Timothy J. Redmond received his PhD in political science from the University at Buffalo. He’s an award-winning educator and author of over one hundred articles on critical thinking and politics and the book Political Tribalism in America: How Hyper-Partisanship Dumbs Down Democracy and How to Fix It.
He teaches political science and history at Williamsville East High School and Daemen University. And in his spare time, he plays drums for the hardcore/punk rock band Snapcase.
During our chat we talked about the origins of tribalism, from our early religious wars, to William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies, and how this very human characteristic of tribal behavior has caused modern day Democrats and Republicans to have an unfavorable opinion of the opposing party almost 90% of the time.
We then got a bit wonky while discussing the importance of placing Party over Policy, how we can better acquire and evaluate false political information, decipher political polls and complex statistics, and how best to navigate the stream of phony headlines and fake stories.
We ended our discussion with the Story of Oresteia, a collection of plays that illustrates the tragedy of tribalism and revenge as only a Greek tale can.
It was my pleasure to have Professor Redmond on my show, and I hope you learn as much as I did during our chat.
Watch Episode:
Part 1: "Why We Hate Each Other," with political scientist Tim Redmond