Conversations with People Who Hate Me

September 1, 2022

Part project retrospective and part personal philosophy, this book by Marron is an account of his conversations with people who hate him, hosted on the podcast Conversations with People Who Hate Me. He reflects on lessons learned in the process of reaching out to strangers who responded negatively to his podcast, spitting anonymous vitriol and expecting no response. Searching for what makes an encounter work, he explores his own behavior, from deprogramming his instinct to attack, which only further alienated his guests, to realizing that his overtures to fellow progressives were sometimes rejected because their intersectional social marginality afforded them less privilege to assume a good faith conversation would not end in doxxing and real harm. Candid and conversational, Marron owns these early missteps with grace and wants listeners to know that when compassionate communication works, it has the power to change minds and the world. VERDICT Listeners of the titular podcast will provide built-in demand for this author-narrated account of its origins and notable moments. Buy where fan interest warrants.--Lauren Kage

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 13, 2021
“Hate is not the only type of seed. A question can be a seed, too,” writes Marron in this enlightening debut based on his popular podcast of the same name. When, in 2016, he was inspired to create a podcast based on hate messages he’d received from strangers on Facebook in response to videos he was creating for a progressive digital news network, Marron discovered his “detractors” weren’t as one-dimensional as he’d thought. With the presidential primaries underway and social media acting as the “new public square” for the culture war, he’d become accustomed to being attacked online. But, as he recalls, when he began interviewing his antagonists, things shifted: “By seeing those I disagreed with as my ‘opponents,’ I was... pushing them away from the very topics I wanted to discuss with them.” He learned that Josh, a high schooler who harassed him online, had been bullied in school; another interview with a man who had a history of homophobia became an opportunity to discuss the nuances of sexuality. With compassion, Marron reveals how these discussions led to surprising moments of empathy, and sometimes even reconciliation between both sides. But he’s also careful to clarify that while “it is brave to have difficult conversations... it’s brave to... know your limits.” In a time rife with divisiveness, this opens up an intriguing dialogue about finding ways to connect.