The Curious Introvert

A weekly podcast covering societal taboos & cultural blind spots. Join host Meredith Hackwith Edwards as she deep dives with curiosity & nuance into philosophy, society & culture with expert guests. Episodes frequently feature philosophers, researchers, historians & journalists.

The Curious Introvert is a society podcast hosted by Meredith Hackwith Edwards, with 364 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Meredith Hackwith Edwards hosts The Curious Introvert, a society show with 364 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #363

  Ep. 363: Are Political Parties Just Cults?! [REMASTERED]

  Sep 28, 202646 minS1

  Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”? Rachel Bernstein is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Cult Specialist & the Host of the IndoctriNation Podcast. She has spent the last 35 years helping former cult members & those who have had loved ones in cults, focusing on emotional abuse recovery, identity repair & moral injury. In this episode she explains the psychology of political allegiance, why religion & politics always fuse together, thought stopping cliches & media influence vs media manipulation. This episode originally aired August 18, 2025 If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 229: IS YOUR HAPPINESS BEING POLITICIZED? CULTURE, CORTISOL & THE BRAIN Guest: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/ https://www.facebook.com/rachelbernsteintherapy https://www.instagram.com/indoctrinationpodcast/ https://open.spotify.com/show/1prXo4iIxUfjYpfX671cUD?si=3522f54be4ae456f https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/book--journal.html Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 2:15 When We Get Vulnerable 4:18 Easily Offended, Easily Swayed 5:04 Are Parties Actually Cults? 6:19 High-Control Groups, Explained 8:13 The Death of Diplomacy 9:35 Identity Over Ideas 11:16 Why Religion and Politics Fuse 13:34 Thought-Stopping Clichés 16:34 Two Magnets, Same Playbook 18:35 The Theocracy Blind Spot 19:17 Allergic to Gray Areas 20:15 The Seven Mountain Mandate 22:32 Anything But Them 23:06 Education as the Antidote 25:35 Reacting vs. Acting 27:54 You're Being Played 31:12 Chasing Likes, Losing Truth 32:59 Data Mining Is Grooming 35:02 Nobody Taught Us This 38:31 Where to Find the Truth 42:10 Shrinking Your Data Footprint Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ meredith@meredithforreal.com https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert

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  Episode #362

  Ep. 362: Alcohol Advice Keeps Changing. What Are We Supposed to Believe?

  Sep 21, 202651 minS1

  Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”? Dr. Sarah Wakeman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Sr. Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham. She is also the author of Treatable: Rethinking Addiction and How to Get Care Right. In this episode, she shares why we hear conflicting messages on alcohol, why what “one drink” means is subjective, the actual health risks even for moderate drinkers, drinking stigma & what real sobriety means. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 265: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE AN ALCOHOLIC? [REMASTERED] Guest: https://www.drsarahwakeman.com/ Book https://a.co/d/0afUgsLE https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/ https://www.instagram.com/massgeneralbrigham/ https://www.instagram.com/drsarahwakeman/ https://www.facebook.com/MassGeneralBrighamInternational/?brand_redir=45556346121# Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 1:04 — How People Measure Their Own Drinking (Spoiler: They Don't) 2:08 — Why the Science Is So Confusing: CDC vs. WHO 3:35 — What "Class 1 Carcinogen" Actually Means 4:39 — Why We Can't Study Alcohol the Way We Study Other Things 6:09 — What’s “a” drink? 11:04 — Does It Matter Why You Drink? 12:27 — The Capsule Wardrobe Approach to Alcohol 14:21 — Health Risks for Moderate Drinkers 16:08 — Breast Cancer and Light Drinking: The Uncomfortable Truth 17:42 — Toxic Load: Can We Blame the Country We Live In? 20:04 — The Challenge of Counseling Patients on Alcohol 25:00 — What Alcohol Does to the Brain 25:34 — Alcohol-Induced Dementia: How Would You Know? 27:17 — Alcohol, Anxiety & Depression: A Two-Sided Coin 29:10 — Dry January: Helpful Reset or False Start? 33:00 — Moral Incongruence and the Drinking Stigma 34:38 — The "Alcohol Puppy" in Your Brain: Dopamine & Reward 36:20 — The Endorphin Connection: Why Alcohol Feels Like a Painkiller 37:17 — Naltrexone & the Sinclair Method: Medicine for Moderation 39:22 — How to Talk to Your Doctor About Drinking 41:40 — The South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Experiment 44:00 — Is Alcoholism a Disease, a Behavior, or Both? 46:31 — Contingency Management: Rewarding Sobriety 48:23 — "The Opposite of Alcoholism Isn't Sobriety — It's Connection" 49:31 — Where to Find Dr. Wakeman & Her Book Treatable Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ meredith@meredithforreal.com https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert

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  Episode #361

  Ep. 361: Why Would a Black Man Go to a KKK Rally? [REMASTERED]

