Must Listen Podcast: Moral Rebels

Greetings Resilient Ones!

It has been awhile since my last post. The 2020 election cycle has come and gone. Our nation is finally on a path of recovery. As individuals, we are hopeful the vaccine will help us combat the pandemic and the new economic plan will create more stability in our lives. You may ask, so why are we still focusing on learned resilience? The short answer is that the period of recovery from adversity is the richest period for learning from experience. This is a time for reflection about what went well, what didn't go well, and how we can improve our capacity for resilience. In the spirit of reflection and learning, If we move on too quickly, we may step over some critical lessons that will have long-term consequences. By reflecting on what we have just gone through, we can prepare ourselves for future challenges so we manage them from places of strength.

I have been spending the last four months searching for answers to a bunch of "why" questions. Like, why did we go through the roller coaster ride of the last four years with so much tragedy and so little accountability for those in power? Why weren't we better prepared and why didn't our safety rails work?  Why are we so polarized and unable to communicate? Why can't we be unified instead of divided? Why are people so willing to sweep our difficulties under the rug without learning from experience? Why are we repeating past errors? 

In my research, I have come across a thought-provoking podcast called Politicology created and moderated by Ron Steslow. Some of you may recall Ron as the insightful interviewer who led the Lincoln Project's many podcasts during 2020. In December, Ron launched Politicology to dive deeply into many of the topics that had to wait for further development until the urgency of the election was over. Now, he is taking on those topics. For example, Ron is developing a series about voter suppression and Q-Anon. These are compelling discussions with experts in these fields.

In particular, this week Ron explores how autocrats can hijack political parties through pluralistic ignorance as he speaks with Dr. Catherine Sanderson, Chair of Psychology at Amherst College and author of Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels (see below).

You may be wondering how pluralistic ignorance relates to learned resilience. Pluralistic ignorance has its roots in learned helplessness. Be sure to check out my early posts in the blog for details about how learned resilience is the antithesis of learned helplessness.

Here's a link to the podcast on Spotify (also available on Apple Podcasts and TuneIn).

Dr. Catherine Sanderson on Becoming Moral Rebels
https://open.spotify.com/show/5UsvtFaTyCSCyb8O05L9VK?si=8APaaCfeQNGVQONKqY4i2A

To learn more about Ron's work, go to the Politicology website at https://politicology.com/ or Twitter @RonSteslow. Ron is launching this endeavor now. If you love what you're hearing, pitch in by donating to support future broadcasts about compelling issues that make a difference in defending our democracy. We're learning to be a resilient democracy and there's no time to waste!

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