I’m a dad of a 6 and 8 year old, and I know that as they go out there and expand their knowledge and content sources, they’re gonna exposed to these extreme ideas. Watching Ethan talk to these people has been super helpful to me; none of us are world-class debaters, but seeing how to disarm common people and point out their absurdity while creating a baseline of counter-points is super helpful, and I’ve gotten my wife (who isn’t interested in podcasting and finds Ethan grating :( ) to watch some of these as an educational experience. She knew none of this stuff was out there.
I love the debates. Ethan has gotten really good at it. I’m shocked the amount of people that agree to go on the show and do zero prep work. It was great watching her squirm.
You do make some great points too. Ethan debates in a way that isn’t overly combative but at the same time doesn’t let up and does a great job at pointing out the absurdity of their arguments by simply using their own views against them.