Navigating the "Social Contagion" with Alison Sher
Is your media feed reflecting reality or just manufacturing your outrage
In this Outrage Overload interview, I sit down with author Alison Sher to discuss her new book, The Social Contagion: Viral Ideologies and the Culture War for America’s Future.
We explore how the pandemic era accelerated a “bifurcation of media,” creating an environment where outrage is manufactured and served in tribe-sized pieces. Alison shares her “boots on the ground” perspectives from high-tension spaces—ranging from domestic protests to recent observations in the Middle East—to illustrate how tribal narratives often distort the reality of what is happening on the ground.
Key Discussion Points:
The Manufacture of Reality: How our information environment slices reality into partisan pieces, leaving little room for agreement on basic facts.
Tribal Instincts: Why the biological need to belong makes us susceptible to “moral superiority” and viewing neighbors as enemies.
Selective Storytelling: Examples of how media outlets use “selective storytelling” to spin the same event into three different narratives.
Breaking the Cycle: Practical thoughts on “emotional hygiene” and whether it’s possible to transcend tribal capture through balanced perspective-seeking.
Watch on YouTube
The edited conversation is now available on our YouTube channel. If you’re interested in a look at how radical politics have shifted in the U.S. since COVID and how to stay grounded in an era of social contagions, check it out
As always, you can find more resources at outrageoverload.net.