When We Disagree
What's a conflict you can’t stop thinking about? When We Disagree highlights the arguments that stuck with us, one story at a time. These are the disagreements that gripped us for a month, a decade, or even a lifetime. Write us: Whenwedisagree@gmail.com.
Episodes
78 episodes
Faith
Lisa Silvestri, a professor at Penn State University, reflects on the deep emotional stakes of political disagreement, describing her post-2024 election disillusionment as a kind of heartbreak rooted in love for her country. Drawing from her up...
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Season 2
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Episode 41
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25:17
Listening and Asking Good Questions
Martin Carcasson, the director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University, shares a debate about the value of, well, debate. While debate at its best sharpens ideas and exposes misinformation, it can devolve into s...
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Season 2
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Episode 42
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23:32
Having Kids
Jancee Dunn, a New York Times columnist and the author of How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids, recalls the explosive arguments that erupted between her and her husband after the birth of their child. These disagreements were often tri...
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Season 2
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Episode 40
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24:09
Conflict Resolution
Michael Covington, an experienced government relations officer, reveals the art of navigating the toughest conflicts with strategic persuasion and direct engagement. With a mix of humor and hard-earned lessons from several decades in the world ...
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Season 2
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Episode 39
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22:15
Our Differences
Carol Gorelick, a lifelong educator, shares a powerful story of a painful disagreement with a South African colleague that reshaped her understanding of race and societal dynamics. Reflecting on the complexities of identity and inequality, she ...
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Season 2
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Episode 37
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18:31
Gut Check
Matt Bares, CEO of Chandler Construction Services, shares the tough decisions he faced during the pandemic. Torn between public safety, personal liberty, and business survival, he mandated COVID vaccines despite potentially fierce opposition fr...
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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22:20
Trust
Kristal Hudson-Randall, a retired IT executive and former educator, shares an internal struggle about the direction of the nation. A former optimist, she now wonders whether she can really trust her fellow citizens and, more generally, he...
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Season 2
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Episode 35
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21:44
Great Books and Great Minds
In 2018, Phelosha Collaros, a senior leader at St. John's College, faced a social media firestorm after announcing the college president’s upcoming appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show. The announcement, which aimed to showcase the college...
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Season 2
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Episode 36
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30:45
God
David Dudrick, a Catholic philosopher at Colgate University, shared his religious commitments with a colleague only to have his beliefs utterly dismissed. Despite being initially cast as foolish by his colleague, their disagreement about religi...
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Season 2
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Episode 34
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25:31
Time and Distance
Jenn Wiggin, an executive producer of TV shows, films, and plays, discusses the shifting dynamics of her 30-year friendship with an actress in New York. After Jenn married and moved away from New York, her best friend accused her of neglecting ...
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Season 2
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Episode 33
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27:08
Humility
Clint Eisenhower recounts a career-shifting clash with a retiring CEO, where unspoken fears about aging and relevance turned a professional transition into a personal battle. Despite feeling deceived, Clint reflects on how life changes—like ret...
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Season 2
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Episode 32
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22:28
Talk Radio
What happens when we shift from "winning" an argument to genuinely seeking common ground? Bryan Gentry, a strategic communications professional, made what we now calls a reckless post on social media in 2008 mocking his friend’s support f...
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Season 2
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Episode 31
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21:15
My Friend's Friend
Randall Geddings, a therapist, shares an experience of conflict with a close friend. Rick started hanging out with someone Randall didn't trust. When Randall expressed his feelings to Rick, their argument escalated. Randall reflects on ho...
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Season 2
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Episode 29
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25:14
Conflict Avoidance
Rachael McNamara is a health educator. She identifies as a recovering conflict avoider and has worked hard to recast relational tension. Rachael explains how several key conflicts in her life showed her that setting boundaries doesn’t end relat...
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Season 2
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Episode 30
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26:04
How to Make Change
Jamelle Bouie is a columnist at the New York Times. The way he argues in public is very different from the way he argues in his private life.
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Season 2
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Episode 28
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31:30
Military Widows
Barclay Murphy's husband was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. She's been arguing with the federal government about spousal death benefits ever since.
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Season 2
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Episode 27
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25:02
Getting an Education
When Kyle Gillette, now a theater professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, was 18, he followed his dream of exploring the world of art and ideas and attended a liberal arts college. His father and stepfather thought he was making a mista...
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Season 2
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Episode 25
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22:57
The Gun
Aly Kenny has been teaching manners and mindfulness classes for 10 years and has a popular Instagram account (@chasingcivility) devoted to these subjects. Aly had to face her own manners and mindfulness crisis not too long ago. She was ha...
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Season 2
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Episode 26
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22:04
COVID Protocols
Techa Smalls-Brown was working on her Ph.D. during the COVID crisis. When one of Techa's friends and fellow doctoral students tested positive for COVID, the ensuing dispute over whether and how to interact in a tight space threatened their rela...
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Season 2
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Episode 23
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22:22
The Campaign
Dr. Annie Andrews is a pediatrician and mom. After working as a pediatrician at children's hospitals for 15 years, she decided to run for Congress and became the Democratic nominee in South Carolina’s first congressional district in 2022. ...
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Season 2
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Episode 24
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17:18
Confrontational or Non-confrontational?
Joel Caldwell is a accomplished photographer, writer, and filmmaker whose work has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, and many other outlets. For the past ten years he has focused on telling conservation and environmental just...
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Season 2
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Episode 22
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21:52
The Abortion Debate
Zara Smith was pro-choice. Her boyfriend wasn't sure what his position on abortion was. Zara chose to end their relationship.
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Season 2
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Episode 21
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18:53
Conservatives and Conservatism
Nicholas Mosvick has worked within and on behalf of the American conservative intellectual movement for many years. He has witnessed several variations of one central fight on the right: what is conservatism?
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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20:01