Dylan Marron of Conversations With People Who Hate Me on why he wades into the comment section

Going viral on social media is a dream for many. But the downside? All the online hate that comes with it. When the negativity started getting the best of Internet sensation Dylan Marron, he decided that something needed to change. On Conversations With People Who Hate Me, he invites his detractors for in-depth chats. The results are a lot more encouraging than the Internet would lead you to believe. 

This week host Leah-Simone Bowen welcomes Dylan Marron for a conversation. They cover how the show began, why he does the work he does, and how better communication can help bridge gaps in understanding. Dylan shares everything he's learned from hosting his own difficult conversations in his new book – which also goes by the same title as his podcast! 

Plus, we'll hear some of the podcasts he loves. From a classic podcast that's a music nerd's dream come true, to one actor's quest to figure out why Tom Hanks fired him from a bit part in an HBO mini-series, and of course … lots more. 

Podcasts featured this week:

Conversations With People Who Hate Me: "A young trans man and his mother speak about her struggle to accept his gender identity."

Song Exploder: "Carly Rae Jepsen released her third album, Emotion, in 2015. The closing track on the record is When I Needed You. In this episode, Carly tells the story of how the song was made. You'll hear the first demo for the song, a version she co-wrote with her longtime collaborator Tavish Crowe. And you'll hear how that led to the album version." 

Dead Eyes: "Actor/comedian Connor Ratliff embarks upon a quest to solve a very stupid mystery that has haunted him for two decades: why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band Of Brothers. In this episode, Connor talks to Lead Writer and Supervising Producer Erik Jendresen, and learns the truth about Episode 5 "Crossroads" and Private John S. Zielinski."

Love Thy Neighbour: "It's August 2020 in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Collier Meyerson is at a retirement party for an NYPD officer. Listening to speeches, chatting with guests, watching politicians hobnob with religious leaders, everything seems…all good. But as Meyerson steps back onto the streets of the neighborhood, just weeks after thousands mobilized to protest that Black lives matter, she's reminded of what happened here almost thirty years before. And she can't help but wonder how we got here." 

Terrible, Thanks for Asking: "Our language surrounding mental illness has evolved a lot over the past couple of decades … to a point. There are still some mental illnesses that exist outside of the bounds of most people's understanding and compassion, that are not so easily accepted and are really scary to people who don't have them. Illnesses that make the person seem "crazy," where people might not want to associate themselves with you. Today's guest -- Brettina -- has one of those." 

Podcast exclusive – Dylan shares what he loves about Unread: One evening in December of 2019, Chris Stedman opened an email no one ever wants to receive. It contained a suicide note from his good friend Alex. At the bottom of his message, Alex included a link to a private SoundCloud account and wrote "here's Alice recordings." Alex has mentioned Alice before. They met online in a Britney Spears fan forum and have been friends for years. Interestingly, Alice is famous herself among the Britney fan circle because she happens to sound like Britney herself. In Unread, Chris tries to uncover who Alice really is, and get in touch in the hopes that she can answer some of the questions that Alex couldn't.

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