Red-Pilling Grandma with Eli Saslow

Need some advice on how to deal with that one uncle who brings up the Birther Conspiracy at every family gathering? This week journalist Eli Saslow (@elisaslow) joins host Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) to discuss to radicalization of older people.

One of our listeners, Holly Griffith, is a NASA rocket scientist. She wrote to us because she’s experienced a huge disconnect with her mother over fake news related nonsense. She called-in and discussed some of the trauma of losing a parent to Russian troll-farm memes. But that led us to asking a specialist about why 55+ is the target age for radicalizing older people with nonsense. That’s why Eli outlines how we got here and the reasons why fake news has persisted. Afterwards, there’s a discussion of the things we can do as individuals to make a difference. Although Eli tells us that you probably will not be able to straighten out your uncle by Easter or Passover dinner, he reminds us that there are plenty of success stories and that there is hope yet.

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