Heterodox Americana
72 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 13 ratingsA nuanced and balanced look at the forces that unite and separate us as a society. Thoughtful conversations that touch on the psychology of political, moral, and spiritual thought
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Episodes
Our Biggest Mistakes. And Then...
January 19, 2020 23:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MBWe all have major mistakes in our lives. Hopefully, we learn from them. Angie and Raphael talk about their biggest mistakes and the impact that they created in their lives.
Why Your Relationship Sucks
January 13, 2020 00:00 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MBCan mere ideas actually destroy our relationships? In this episode, we explore some of the most harmful ideas to thriving in a relationship and try to offer some insights as to possible pathways to more fruitful relationships.
Why Any War with Iran is a TERRIBLE Idea
January 05, 2020 22:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MBWith the recent assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the United States may have triggered a chain of events that could easily spiral outside of our control. Democrats and their, "What's your strategy?" critiques and Republicans' "Dangerous pieces off the board" justification are irreconcilable. In this episode, we address why looking at the long-term strategy is ABSOLUTELY the right way to think about this and we examine the potential pitfalls of chessboard thinking and conventional warfare wi...
What's Wrong with Talking About Stalin?
December 23, 2019 00:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBSo many questions left unanswered about our "Ask a Communist" episode. Here we try to tackle some of the realities of violence perpetrated by communist regimes... and by the United States and separate those acts of violence from the ideals espoused therein. Is it hypocritical to focus on the violence of one country and then turn a blind eye to the violence at home? Or is there something that they have in common? Something in the system. Let's find out!
Why the Standard (Life) Path is a Lie and Why Creating your Own Plan is Critical
December 15, 2019 23:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBWhat's the plan for your life? In this episode, we examine the pitfalls of not examining the conventional, standard Life Plan that most follow and talk about the benefits of designing your own life plan to get more out of life.
Why the Standard Life Path is a Lie and Creating your Own is Critical
December 15, 2019 23:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBWhat's the plan for your life? In this episode, we examine the pitfalls of not examining the conventional, standard Life Plan that most follow and talk about the benefits of designing your own life plan to get more out of life.
What do you really, really want?
December 09, 2019 00:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBWhat stops us from living the lives that we really want to be living? A few questions that walk us down to path of self-discovery and living a life of absolute joy.
5 questions to ask to create new possibilities for yourself
December 01, 2019 23:00 - 30 minutes - 20.6 MBWhat happens if you test your limits? Two stories about defying external limitations and re-writing the narratives around what things are possible. Deeply personal and yet, universal.
How Are We Hiding? A Show Recap
November 25, 2019 00:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBWe attempt to flesh out some of the ideas that were not fully developed in previous episodes. We also ask an important new question: How are we hiding? How do we integrate the Self. That and more. You ready for this?
Cultural appropriation is NOT a thing!
November 18, 2019 00:00 - 58 minutes - 40.3 MBWhat does it mean when we copy elements from a culture that is not our own? Is it stealing another person's culture? Is it wrong? Here we debate the idea of "cultural appropriation" and try to make sense of this often controversial tendency.
From Marco Polo to Ferguson, MO: The Context of History
November 10, 2019 23:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBContext is important! It's part of the raw data we use to sculpt our idea of the world. We take a BRIEF historical tour of the Silk Road, power, wealth, and ultimately how we end up with riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. Are these events connected? Absolutely, here's how...
A Tale of Two Capitalisms: how corporatism destroys entrepreneurship and the middle class.
November 03, 2019 22:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBCapitalism has allowed us to leverage more human talent and ingenuity than perhaps any force in history. But how does it hurt us? In this episode we talk about two forces, that we generally call capitalism, that I argue are actually two different phenomena. Our identity as Americans is so tied to the idea of capitalism, however, that we cannot see how this "shadow capitalism" destroys our lives. Let's explore!
What is the story that you’re telling yourself? Is it true?
October 27, 2019 23:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MBHow does our model of the world affect what we see and understand? How do we escape this most essential of traps? Here's how
Should we be kind to our haters?
October 20, 2019 23:00 - 33 minutes - 23 MBWhat does it mean to be kind and how does that relate to our freedom? Here we explore the relationship between freedom, pain, and kindness. Can freedom exist without justice? Can justice exist without punishment? The answer is clear, but you'll have to tune in
Someday we'll all be free
October 12, 2019 03:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBOnce you're free in and from your own mind, freedom follows everywhere else. But how do we get free. Here we look at the path to spiritual freedom and liberation from dukkha.
What about class identity? A communist's perpective on ID politics.
October 05, 2019 01:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBOn this episode, we partially revisit identity in the context of class. Communist and psychotherapist, Brian gives his take on what we didn't consider on the topic of human emancipation and flourishing.
White Identity Politics?
September 30, 2019 19:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBThis time we tackle the White identity politics. Not the White nationalist, right-wing extremist variety; rather the more mainstream and insidious variety. To do so, we deconstruct identity, examine (in brief) the history of Whiteness, and talk about the implications for the future of our society.
Identity Politics
September 28, 2019 00:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBMake America Great Again? Well, that's loaded! We're going to try to unpack it and all that's going on around it. Before we get to MAGA, though, there are a few foundational concepts that we need to layout and explore. The first is identity politics. Hang on to your hats.
Human Thriving
September 21, 2019 22:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MBHere we cover the PERMA model for human thriving or flourishing. Since one of the goals of the show is to examine our ideas and understand how they impact our ability to thrive, it's probably helpful to know what we mean by, "thrive". PERMA is about Positive emotions Engagement Relationships (positive) Meaning Achievement More on the show notes at heterodoxamericana.com
Do Liberals and Conservatives *actually* have a different morality?
September 16, 2019 18:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MBHere, we look at Moral Foundations Theory and advocate for its effectiveness as a useful framework to contextualize people's political and moral behavior. The real power of the theory, is that it helps to drown out some of the noise of mutual disagreement and gives us the tools to focus on what we have in common. It's through focusing on our commonalities that we can move the crucial of conversations forward. This framework forms the backbone of how we analyze the differences between politic...
The Road to Heterodoxy: Angie's Story
September 12, 2019 18:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBIs this country spinning out of control? Is there anything we can do to repair the rift? In the first two episodes we talk about the respective journeys of the two hosts and the overall intention to facilitate more conversations between increasingly separated and isolated political and identity groups. Episode 2 talks about Angie's journey.
The Road to Heterodoxy: Raphael's story
September 10, 2019 18:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBIs this country spinning out of control? Is there anything we can do to repair the rift? In the first two episodes we talk about the respective journeys of the two hosts and the overall intention to facilitate more conversations between increasingly separated and isolated political and identity groups. Episode 1 talks about Raphael's road to heterodoxy.