Men in Gorilla Suits
Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 77: Last Seen…Being Polarized

"You're either with us, or against us."

Christians are right. No, Muslims are right! No, atheists are right!!! NO, SCIENTOLOGISTS ARE RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My politician is better than your politician. My sports team is better than your sports team. East Coast/West Coast!

Polarization. Us vs. Them. Is it tearing us apart? That's what we're talking about this week.

We begin with our first memories of "Them" as the opposition. Find out what "Them" we feared as kids. Then we talk about why so many big-issue topics are framed as "Us vs. Them" -- and how driving the urge to take sides is for humans.

There are some strange Us vs. Them arguments out there, and we devote some time to that before discussing how much the Internet has played into this mentality.

Next, we move on to what we see as the most dangerous polarized topic out there right now, before stepping back a little bit and discussing Us vs. Them in the geek community.

We get it: sometimes it's hard to not get dragged into these battles. We discuss Us vs. Them battles we've been pulled into, and then we talk about those we actually agree with.

We close this week's episode with this question: What's the solution to stopping such polarizing views?

So take a side and tell us we're wrong or right in the comments below...because, apparently, there can be no middle ground. Even though that's really what this week's show is all about.

Direct download: migs77.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 9:14pm CDT