Episode 7: Anne / Seguin, TX / Guns, guns, and more guns
Release Date: 07/18/2017
Message from Samia - AMERICA, VOTE!
Make America Relate Again
It's been two years since I wrapped production on Make America Relate Again, and polarization has only gotten worse in that time. What we need to do now to heal the country is make sure we VOTE, and vote EARLY.
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S2EP12 - Ellen, Sarah, & Anne - Catching Up With the Women of Season 1
Make America Relate Again
For the final episode of MARA, I'm catching up with some of the women from Season 1. You'll hear short update conversations with Ellen from S1EP1, Anne from S1EP7, and Sarah from S1EP8. If you haven't heard the original conversations, I recommend checking them out before listening to this episode. The significance of releasing a finale for a show that attempts to unite Americans on 9/11 is not lost on me. Thank you for listening. It's been an honor to bring these conversations into your ears.
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S2EP11 - Dolly Chugh - The Person You Mean To Be: How Good People Fight Bias
Make America Relate Again
In this episode, I'm interviewing Dolly Chugh, an award-winning social psychologist who just released an incredible book about implicit bias. The Person You Mean To Be: How Good People Fight Bias is for anyone who strives to always do better in the fight toward true equality for all, and it shows us the many ways we can miss our own blind spots - and how we can do better. In today's political sphere, this kind of self-reflection and gathering of diverse perspectives is more important than ever.
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S2EP10 - Tiffani & Maleena - The Trump Administration
Make America Relate Again
This week on MARA, I'm bringing you two women of color, and I apologize that it took this long to make this happen. Tiffani Jones is an aspiring politician who was advised to change her party from Democrat to Republican to increase her chances at making a real difference. Maleena Lawrence is a progressive activist and community organizer who shares my tendency to put ideas like "collective consciousness" and "spiritual awakening" into the realm of politics. More at makeamericarelatepodcast.com.
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S2EP9 - Ricky & Bradley - Liberal Messaging
Make America Relate Again
Ricky and Bradley are cousins who grew up in coal country - southern West Virginia. Ricky is a left-leaning libertarian who has a real problem with liberal messaging. He says it alienates conservatives and undecided voters, and can't understand why, when polls show that most of the country agrees with liberal policies, liberals can't seem to win elections. Bradley is a hardcore liberal who thinks the liberal message is mostly just doing the right thing. More at makeamericarelatepodcast.com.
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S2EP8 - Jacob & Maurice - Kneeling During the Anthem
Make America Relate Again
Jacob is what he likes to call a disillusioned conservative and a military veteran, who feels strongly that NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality is offensive to our military community and the flag. Maurice is a black man and former football player who thinks players should have a right to use their platform to effect positive social change. Yet these two still found way to relate to each other find common ground. More at www.makeamericarelatepodcast.com.
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S2EP7 - Randy & Keith - Morality & Immigration
Make America Relate Again
Randy Lioz is a Better Angels workshop organizer and liberal with some strong opinions about morality as it pertains to immigration policy. Keith Holland is a conservative with an evangelical Christian background, for whom morality has been a major concern his whole life. The central question of this conversation: do we as Americans have a moral responsibility to maintain open borders? Or does morality demand we take care of our own first? More at makeamericarelatepodcast.com.
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S2EP6 - Cindy & Diana - The Sister Show
Make America Relate Again
Cindy and Diana Kyser are sisters who only a year ago found themselves screaming at each other over politics. Cindy, a conservative, found the show through Better Angels, and she thought MARA would be a great place to work toward a better understanding of her liberal sister. This conversation is my favorite one I've ever recorded for the show. These two women found a way to take a breath and ask, "Why?" before jumping off the rails at a dissenting opinion - a lesson we could all use.
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S2EP5 - John & Ciaran - The Supreme Court
Make America Relate Again
John Wood Jr. is a Republican who once ran against Maxine Waters for Congress - and came closer to beating her than anyone else ever. He's now the Director of Media Development for Better Angels, and the man responsible for bringing MARA into their media family. Ciaran is a Democrat who serves as Better Angels' Director of Communications. I brought them together to talk about the Supreme Court, and the respect and humility both men brought is exactly what Better Angels and MARA are all about.
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S2EP4 - Karlie & Andrew - Abortion
Make America Relate Again
Karlie & Andrew are both scientists working in the field of neuroscience, and they came together to discuss one of the most polarizing issues in politics today: abortion. Karlie believes strongly that the decision to obtain an abortion should be left up to women, and that abortions should be free and legal. Andrew feels the life of an unborn fetus is too valuable to allow a woman to end it - that it's akin to murdering another human being. More at makeamericarelatepodcast.com.
info_outlineAs a liberal who grew up in a country where civilians just don't have guns like they do here in the U.S., I've never understood why there's such a fiery debate over gun control laws that could make us all safer. It should be easy, right? We all value human life, guns threaten that, so get rid of them - that's always been my thinking. Thanks to my conversation with Anne, I'm now able to reframe the entire issue and really understand where people are coming from when they get super angry about the government trying to take their guns away. This new understanding hasn't changed my opinions, but I'll never jump to judgement about people who are attached to their guns again. For detailed fact checks and a transcript of this episode, go to the Episode 7 page at www.makeamericarelatepodcast.com.