  Sep 14, 202657 minS1

  Can you befriend someone OUT of racism? Are Klan members just misguided? Is racism a permanent state? Daryl Davis is a musician & author. He’s also a black man who chooses to be friends with Klansmen. Over his lifetime, he has inspired over 200 Klu Klux Klan members to give up their robes. In this episode he shares about the boyscout parade where he got a race reality check, FBI files, the connection between travel & racism, his first encounter with a klansmen, his first KKK friend & true transformation in the age of cancel culture. This episode originally aired April 29, 2024 If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 134: HE VOTED OBAMA & JOINED THE KKK: the How & the Why (PART 1) Guest: https://klanwetalk.com/ NEW BOOK! https://a.co/d/06vMvFop https://x.com/realdaryldavis https://www.instagram.com/realdaryldavis/ https://www.facebook.com/realdaryldavis Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 02:22 – Ambushed at a Boy Scout Parade 04:27 – The Day His Parents Had to Explain Hate 06:29 – 63 Countries, 50 States, One Missing Piece 08:14 – What Mark Twain Got Right About Prejudice 10:00 – The Fight in a Parking Lot at 2 A.M. 12:07 – Why the Cops Wouldn't Arrest Him 17:39 – "I Never Sat Down With a Black Man Before" 22:26 – The Question That Had Been Waiting 15 Years for an Answer 29:22 – A Bodyguard, a Gun, and a Bible in a Motel Room 32:50 – The Noise That Almost Got Someone Killed 37:02 – The Four-Step Chain That Leads to Destruction 38:30 – Why Diverse Companies Still Eat Lunch Segregated 42:49 – The Five Things Every Human Being Wants 45:07 – The History Books Left This Out 51:20 – The Year America's Racial Majority Flips Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ meredith@meredithforreal.com https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert

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  Episode #360

  Ep. 360: FETISHES: Why We Hide What Turns Us On (& Questions You’re Too Embarrassed to Ask)

  Sep 7, 20261h 5mS1

  What's the difference between a fetish, a kink, and just really liking something? Where do fetishes come from? Niki Davis-Fainbloom’s entire job is to help people make peace with their fetish. She holds a masters in psychology, studied sex therapy at the Kinsey Institute & has been working with clients for 8 years. She’s also the author of Fetish: smash taboos & celebrate what turns you on. In this episode, you’ll hear about some of the more unusual fetishes, where fetishes come from, where we draw the line in ethical fetishes (Race? Disability? Yikes!), the difference between a kink & a fetish, why people hide what turns them on (& what happens when they don’t). If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 286: WHAT IS MEDICALLY ASSISTED SEX [REMASTERED]? Guest: https://a.co/d/0165o2Qg https://www.instagram.com/missbloomsexeducator/ https://www.facebook.com/niki.davis.7 https://www.nikidavisf.com/about-niki https://x.com/nikidavisf?lang=en Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 00:00:56 — What Actually Makes Something a Fetish (vs. Just Being a Preference) 00:03:50 — Fetish vs. Kink: What's the Difference? 00:04:27 — Unusual Fetishes: Vore, Macrophilia, and the Wet Floor Sign Guy 00:08:46 — Balloon Fetishes, Online Communities, and SizeCon 00:09:57 — Where Do Fetishes Come From? The Conditioning Theory 00:12:34 — The Baby Fetish, Pregnancy Kink, and Stress as a Factor 00:15:23 — Culture, Decades, and How Your Childhood TV Shapes Your Desires 00:17:02 — Japan's Panty Vending Machines: Normalization and the Fetish Question 00:19:47 — The Most Common Fetishes by Volume 00:21:21 — Sneezing Fetishes, Feet Everywhere, and the Can't-Unsee Phenomenon 00:25:15 — The Neuroscience of Foot Fetishes: Somatosensory Cortex and Amputation Studies 00:27:38 — Is There a Genetic Component? Dopamine, Novelty-Seeking, and Risk 00:30:11 — Disgust, Arousal, and Why Evolution Had to Make a Compromise 00:32:45 — Fetishes and Trauma: Separating Myth from Reality 00:34:28 — Rape Kink, Survivors, and Reclaiming Control 00:35:38 — Is Shame Part of What Makes a Fetish Work? 00:37:50 — Grindr at the RNC, Anti-Gay Preachers, and the Forbidden Fruit Effect 00:40:08 — Tools for Working Through Shame: Postponing Worry, Self-Compassion Letters 00:43:42 — How and When to Disclose Your Fetish to a Partner 00:50:51 — The Ethics of Fetishes: Race, Disability, and Objectification 00:55:21 — DSM Paraphilias, Non-Consent, and Where People Can Get Help 00:57:31 — AI Romantic Partners, Dirty Talk Experiments, and the Capitalism Interruption 01:02:32 — Niki's Documentary, the Book, and Where to Find Her Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ meredith@meredithforreal.com https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert

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  Episode #359

  Ep. 359: Is Individualism Holding Us Back?? Cowboys & the Prison of Privacy [REMASTERED]

  Aug 31, 202647 minS1

  Could the very thing that makes America work also be what's quietly breaking us? James F Richardson is a cultural anthropologist who has studied American society for twenty years. He’s also the author of Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and Its Hidden Discontents. In this episode, we cover the impact of boundless optimism, options & the playground of autonomy. He speaks to the impact our individualism has on our work, mental health, friendships & romantic relationships. This episode originally aired on October 7, 2024. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 192: AM I A BAD FRIEND/? 7 DEADLY SINS OF FRIENDSHIP Guest: https://jamesrichardson.substack.com/ https://a.co/d/3cmICjE Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 1:10 Cowboy vs. Businesswoman Archetypes 2:13 Why the Founder Myth Wins 5:37 Innovation Without Asking "Then What?" 7:56 Is Restriction the Real Opposite? 8:44 Decades of Unlocked Life Choices 9:52 Failure Happens in Private 11:24 What Community Oversight Could Look Like 12:06 We Traded Neighbors for Apps 13:00 Stage-Gate Checks for New Businesses 13:45 The Untouchable 95% Fail Rate 16:08 Shame, American-Style 18:29 Radical Personal Responsibility, Examined 20:44 The Case for Individualism 25:00 "How Do I Make Friends?" 25:54 Friends as Entertainment 27:13 Open vs. Closed Reciprocity, Explained 31:29 James's Own Alienation Cycle 32:42 Asperger's, Therapy, and Energy Management 40:13 Where Does Responsibility End? 44:13 One Life Tip That Matters Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ meredith@meredithforreal.com https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert

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