the Outrage Industry with Corey Nathan

Corey Nathan joins the show to deconstruct the "Rage Merchant" business model and explore how we can strengthen our civic muscle in an era of hyper-polarization. Corey is

87. The Human Need to Make the World Make Sense

In this episode, we step back from the headlines to conduct a psychological case study on how we form and protect our worldviews. We’re joined by Sidney Pines, whose jour

86. Why We Viscerally Resist Talking to the Other Side – Mónica Guzmán

The New Counterculture of Conversation In a world where political labels have become shields and social media is a minefield of "rhetorical grenades," Monica Guzman argu

BONUS - An Island with No Plan B - Caleb Scharf

We are joined by Dr. Caleb Scharf, NASA Senior Scientist for Astrobiology, to explore the profound implications of the Fermi Paradox. Why, in a galaxy of hundreds of bill

85. Escaping the Filter Bubble: How to Find Consensus in a Divided World - Kristin Jackson

In an age where algorithms are designed to confirm your existing beliefs, finding a shared sense of reality has become nearly impossible. Host David Beckemeyer welcomes K

84. I Bought a Bar: An experiment in bridge-building - K Scarry

After seven years working in traditional, formal "bridge-building" spaces, K Scarry realized that the people who most needed to connect were the ones least likely to atte