This is Dylan Marron, and he's taking online conversations into the real world in "Conversations With People Who Hate Me."
Dylan Marron creates a lot of heavily liberal content, most famously, his unboxing videos. In them, he unboxes intangible ideologies like masculinity, Trump's America, and police brutality. His videos are simultaneously depressing and hilarious for people agree with him, but they spark a lot of hate from people who don't. You can watch Dylan's unboxing videos here.
The comments sections on any of these videos are… upsetting to say the least. Dylan is openly gay and latino, so he's an easy target for racist and homophobic people. He's been called all varieties of slurs, told to kill himself, and dragged through the mud after every one of his videos.
Rather than lashing out or even ignoring the nasty comments he got, Dylan started interviewing the people who wrote them.
Dylan's goal is pretty simple. He doesn't want to change people's minds about political issues, and he definitely doesn't want revenge for the nasty comments. All he does is talk to his guests about why they said what they did. It's a journey in understanding, and it's honestly beautiful to hear.
In one of the episodes, Dylan talks with an older gay man who called Dylan a "flaming queen" in his comment. In the conversation they have, the man shares his incredible life story about growing up with abuse and being a cop in the south while gay. So much is learned in just one episode, and every episode is just as rewarding to hear.
The act of listening really drives the show. When people who would lash out are treated with kind-hearted curiosity, they start to mirror that attitude and open up as people rather than crusaders. They're faced with the other side's humanity, and it's much harder to call a real person a f*g than a personality on a screen.
In the more recent episodes, Dylan has moved on from his own comments and found other people lashing out at one another on the internet so he can moderate conversations between them. He's talked with teenagers about gun control, liberals about civility, and even a rape victim and a man who called her a liar online.
Needless to say, these can be very difficult conversations to have, so listen at your own discretion. But mostly, they end on a good note.
The show isn't necessarily about finding common ground or making friends, it's just about talking and listening instead of shouting over each other. Next time you're overwhelmed by all the fighting, it can be very cathartic to take a breather and listen to this podcast.
The show started in July of 2017 and is now in its second season. You can find "Conversations With People Who Hate Me" for free on any podcast app.
"Remember, there is a human on the other side of the screen." – Dylan Marron
