Friday, July 11, 2025

“This Doesn’t Reflect Real Life”: Fighting Polarization with Authentic Conversations

“𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚.” In this clip from Derate The Hate Episode 271, host Wilk Wilkinson talks with Stewart Fletcher, Director of Communications for Living Room Conversations, about what pulled him into the bridge-building space after the polarizing 2016 election. 🎯 Stewart shares how the ugly divide portrayed online and in the media didn’t reflect the reality of his personal relationships—and why he decided to fight back against that narrative. 👂 This powerful conversation highlights: ✅ How political polarization distorts reality ✅ The danger of toxic narratives becoming real ✅ Why “opening minds” matters more than “changing minds” ✅ How depolarization work becomes a way of life 🔗 Listen to the full episode: DerateTheHate.com 🌐 Learn more: LivingRoomConversations.org 📌 Follow Stewart Fletcher & Living Room Conversations: Instagram: @livingroomconvo Facebook: Living Room Conversations LinkedIn: Living Room Conversations YouTube: @LivingRoomConversations The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬, America's largest cross-partisan, grassroots organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. 🌐 Learn more: BraverAngels.org - @BraverAngels #BridgeBuilding #PoliticalPolarization #CivilDialogue #LivingRoomConversations #OpenMinds #WilkWilkinson #DerateTheHate #StewartFletcher #ListenFirst #BraverAngels Please follow 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕 on: X: https://twitter.com/DerateTheHate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DerateTheHate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derate_the_hate 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕! www.DerateTheHate.com *𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑘, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 &/𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ.