Stephen Dubner

I'm probably going to get all these facts wrong, but in my memory, there's something called the illusion of explanatory depth.

Basically, if you go to a family gathering, let's say, right?

People know you, you know them, you have some prior expectations.

Just go up to them and start asking them about hot button issues, whatever you think they are.

People get pretty heated pretty quickly.

But then if you take one of those hot button issues, let's say it's gun control or immigration or something,

and ask them in a non-obnoxious way, which is hard, but ask them to explain, like, what do you mean exactly by border control?

So it turns out that people just don't know what they're talking about most of the time, but we all pretend to.

The reason I don't like that is we pretend to in order to have a position, in order to be in a tribe that I want to get out of.

I think this idea that we've all allowed ourselves to be herded into two political parties.

I'm sorry, Monica, that's just hard to follow because you just have to give the room a minute.

That was very well done.

No, that was very good.

I'm glad you two came to me for help because it's obvious there's an irreconcilable difference here.

And I'd like to say in all honesty, I think you're both right.

I wouldn't even say these things are opposite.

They plainly can coexist.

What I hear you both saying is that one of the most painful things, I know for me, I think for everybody,

is to be somewhere between being misunderstood and being accused of something you didn't do.

That is a great human injustice, and it always has been.