Tatter
Asks, "What would Fox & Friends do?"; tries to always do the opposite
About the show
Hosted by social psychologist Michael Sargent, this podcast has become a place for conversation about policy and politics, where Sargent talks with people who nerd out on the topics, bringing extensive knowledge, including knowledge of the limits of their knowledge. These nerds don't have the pocket protectors and social awkwardness of nerd stereotypes. They have wit, a love of fun, and most importantly, an understanding gained from the tattered pages of journals, books, and printouts of statistical analyses, or they've been tattered by experience. As host, Sargent isn't above asking dumb questions, because he knows we all learn from the answers.
If you're looking for overconfident, ill-informed (or misinformed) bloviation, this isn't the place for you. (But maybe Fox & Friends is.) If that's the opposite of what you want, then stick around.
Tatter on social media
Episodes
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Episode 19: The Humean Stain, Part 1
July 2nd, 2018 | 58 mins 27 secs
iat, implicit association test, implicit bias, race, racism, social cognition, social psychology, social science
A conversation about implicit racial bias, and about one well-known implicit measure, the Implicit Association Test.
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Episode 18: The Story Is Not Enough
June 27th, 2018 | 27 mins 36 secs
criminal justice, criminal justice reform, prosecutors, punishment
My conversation with Josie Duffy-Rice, an attorney with the Fair Punishment Project.
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Episode 17: Unsafe Harbor (A Special Briefing)
June 23rd, 2018 | 34 mins 41 secs
asylum, families, immigration, sarah huckabee sanders, trump, unaccompanied minors
A conversation with Sarah Sherman-Stokes, Associate Director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University Law School. We talk about what's happening on the ground at the southern border of the U.S., and what people who want to help asylum-seekers can do.
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Episode 16: The Golden Door (A Special Briefing)
June 19th, 2018 | 20 mins 46 secs
asylum, families, immigration, nielsen, sarah huckabee sanders, trump, unaccompanied minors
A conversation about immigration on the southwest U.S. border, and relevant House legislation, with Sarah Pierce, Policy Analyst for the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute
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Episode 15: Where True Stories Lie
June 18th, 2018 | 35 mins 35 secs
inequality, social justice, stories, storytelling
A conversation about stories, especially the ones we tell about people struggling against injustice, and what good (and harm) those stories might do.
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Episode 14: Spoiled
June 7th, 2018 | 27 mins 34 secs
elections, maine, political science, ranked choice, ranked-choice, voting
Once upon a time, I was an enthusiastic supporter of ranked-choice voting. But after reading a bit more, and after this conversation with two political scientists, I'm not so sure anymore.
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Episode 13: Open, Bar None
June 5th, 2018 | 54 mins 26 secs
beer, craft beer, diversity, ethnicity, gender, inclusion, race
A conversation with J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham (the newly appointed Diversity Ambassador of the Brewer's Association) and Carla Jean Lauter (Maine-based beer writer, also known as "The Beer Babe"). We discuss diversity and inclusion in the craft beer industry.
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Episode 12: Strait and Narrow
June 1st, 2018 | 51 mins 15 secs
grammar, language, linguistics, mitch hedberg, psychology, science, verb tense, writing
My conversation with my friend Conor Quinn, my favorite linguist in the whole world, as we talk about the ways that scientists use language, as well as language communities indigenous to the U.S., and a bit about the overlap between those two topics.
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Episode 11: Magic Carpet Ride
May 16th, 2018 | 26 mins 9 secs
bruce poliquin, elections, jared golden, lucas st. clair, maine, politics, second district
This is the full interview I did with Lucas St. Clair, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House seat in the Second Congressional District of Maine.
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Episode 10: I-95 Northernmost
May 14th, 2018 | 28 mins 35 secs
bruce poliquin, elections, jared golden, lucas st. clair, maine, politics, second district
This episode features a discussion of the Second Congressional District of Maine, the status of eight of its counties as "pivot counties," and the upcoming election of its representative to the U.S. House.
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Episode 9: Just Another Word
May 4th, 2018 | 49 mins 36 secs
academic freedom, college, free speech, margaret imber, stanley fish, university
Legal and literary theorist Stanley Fish engages with classicist, former litigator, and former assistant U.S. attorney Margaret Imber, as they discuss freedom of inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, on college campuses.
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Episode 8: A Thinking Debater's Guide to the AR-15
March 28th, 2018 | 49 mins 28 secs
ar-15, firearms, gun control, gun regulation, guns, shootings, weapons
For anyone who wants to inform their opinions, this is a deep dive into what the AR-15 is, and what it can do.
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Episode 7: Rising Tide
February 26th, 2018 | 28 mins 40 secs
democratic party, democrats, midterm elections, political science, politics
An interview with Seth Masket, Professor of Political Science at the University of Denver, and Director of its Center on American Politics. We discussed Democrats' prospects in the upcoming midterm elections.
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Episode 6: 2012
February 20th, 2018 | 33 mins 9 secs
cornel west, obama, political science, politics, populism, progressivism
Political scientists Julia Azari, Christopher Federico, and Vincent Hutchings discuss populism, presidential politics, President Obama, Cornel West, and even Oprah.
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Episode 5: Nonstandard
December 20th, 2017 | 38 mins 33 secs
incarceration, john pfaff, mass incarceration, prison
Extended excerpts from my conversation with John Pfaff, Professor of Law at Fordham University, and author of "Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration--and How To Achieve Real Reform."
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Episode 4: Multifunctional
November 19th, 2017 | 28 mins 12 secs
burlesque, maine, objectification, portland, women
Extended excerpts from my conversation with Hannah Harleen, formerly Vera Velvet of Voulez-Vous Burlesque.