Outrage Overload

Trust in media, misinformation, disinformation, news literacy, content moderation. How do we stay informed without becoming overwhelmed with outrage overload? These are all challenging problems.In this episode, I sit down with Shippensburg University Professor Lawrence Eppard to find answers.Eppard is also the Director of the Connors Forum for a Healthy Democracy and host of our sister show Utterly Moderate Podcast.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 their mostly liberal audiences.Join me as we unravel the untold stories and hidden complexities behind CPAC, as seen through the eyes of Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Alex Hinton. We’ll explore the power of open-minded conversations, the importance of understanding diverse perspectives, and the challenges of bridging political divides in today’s polarized society.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 insights will change how you think about politics and social media, political identities, and disinformation.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 undermine “shared reality” in the US and beyond. Our results call for immediate attention to potential regulation of AI’s use in political activities.”The research is titled “Artificial Intelligence Can Persuade Humans on Political Issues.”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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

Part two of our two-part series with Dr. Alex Korb, a neuroscientist, researcher, professor, and best-selling author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.”In part one, focused on some of the brain systems involved in outrage porn and political polarization. In this episode, part two, we take a look at what we can do to be less stressed out and achieve better outcomes.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

On this episode of the Outrage Overload podcast, we’re going to learn what’s going on in our brain when we’re confronted with outrage porn and ways to better handle the resulting emotions with Dr. Alex Korb, a neuroscientist, researcher, professor, and best-selling author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.”We will cover this in two parts. First, in this episode, we’ll focus on some of the brain systems involved and resulting responses and in part two we will take a look at what we can do to be less stressed out and achieve better outcomes.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 society.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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, titled Virality Drives Moral Panics on Social Media (currently under peer review) showing a connection where social media virality causes moral panics, prompting expression of moral outrage.You don’t want to miss this episode. Professor Gray has some terrific insights.Episode 006Support 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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 Facebook /OutrageOverload.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

I’m almost certain that you’ve heard of ChatGPT by now. It’s a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) chat bot that is taking the internet by storm, as they say. It’s free to use during a test period. Within days of launching, it soared to over one million users and now has several million - I don’t know how many at this point.People are posting all kinds of things produced by the bot, from answers to basic factual questions to entire schoolwork essays, and even poetry.I couldn’t resist interviewing the bot.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

In this episode, we catch up with political scientist Sean Evans to discuss what role "outrage porn" and "angertainment" played in the 2022 midterms.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.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.

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 show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.Many thanks to my production assistant, Austin Chen.