What does it mean to be misinformed—and who consumes misinformation? It can be hard to track down measured answers to those questions. Often framed as a problem that ‘others’ encounter, the public discourse surrounding misinformation can also be highly reductive.

Undergraduate researchers and 2022 Buchanan Fellows at Vanderbilt University, William Ledesma and Zacarias Negron, set out to clarify what has become a muddied topic. The result is a 53-minute documentary podcast called “We the Lonely: Misinformation Retold.”

Alongside a lineup of highly acclaimed guests, ranging from military to medicine, the pair weave together a story far deeper than misleading social media content. At its center—loneliness. A universally experienced phenomenon, loneliness seems to have much to do with misinformation and how each of us may become susceptible to its pernicious effects. In an age of hyper-connectivity, humans are faced with infinite opportunities for connection, but also political and social loneliness. Plunging head-first into the current state of affairs, Ledesma and Negron cover the American trajectory.

Key to the discussion on misinformation are its ideological effects. In what becomes a compelling comparative analysis, Ledesma and Negron show listeners what the Russian Federation’s information landscape is like—and how we are trending dangerously toward it. However, loneliness and misinformation can be combated and alleviated using a critical tool at each human’s disposal. In what is a difficult task, each of us possesses the ability to converse with a certain humility even alongside those we disagree with. It is here that shared facts are forged and differences better understood. The fate of our democracy depends on it. Ledesma and Negron conclude with a clarion call for a new sort of dialogue, without which unity is impossible.

Along the way, Ledesma and Negron host: Dr. Jacqueline Olds, Dr. Richard Schwartz, Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Samantha Hill, Dr. Hugo Mercier, Ambassador Derek Mitchell, Dr. Anastasia Piliavksy, General Bruce McClintock. Joshua Yaffa and Dr. Nicholas Christakis.

The podcast was supported by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the Vanderbilt Max Kade Center for European Studies, and Vanderbilt Student Media. It was made possible through the Vanderbilt Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and the Buchanan Family’s generous contributions to the Buchanan Fellowship.

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We the Lonely: Misinformation Retold