Scan barcode
A review by sherwoodreads
Conversations with People Who Hate Me: 12 Things I Learned from Talking to Internet Strangers by Dylan Marron
Dylan Marron seems to have invented his way into being a popular podcaster. (I don't listen to podcasts, so I'm guessing here.) In a way his thought experiment here is a little like the internet and social evolution at large: our world culture is trying to renegotiate the social contract to include online interaction.
It's clear that he's not trained in psychology or social history, but he makes no claims to be. He lays out the history of his podcast, specifically the story behind his engaging with haters. He began by puncturing conservative hate-screeds with humor. He keeps track of the hate mail he gets, and one day he found that a hater actually had a life besides hating.
He mentioned the non-hating posts the person put on Facebook, then realized when he got an angry, hurt response that he'd basically outed someone without asking. That evolved to inviting haters to dialogue with him, and how he endeavored to meet them halfway--to negotiate a genuine conversation, even if no one's mind is changed.
That's the part of the book that interested me. I wish there was more effort like that out there. It's scary, how polarized our society is getting. Many of us know, and have in our families, people whose political stance is very different. How do we get along? Also, what are haters like when they aren't hating? Most aren't little Hitlers or Jeffry Dahmers.
The book was funny, rueful, reaching for empathy and compassion, and a breath of fresh air after listening to the hate vomit of politicians gleefully reproduced on the air by journalists always looking for more tooth and claw.
Copy provided by NetGalley
It's clear that he's not trained in psychology or social history, but he makes no claims to be. He lays out the history of his podcast, specifically the story behind his engaging with haters. He began by puncturing conservative hate-screeds with humor. He keeps track of the hate mail he gets, and one day he found that a hater actually had a life besides hating.
He mentioned the non-hating posts the person put on Facebook, then realized when he got an angry, hurt response that he'd basically outed someone without asking. That evolved to inviting haters to dialogue with him, and how he endeavored to meet them halfway--to negotiate a genuine conversation, even if no one's mind is changed.
That's the part of the book that interested me. I wish there was more effort like that out there. It's scary, how polarized our society is getting. Many of us know, and have in our families, people whose political stance is very different. How do we get along? Also, what are haters like when they aren't hating? Most aren't little Hitlers or Jeffry Dahmers.
The book was funny, rueful, reaching for empathy and compassion, and a breath of fresh air after listening to the hate vomit of politicians gleefully reproduced on the air by journalists always looking for more tooth and claw.
Copy provided by NetGalley