EP91: Don Lemon vs Elon Musk, Grace Lessons - Gracearchy with Jim Babka

Masterclass in interview psychology & a fresh perspective on grace in journalism

Don Lemon conducts an adversarial interview of Elon Musk.

What did you see? https://youtu.be/hhsfjBpKiTw

I, your moderator Bill Protzmann, recommend you watch this interview through Jim Babka's eyes. He'll show you things you'll likely miss, such as the use and power of these interview tactics...

- The Awkward Pause
- The Confidence Play, or how to "reset the guest"
- Guilt by Association

Jim also exposes the power and anti-grace of Shaming Your Subject. He presents a better alternative, showing how to graciously ask profoundly invasive questions.

Plus, before you're done listening, you'll learn the right ways to check error with truth - and it's superior to censorship.

After you watch this episode, you'll never see a hostile interview the same way again. You'll know what's really happening.

This is our first-ever "reaction video." We include more than a dozen clips and analyze them. But...

WHY DID WE CHOOSE TO DEVOTE AN EPISODE TO THIS EXCHANGE?

...especially given that it's straight out of the Conflict Machine?

First, we uphold the First Amendment as more than a law. In its absolute form, it is an ethical statement. It is anti-relational to violate it. This intolerance overlooks the humanity of persons and reduces the chance of understanding. Harmony is much harder to achieve in the face of this intolerance.

And there's a significant debate here about "content moderation" That caught Jim's attention.

Then, once he watched the interview, something else leapt out.

THERE'S A CNN IDEOLOGY

Indeed, Don Lemon is such an adherent to it that he pulled off the most expensive prank in history. His zealousness also drove him to commit an act of "free press irony." You'll see both things during the show.

There are two other bonuses in this, our longest episode ever. Elon has a high-leverage insight about conspiracy theories. Also, he gives a two-minute take on the question that so many people seem to wonder about: What makes Elon tick, and how does he see himself?

TRANSPARENCY
The Don Lemon episode on which this episode is based.
https://youtu.be/hhsfjBpKiTw

We're including the time stamps for the clips we played. We're making it EASY for you to check out the context of Jim's remarks, and see if he's handling them correctly and gracefully. Feel free to applaud or critique.

A. :21 - :39
B. 1:41 - 1:58
C. 4:39 - 5:58
D. 7:48 - 8:13
E. Screen grab of 13:14 - Pic, not video
F. 19:16 - 20:05
G. 27:48 - 28:42
H. 29:13 - 29:42
I. 30:04 - 30:49
J. 31:56 - 34:14
K. 37:35 - 38:09
L. 40:15 - 40:54
M. 1:00:06 - 1:01:09
N. 1:05:03 - 1:06:11

Carefully selected segments in this video are utilized under the Fair Use doctrine of U.S. copyright law. The fair uses here include criticism, comment, and teaching for non-profit educational purposes.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Theme
1:05 Our First Reaction Video
3:25 Context & Disclaimers
7:15 Lemon's self-awareness
7:57 When are you going to stop being a bigot?
9:01 Most expensive prank ever
10:41 Our relationship with YOU
13:08 It was always the plan
15:57 Unprepared
19:31 The Awkward Pause
26:38 Was Don offended all along?
29:52 Reset the guest
32:10 Shaming depression
39:00 Migrants & Great Replacement Theory
42:31 Jews & Great Replacement Theory
46:01 Moderation vs Community Notes
50:31 Digital chastity belt
54:32 Free press irony
56:42 Community notes is better than the law
58:46 How Hate Speech can be a strawman
1:01:15 Content moderation is censorship
1:02:13 How to learn from a debate
1:06:31 DEI is not what's happening at Boeing
1:08:02 The CNN ideology
1:09:30 How much bad behavior must you tolerate?
1:12:42 Why Elon bought Twitter
1:15:52 CNN ideology includes you're too stupid
1:17:38 Elon's view of himself encapsulated
1:19:07 Reality of goodness, not the perception of it
1:20:56 How to make the world a better place
1:23:52 How the CNN ideology is anti-beauty

ZERO AGGRESSION PROJECT - https://zeroaggressionproject.org/ - is our sponsor. The views expressed are exclusively those of the participants, and not necessarily those of the board, staff, or supporters of the Zero Aggression Project.

Thank you to Randy Garbin for our amazing episode thumbnails: http://randygarbin.com/

We are grateful to Sergio at https://www.youtube.com/@KeysofMoonMusic for our intro theme.
► https://www.patreon.com/user?u=10500501
or
you can purchase his music on BandCamp:
► https://keysofmoon.bandcamp.com/
► If you have any questions please feel free to write to Sergio at: serjo.de.lua.music@gmail.com

Be grace-full to each other.