Why I Welcome Anti-Vaxxers on My Podcast

I’m a doctor who believes in vaccines. I let callers share misinformation anyway.

To defeat misinformation, we have to talk respectfully with the people we believe are misinformed. Even in public.

One of the tricky things about my new live podcast is that I’m not just talking with people I agree with, but also people I disagree with. Sometimes a lot. And in the case of last week’s episode, one of the people I talked with was voicing some ideas pretty far outside the mainstream.

Folks who joined in the middle of the show were distressed to hear one of my callers praising discredited vaccine scientist Robert Malone and mourning the loss of her Pizzagate Facebook group. That triggered and compelled another (vaccine-supporting) listener to offer an impassioned reminder of the importance of the scientific method.

In the wake of the Joe Rogan controversy (itself one of our topics), my willingness to provide a platform for extremist, pseudoscientific views may cause my listeners on the Left some anxiety. The goal of Smart Politics (and this new podcast) is to encourage and teach progressives to communicate more effectively. But a curious listener may have tuned in and been…