Flying Pig Academy: Conservative 101 for Liberals and Liberal 101 for Conservatives OR Empathy 101 for Everyone
Release Date: 01/22/2026
Flying Pig Academy: Conservative 101 for Liberals and Liberal 101 for Conservatives OR Empathy 101 for Everyone
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. The Flying Pig Academy is kind of an insider's how to. Spending two decades trying to build trust between people who don’t look or think alike changes you. It’s been like a stereogram where a whole different way of understanding the world pops out at you, like a second picture...
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Flying Pig Academy: Bad Therapy OR why we really ought to think groupishly to address our political division
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. The Flying Pig Academy is kind of an insider's how to. This Flying Pig Episode: We live in a highly individualistic society, so maybe it’s not a surprise that when we’re trying to solve a big wicked problem like our deepening political division our approach is based on the...
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Flying Pig Academy: Walk Away from That Box OR Why Fixing Civil Discourse Requires Less Politics, not more
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. The Flying Pig Academy is kind of an insider's how to. This Flying Pig Episode: Politics are a mess, the American electorate is fed up. So what do we do about it? Way too many of us doom scroll through the latest political news from the comfort of our couch in the suburbs. Rightly...
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UNUM Series: Our Common Purpose with Dr. Laurie Patton
Village SquareCast
As we begin our reflections of the 250th year of our shared experiment—in the 5th season of our UNUM series—we are truly honored to bring you the current president of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Fresh from the founding of a brand new country with a Big Idea (but still in the throes of the Revolution), John Adams was among the founders of the storied . Devoted to bringing diverse thinkers, professions and talents to the task of creating and communicating knowledge to serve this new nation, the earliest members of the Academy included George Washington and Thomas Jefferson....
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Flying Pig Academy: Core Catalyst Model OR What Old Trees Have to Teach Us About Rebuilding Civic Life
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. This Flying Pig Episode: So how in the world do you build a community of people who look and think differently at a time when birds of a feather are not only flocking together, but not really caring too much for different kinds of birds? It’s easier than you thought if you begin with...
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Flying Pig Academy: Criss Cross Applesauce OR Complexity Changes Everything
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. This Flying Pig Episode: If you’re trying to build community in this fractured time (for anything), have we got a hack for you. At a time when binaries rule the day (you’re either with “us” or “them,” with us or against us), “complicating the narrative” between groups...
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UNUM: Invisible Rulers, with Renee DiResta
Village SquareCast
We’re making our way through a time of extreme disruption, led by rapid transformation in technology, especially in how we communicate information. According to our special guest Renée DiResta, the way power and influence have been profoundly transformed reveals how a virtual rumor mill of niche propagandists increasingly shapes public opinion. By revealing the machinery and dynamics of the interplay between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds, DiResta vividly illustrates the way propagandists deliberately undermine belief in the fundamental legitimacy of institutions that make...
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God Squad: America Fourth?
Village SquareCast
We’re wondering if the secret to a healthy America is to… wait for it… put “America Fourth!” Perhaps too much of our lives are now wrapped up in this life or death, us v. them struggle for us to be happy people. According to political scientist Eitan Hersh, this is making us who need to get a life? What if we can rediscover other higher loves — faith, family, art, travel, Star Wars trivia, whatever floats your particular boat. And in finding our loves again, maybe we even find each other? Facilitated by Pastor Latricia Scriven of St. Paul's United Methodist Church...
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Flying Pig Academy: Carom Shots OR how to become a civility pool shark
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. The bigger, gnarlier and more all-encompassing a conflict grows, the more we naturally rush right to its epicenter to try to break it up. It demands so much attention it’s hard to look away. But we’re going to give you our hottest tip for handling the most difficult...
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Flying Pig Academy: How Jonathan Haidt Wrote THE Book for Pigs with Higher Aspirations
Village SquareCast
Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. The second in the series, after "Location, Location, Location" is an homage to our intellectual hero (and lucky for us, our friend and colleague) Dr. Jonathan Haidt who - literally - wrote the book for Pigs With Big Dreams. Miss the first Flying Pig Academy Episode? . Oh and if you...
info_outlineIntroducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it’s finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address.
The Flying Pig Academy is kind of an insider's how to.
Spending two decades trying to build trust between people who don’t look or think alike changes you. It’s been like a stereogram where a whole different way of understanding the world pops out at you, like a second picture hidden inside the first one you see. We were beginning to understand these alternative ways of viewing the world when Dr. Jonathan Haidt wrote his groundbreaking book “The Righteous Mind” advancing Moral Foundations Theory as a way to explain differences across the political divide. Then we were off to the races. This is a conversation about what we learned.
Mentioned: Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks piece: The Keys to Understanding American anti-Semitism—and fighting back
The Rise and Fall of European Meritocracy, Ivan Krastev, New York Times.
Check out previous Flying Pig Academy episodes:
Village SquareCast podcast series we’re calling “Flying Pig Academy.” Check’em out:
Location, Location, Location OR The First, Second and Third Rule for Building Trust Across Division
The Righteous Mind OR How Jonathan Haidt wrote THE BOOK for pigs with higher aspirations
Carom Shots: Why Working Upstream from Conflict is So Powerful OR how to become a civility pool shark
Criss Cross Applesauce OR How Complexity Changes Everything
Core Catalyst Model OR What Old Trees Have to Teach Us About Rebuilding Civic Life
Bad Therapy OR Why We Really Should Think Groupishly to Address Political Division
Walk Away from That Box OR Why Fixing Civil Discourse Requires Less Politics, not more