Conversations with People Who Hate Me
12 Things I Learned from Talking to Internet Strangers
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
“Dylan Marron is the internet’s Love Warrior. His work is fresh, deeply honest, wildly creative, and right on time.” —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Dylan Marron is like a modern Mister Rogers for the digital age.” —Jason Sudeikis
From the host of the award-winning, critically acclaimed podcast Conversations with People Who Hate Me comes a thought-provoking, witty, and inspirational exploration of difficult conversations and how to navigate them.
Dylan Marron’s work has racked up millions of views and worldwide support. From his acclaimed Every Single Word video series highlighting the lack of diversity in Hollywood to his web series Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People, Marron has explored some of today’s biggest social issues.
Yet, according to some strangers on the internet, Marron is a “moron,” a “beta male,” and a “talentless hack.” Rather than running from this online vitriol, Marron began a social experiment in which he invited his detractors to chat with him on the phone—and those conversations revealed surprising and fascinating insights.
Now, Marron retraces his journey through a project that connects adversarial strangers in a time of unprecedented division. After years of production and dozens of phone calls, he shares what he’s learned about having difficult conversations and how having them can help close the ever-growing distance between us.
Charmingly candid and refreshingly hopeful, Conversations with People Who Hate Me will serve as both a guide to anyone partaking in difficult conversations and a permission slip for those who dare to believe that connection is possible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Hate is not the only type of seed. A question can be a seed, too," writes Marron in this enlightening debut based on his popular podcast of the same name. When, in 2016, he was inspired to create a podcast based on hate messages he'd received from strangers on Facebook in response to videos he was creating for a progressive digital news network, Marron discovered his "detractors" weren't as one-dimensional as he'd thought. With the presidential primaries underway and social media acting as the "new public square" for the culture war, he'd become accustomed to being attacked online. But, as he recalls, when he began interviewing his antagonists, things shifted: "By seeing those I disagreed with as my ‘opponents,' I was... pushing them away from the very topics I wanted to discuss with them." He learned that Josh, a high schooler who harassed him online, had been bullied in school; another interview with a man who had a history of homophobia became an opportunity to discuss the nuances of sexuality. With compassion, Marron reveals how these discussions led to surprising moments of empathy, and sometimes even reconciliation between both sides. But he's also careful to clarify that while "it is brave to have difficult conversations... it's brave to... know your limits." In a time rife with divisiveness, this opens up an intriguing dialogue about finding ways to connect.
