Sunday, April 05, 2015

Can You Make A Difference When You Preach To A (Very) Different Choir?

TheTheatreOfAllOurMinds
CivilSocietyVille


I have a new favourite podcast that is not new.

It's called Love + Radio and, in my opinion at least, it is a slightly more out there version of 'This American Life'.

I mean it's almost as if the guy behind it, Nick van der Kolk is Ira Glass' long-lost cousin who is also Vince Gilligan's step brother.

Or some such thing.

Anyway...

The other day I listened to L+R's piece on Daryl Davis, a black American musician who has made it his business to try and talk racist white people, including some who wear the whitest of white hoods, back from the edge of an abyss of their own making.

The specific podcast I'm referring to, which is both interesting and uplifting (i.e. the 'Ira' part) as well as a little unnerving and disturbing (i.e. the 'Vince' part), can be heard....Here.

And Conor Freidersdorf, who takes some liberties I don't agree with to push his own agenda, wrote about Mr. Davis in the Atlantic...Here.

I'd heard about Mr. Davis awhile back from news accounts and some cable newseysish-type stuff. I must confess that I didn't take him seriously at the time.

But the podcast brings the sincerity and the humanity of the guy into such sharp relief that I now have a new appreciation for him and considerable admiration for the things he has done.

Guess it really is a good idea to listen to different choirs once in awhile.


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I've been thinking a lot about this 'preaching to the choir' thing lately...Interestingly, the Translink Referendum Shuffle Demons have managed to shake up the choirs 'round here a little recently...


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