Don't Buy Lemons with Angel Eduardo
In 2022 Counterweight, the organization that Helen Pluckrose founded and that was absorbed into the Institute for Liberal Values had a virtual conference on Alternatives to Diversity and Inclusion. Starting in 2025, we will be rolling out one talk a month that was presented at the conference. We sit down with the original presenters throughout 2025 to see what has changed since 2022. With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives seemingly on the chopping block, we are curious to hear what our original participants are witnessing and experiencing on the ground. Is DEI really dead or just in remission? Are there healthy alternatives to DEI that we should consider, or do we throw the baby out with the bathwater and wipe our hands clean? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.
This week Elizabeth Spievak interviews Angel Eduardo. This interview took place in late 2024, so his views may have changed over the course of the past few months, but in update to his original talk on Liberal Approaches to Diversity and Inclusion, Angel tells us that buying into DEI was like buying a car that is a lemon. We should still buy cars, just not lemons. The best way to create the unity that was the kindest interpretation of some of the DEI movement, is not to dismiss the effort to value diversity and inclusion, but rather to learn to “star-man” our fellow citizens, embracing the best version of our humanity.
¿Eso son Reebok o son Nike?
I had a great conversation with my friend and former colleague, Angel Eduardo, senior writer/editor at FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression). We talked free speech—including Jew hate on Substack, Facebook’s return to less censorious times, and Bluesky’s lynch mobs (its only target: my bud Jesse Singal). Angel’s in Manhattan, so we may have been charged congestion pricing at some point along the way. We shared a lot this episode. I shared one of my favorite short stories: “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” by Steven Millhauser. Angel shared a powerful quote from James Baldwin: “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” ―James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time And we both shared our love of Dominican TikTok/reels/redes sociales. ¿Eso son Reebok o son Nike?
Jesus and Superman: A Liberalism and Faith Series with Angel Eduardo
In this week’s podcast, Jennifer Richmond and Angel Eduardo launch a new series on faith and liberalism. They spent some time wrestling with where to begin with such a weighty topic, when they finally landed on simply sharing their own personal faith journeys. They embark on this discussion with curiosity and humility, neither trying to convert, correct or proselytize, but simply in exploration of the origins of their common humanity and shared values. We invite others to join in the conversation with suggestions and questions in the comments, which we will address in upcoming episodes. We will be inviting other guests to join us and look forward to further conversations on the complexities of faith, liberalism and the intersection of both in search of a strategy for human flourishing.
Ask Me Anything
Two weeks after the 2024 election, left-right tensions are through the roof. In this special “Ask Me Anything” episode, a cross-partisan panel of Trump and Harris voters take on a fiery handful of YOUR toughest questions about how in the world we bridge political divides from here… just in time for the holidays. Join host Moni, April, and our special guests — Angel Eduardo, Shira Hoffer, and Travis Tripodi — as they close out this season of A Braver Way with a conversation you don’t want to miss.
Monica Guzman: One Step Closer
As we contemplated who we might invite for this post-election UNUM gathering, we were (temporarily) flummoxed. A week after the election would we be in need of an expert in election law, a therapist or an exorcist? Could we just place all three on speed dial? Then we realized that no matter what happens during – and after – the 2024 election, there will undoubtedly be some BIG feelings about it, so our task on November 12th is utterly clear even now: we’ll need to take one step closer to each other. That journey has a sherpa, and her name is Mónica Guzmán. Mónica is the friend you’ll want for that post-election drink, the one you can let your hair down with to just talk it all through. We also couldn’t think of a better election season read (or re-read) than her book “I Never Thought of it That Way” — check it out below. You’re welcome. (Thank us by taking one step closer to someone you know — now. And then another step.)
Logical Reasoning & Faith with Angel Eduardo & Will Reusch
In this episode, Will and Angel discuss Angel's lifelong journey away from faith while Will has had a lifelong journey towards it. Angel lays out all of the reasons why he develops moral codes and an understanding of consciousness & the universe outside of Religion. The intention of Will, as a believer, is to better understand the reasoning that someone (he respects) has arrived at the opposite end of such a major element of the human experience- why/how we are here & how we are called to behave. To learn more about Angel's work, particularly his concept of Star Manning, visit: https://angeleduardo.com/starmanning
Free Speech and the Art of Difficult Conversations with Angel Eduardo and Mónica Guzmán
In this week’s episode, "Straight-Ahead" co-hosts Greg Thomas and Aryeh Tepper welcome writers Monica Guzman and Angel Eduardo for an extended exploration of the value of free speech and the art of engaging in difficult conversations. In particular, the discussion examines the difficulty in speaking with those on the far left who don't believe in "truth" or those in Islamist fundamentalist circles whose certainty in their truth is so absolute that no room is left for differing perspectives. All in all, the conversation is a deep dive into pragmatic ways of having meaningful conversations in a pluralistic society across profound differences.
Is a Civil "Is God Real?" Conversation Possible?
