In this episode, Kevin and John sit down with Dr. Lia Howard, a political scientist and Director of the Political Empathy Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. We dive into the concept of affective polarization and how our political identities have become dangerously stacked with our social identities.

Dr. Howard shares fascinating insights from her research traveling across Pennsylvania, where she and her students spent a summer simply listening to strangers to understand the roots of our national divide. Plus, we discuss the loneliness epidemic and why something as simple as making eye contact might be the first step in saving our democracy.

Chapter Timestamps:

00:00 – Malcolm X, 1964 and the WNAR mission

00:49 – Kevin’s computer crisis and John’s big move

02:48 – The clickbait culture: Why "annihilating" the oppo ...