202: Uncancellable with Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal
Episode
40 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Personal Finance, Software Development
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Podcast monetization freedom: Herzog and Singal generate $5,800 monthly on Patreon after one month, eliminating employer constraints on their speech. This financial independence allows them to discuss controversial topics without fear of workplace repercussions or coworker complaints, creating what Herzog describes as unprecedented professional freedom despite being confined at home during COVID-19.
- ✓Contact hypothesis application: Bringing together different groups requires shared goals and equal status conditions to transcend group boundaries. This psychological principle suggests effective political discourse should unite people around superordinate objectives rather than emphasizing divisions. Current political messaging often prioritizes mobilizing existing supporters over expanding coalitions through inclusive framing that acknowledges shared interests across demographics.
- ✓Workplace conformity dynamics: A 28-year-old data scientist at CIVIS Analytics was terminated for tweeting academic research showing violent protests correlate with political backlash. This exemplifies how journalists and academics self-censor to avoid professional consequences, sending private messages to sympathetic voices rather than expressing concerns publicly where unsympathetic colleagues might screenshot and ridicule them.
- ✓Ideological disagreement patterns: Conservatives tend to express disagreement without attributing moral deficiency to opponents, while progressives frequently frame policy differences as evidence of ethical failure. This asymmetry makes cross-ideological dialogue easier with conservatives, who can disagree without questioning the fundamental character of those holding opposing views, reducing the emotional intensity of political conversations.
- ✓Victimhood as stable trait: Recent psychological research identifies victimhood as a stable personality characteristic rather than situational response. This framework helps explain why some individuals maintain victim narratives regardless of objective circumstances or status. Understanding victimhood as personality trait versus legitimate grievance requires distinguishing between justified claims of unfair treatment and psychological patterns that persist independent of actual discrimination.
What It Covers
Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal discuss launching their podcast Blocked and Reported, which reached $5,800 monthly on Patreon within weeks. They examine workplace conformity pressures in journalism and academia, the contact hypothesis for bridging political divides, and how victimhood status functions in contemporary discourse across ideological lines.
Key Questions Answered
- •Podcast monetization freedom: Herzog and Singal generate $5,800 monthly on Patreon after one month, eliminating employer constraints on their speech. This financial independence allows them to discuss controversial topics without fear of workplace repercussions or coworker complaints, creating what Herzog describes as unprecedented professional freedom despite being confined at home during COVID-19.
- •Contact hypothesis application: Bringing together different groups requires shared goals and equal status conditions to transcend group boundaries. This psychological principle suggests effective political discourse should unite people around superordinate objectives rather than emphasizing divisions. Current political messaging often prioritizes mobilizing existing supporters over expanding coalitions through inclusive framing that acknowledges shared interests across demographics.
- •Workplace conformity dynamics: A 28-year-old data scientist at CIVIS Analytics was terminated for tweeting academic research showing violent protests correlate with political backlash. This exemplifies how journalists and academics self-censor to avoid professional consequences, sending private messages to sympathetic voices rather than expressing concerns publicly where unsympathetic colleagues might screenshot and ridicule them.
- •Ideological disagreement patterns: Conservatives tend to express disagreement without attributing moral deficiency to opponents, while progressives frequently frame policy differences as evidence of ethical failure. This asymmetry makes cross-ideological dialogue easier with conservatives, who can disagree without questioning the fundamental character of those holding opposing views, reducing the emotional intensity of political conversations.
- •Victimhood as stable trait: Recent psychological research identifies victimhood as a stable personality characteristic rather than situational response. This framework helps explain why some individuals maintain victim narratives regardless of objective circumstances or status. Understanding victimhood as personality trait versus legitimate grievance requires distinguishing between justified claims of unfair treatment and psychological patterns that persist independent of actual discrimination.
Notable Moment
Herzog reveals that working at The Stranger consumed mental energy calculating what she could say without triggering coworker complaints to her boss. After being laid off and launching the podcast, she describes feeling liberated from this constant self-monitoring despite holding mainstream progressive views, highlighting how workplace culture constrains expression even for ideologically aligned employees.
Episode Transcript
Hi, everyone. Just a quick note that only half of this episode is available for public consumption. The rest of the episode is only available to our Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to become a Patreon subscriber, you can go to patreon.com/psychpodcast. That's patreon.com/psychpodcast. For as little as $5 a month, you'll get access to all ad free Patreon only episodes. Also, there are other tiers available that that will give you an opportunity to join the vibrant psychology podcast community, ask your own questions of new guests, and even have a thirty minute Skype call with me each month. Also, if we reach our monthly goal, we will donate 10% of all proceeds to an organization dedicated to helping people with their mental health. So go to patreon.com/psychology and become a Patreon subscriber of the Psychology Podcast today. That's patreon.com/psychology. Okay. Now let's dive in. Welcome to the psychology podcast where we give you insights into the mind, brain, behavior, and creativity. I'm doctor Scott Barry Kaufman. And in each episode, I have a conversation with a guest who will stimulate your mind and give you a greater understanding of yourself, others, and the world we live in. Hopefully, we'll also provide a glimpse into human possibility. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the podcast. Today, it's great to have Katie Herzog and Jesse Single on the podcast. Herzog's writing has appeared in array of publications, and she's a former staff writer at the Seattle alt weekly, The Stranger. Single is a contributing writer at New York Magazine, where he previously edited Science of Us, a behavioral science vertical. He also has a newsletter where he writes about behavioral science, media, and other stuff. The other stuff part being a lot of other stuff. His book about half baked viral psychology, The Quick Fix, is coming out in about a year. Together, Herzog and Singel cohost the Blocked and Reported podcast. So great to chat with you today, guys. Thanks for having us. Thank you so much. Do we have anything to discuss today? Oh, no. I well, how's the weather where you are? Yeah. The weather is beautiful, actually, so please don't hate me. But you're making a lot more money than I am. So I don't I don't know about that as well. Discuss the, the above ground pool I have planned with our, with our Patreon earnings. Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering what, like, the next, big, you know, like, goal stretch goal is. Like, if you hit 10,000 a month, you guys will donate half the proceeds to the psychology podcast. Is that is that it? Yeah. That was that was under discussion, of course, naturally. Yeah. I think right now, the only plan is that Jesse's gonna make pizza for every single one of our listeners if we hit 10,010 thousand dollars a month. Mhmm. Definitely. Be gluten free? Some of it gluten free? Absolutely. Scott, that is that is blasphemy. Gluten free pizza. Come …
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podcast
- Blocked and ReportedBy guest
“Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal discuss launching their podcast Blocked and Reported, which reached $5,800 monthly on Patreon within weeks.”
company
“A 28-year-old data scientist at CIVIS Analytics was terminated for tweeting academic research showing violent protests correlate with political backlash.”
“Herzog reveals that working at The Stranger consumed mental energy calculating what she could say without triggering coworker complaints to her boss.”
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