In this episode of the Derate the Hate podcast, guest host, Julian Adorney, moderates a conversation between his wife, Cassie Kimbriel, a devout Christian, and his friend, Angel Eduardo, an atheist. The main topic of discussion is the existence of God. Angel argues that belief in God is unreasonable and implausible, while Cassie believes that the complexities of the universe and personal experiences point to the existence of a higher power. The trio discuss the problem of suffering and the concept of hell. The conversation highlights the different perspectives and challenges in discussing such a deeply personal and complex topic.
Ask Me Anything
Mónica is joined by four friends in bridge building to answer your toughest questions about our shared mission of connecting across the political divide. Angel Eduardo, April Lawson, Manu Meel and Wilk Wilkinson get real about the challenges, opportunities, and misconceptions about our movement – are we all just a bunch of squishy centrists that brush deep concerns under the rug? And how can we possibly be expected to talk to someone who doesn’t even think we have a right to exist? These are questions with no easy answers and we tackle them head on. Finally, find out what Superman, Taylor Swift and Kirk Cousins have in common as we cap off the first season of A Braver Way.
Why Colourblindness Isn't Enough to Solve Racism
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, and visual artist based in New York City, best known for creating the rhetorical concept of star-manning. He is Senior Writer & Editor for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR). His work has appeared in Persuasion, Quillette, Areo Magazine, and Newsweek Opinion, among other publications.
Exploring Civility: A Weakness Or Bold Necessity?
My friends, and returning DTH guests, Angel Eduardo and Julian Adorney have collaborated to write a piece for the Quillette entitled "Civility Isn't Weakness - It's How We Win". Join Julian, Angel and me as we dive into this thought provoking piece regarding the push-back to civility, and how some view it as a weakness. What does it mean to battle our own nature and truly take the high road?
Why Civility in Hard Conversations Is Important
Drew Perkins talks with Julian Adorney and Angel Eduardo about their Quillette piece and work to foster civility in contentious conversations.
The Importance of Civil Discourse with Angel Eduardo
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City, best-known for coining and promoting the rhetorical concept of star-manning. He works as Senior Writer & Editor for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and serves on the Board of Directors for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR).
In this episode we talk about polarisation in the arts, cancel culture, elevating liberal values, the concept of star-manning and being compassionate while countering bad ideas.
The Importance of Civil Discourse with Angel Eduardo
In this Roots of Reality Experiences episode, historian Ben Baumann talks with writer Angel Eduardo about why it is okay for people to disagree, the dangers of groupthink, and reasons for hope in times of political polarization.
How to Discuss Politics With Compassion
Today Seph and Lex are talking to a master of dialogue and inquiry who can help our Better Yous communicate more compassionately AND persuasively. Today we are talking to Angel Eduardo.
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City. He is Senior Writer & Editor for (FIRE), the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and he is best known for creating the rhetorical concept of star-manning. Angel’s writing has also been featured in Newsweek and all over the internet.
If you want to learn how to have an honest, good faith, and compassionate engagement with people all across the political and ideological spectrum, you need to tune in right now!
We also talk with Angel about the power of words and whether writers (like Roald Dahl) should have their words changed after the fact... This conversation is so profound!!
Angel Eduardo: The place of civil discorse in anti-racism work, and some other stuff
Angel and I start off a bit light hearted, discussing how people on social media can take something out of context and make all the wrong assumtions, but we soon get deep into discussing the value of civil discourse and if it can have any real impact in a world where racist beliefs put people in danger and threaten their lives. Can compassion, paying it forward, and holding place and respect for those with whom we disagree actually make a difference?
Do bad people exist?
This conversation with my latest guest on Forbidden Conversations was sparked by his insistence that he does not believe that there is such a thing as “bad people.” Naturally, we had to discuss his claim. But before we got around to it, we also end up covering an assortment of other topics. What has made me interested in Angel Eduardo in the first place is his humanistic approach towards difficult subjects and his creation of the rhetorical concept of star-manning.
Angel Eduardo: Starmanning, Free Speech, and the End of Polarization
Angel Eduardo and Curtis Yarvin
How to Embody REAL Open-Mindedness with Angel Eduardo
In this episode, Will speaks with writer, musician, photographer and designer Angel Eduardo who is best-known for coining and promoting the rhetorical concept of star-manning. Angel is also the Director of Messaging & Editorial for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) as well as the host for FAIR’s podcast called Fair Perspectives.
During their talk, Will and Angel talk about the importance of humility and true open-mindedness. How do you developed real open-mindedness? Why do people feel so threatened when their ideas and beliefs are challenged?
Angel also talks about how he deals with any “identity traitor” hate he receives and some of the best ways that we can get through to people who are possessed by a certain identity.
Superman, Society & Spirituality with Angel Eduardo
Is the concept of God meant to be an authoritarian sky god or a deeper principle embodied in all things? What are the implications if the latter is true and not the former? Angel Eduardo thinks pop culture references like Superman might help us answer this question. Check out our convo right now!
My new episode “Superman, Society and Spirituality” with Angel Eduardo is out now!
Embodying Harmony on the Other Side of Racial Complexity: A Dialogue with Angel Eduardo
Brad talks with Angel Eduardo about his journey and learning on the topics of race and racism. They discuss what it means to understand and deconstruct race as a social construction, confusions about colorblindness, ways that the category of race is misused as a proxy for other things, how to embrace culture, diversity, and equity without embracing the concept of race, and ultimately, how to embody the simplicity of interpersonal harmony and release the complexity of racialized concepts and categories.
Angel Eduardo - Fairness, Understanding & Humanity - Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR)
Angel Eduardo (http://angeleduardo.com/) is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City, who serves an Advisory Board member, FAIR in the Arts Fellow, and Director of Messaging & Editorial for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR - https://www.fairforall.org/), where he helps shape the organization's pro-human approach to our often contentious and divided discourse. He is also a contributor to the Center for Inquiry’s blog, where he writes on science, communication, skepticism, and morality for a column entitled Searching for Better Angels, and is best-known for coining and promoting the rhetorical concept of star-manning.
Can DEI Be Redeemed? with Angel Eduardo
UnWokable welcomes Angel Eduardo to discuss his recent piece on fairforall.substack.com; "DEI can be a good thing, but it often isn't."
Episode 32 - Xavier Bonilla and Angel Eduardo
Today’s episode features two returning guests: Xavier Bonilla and Angel Eduardo. Xavier has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here. Angel is an Advisory Board member and Director of Messaging and Editorial for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR). In addition, Angel is a co-host of the FAIR perspectives podcast with Melissa Chen and a columnist at the Center For Inquiry.
This conversation is a marathon - both in length and subject matter. Trying to construct a cohesive summary of the contents would require a laundry list of subjects that would only add to the impressive run-time of this conversation. But a few highlights include a rather lengthy conversation about fandoms - including a rather protracted discussion of Star Wars and its fandom. We also discuss, as we did in prior conversations, topics surrounding identity, representation, and the role of art in constructing meaning and the truth. As the podcast comes to a close, we discuss some elements of identity politics and the pitfalls that may befall those who argue that demography is destiny, particularly among Latino voters in the United States.
It was wonderful having Xavier and Angel back on to give their shared perspectives on salient topics in our seemingly never-ending cultural quagmire. I hope you enjoy our marathon conversation!
You Are Not Your Ideas (w/ Angel Eduardo) Or, how to be less of a jackass online.
Angel Eduardo, author and co-host of the Fair Perspectives podcast, insists that we can rise above this polarized moment and have real – difficult but vitriol-free – debates with each other. Steelmaning is for beginners. We’re talking starmanning! How to do that is what we try to figure on this episode. Adaam and Angel argue about the merits of compassion versus cognitive dissonance and how best to make people more comfortable about being wrong. Meanwhile, Vanessa worries that too much open-mindedness could lead to inaction – or even apathy. She also gets a good laugh from Angel’s diatribe about the word LatinX.
Why representation based on race is superficial - Angel Eduardo, FAIR
Angel Eduardo, Director of Messaging and Editorial at FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, on why representation based on race and gender is superficial and instead how to do it right.
You Are Your Story with Brent Morden, Michelle Pollino, and Angel Eduardo
A New Initiative from a New Organization: FAIR in the Arts is a program from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. characteristics, and how they shape our experience as humans in the world. We can’t ignore those things. But they are not the only things. We need to have a conversation about what we LEAD with in these conversations. Do we lead with the things we can’t choose about ourselves, or do lead with our common humanity. To me, it’s a question of seeing the human across from in our classrooms, our teacher’s lounges, or even on social media as complex and deeper than their appearance.
Angel Eduardo: Transcending Race Without Erasing History
Angel Eduardo is the Director of Messaging & Editorial as well as an Advisory Board member for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR), where he helps shape the organization's pro-human approach to our often contentious and divided discourse. Angel is also a columnist for the Center for Inquiry, where he writes on science, communication, skepticism, and morality.
Can & Should Liberalism be Saved? Ft. Angel Eduardo & Josh Lekach
A conversation on whether we're past the point of keeping together a high trust liberal society or if the human test is winnable without falling back into brutality.
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Diving deep into Superman with Angel Eduardo
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, artist, designer—and a lifelong Superman fan! In this episode, we dove deep into the importance of positive role models, the power of creativity, and why Superman will always have a place in our hearts and our world. Naturally, the topic of James Gunn’s upcoming Superman movie came up (because how could it not?), and we couldn’t stop sharing our thoughts, hopes, and ideas! Angel has an incredible way with words—each answer was packed with emotion, insight, and passion. I could’ve listened to him talk for hours. One highlight for me? Asking my favourite question, “What does Superman mean to you?” Angel’s answer was as heartfelt as it was inspiring, sharing a story about how Christopher Reeve’s Superman helped him choose the right path in life.
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