Conversations with People Who Hate Me

Sincerely, X

TED

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.1 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the internet, nobody seems to remember you’re a real person. That’s especially true for Michael James Schneider, an artist whose work you’ve probably seen online. Commonly referred to as “Balloon Guy”, Michael uses mylar balloons to spell out pithy phrases he then posts on the internet– and people both love and hate him for it. In fact, it can seem like Michael’s haters outweigh the fans, at least online. In this episode, listen as Michael explores what could possibly be behind all the anonymous trolling that has turned him into one of Twitter’s “main characters”, and how anonymity affects the kinds of conversations we can have with one another. This is an episode of “Conversations With People Who Hate Me”, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, hosted by Dylan Marron. Listen to more wherever you’re listening to this.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, so something a bit different today. I'm a new voice, and hello, it's nice to meet you.
0:12.6	My name is Dylan Marin, and I'm going to share with you an episode of my podcast,
0:17.2	Conversations with People Who Hate Me. It's a show where I host conversations between people
0:22.4	who see the world very differently, or at least they think they see the world very differently.
0:28.4	Sometimes it's feuding friends, sometimes it's feuding ex-friends, sometimes it's total
0:34.1	internet strangers. But despite the title, it's not about hate at all. Instead, it's an intimate
0:41.4	moving and often surprisingly funny experience. Part therapy session, part confessional.
0:47.8	It's a podcast about talking it out to understand each other. I really hope you like it.
0:52.9	You can find the rest of this season by following conversations with people who hate me,
0:57.5	wherever you're listening to this right now. All right, here it is.
1:12.3	Hey, I'm Dylan Marin, and welcome back to Conversations with People Who Hate Me.
1:17.6	The show where I take conflict and turn it into conversation.
1:22.2	If you're into this podcast, may I tell you about conversations with people who hate
1:26.8	me the book? It's out on March 29th, 2022, and in it, I distill the 12 things I've learned from
1:32.9	making this show, as a sort of guide for you to use in difficult conversations of your own.
1:38.9	Oh, and I also wrote it to be read by listeners and non-listeners of this podcast alike.
1:44.5	So that means it is for you, and also that person in your life who has never even heard of me
1:50.4	or this show. The pre-sale link is in the description of this episode, but I trust that you know how
1:56.4	to use Google, and I'm really proud of you for that. So like I said, this show takes people in
2:01.6	conflict, typically, but not always digital conflict, and connects them in conversation.
2:07.6	That is, in fact, what you've gotten in every single episode of this show.
2:13.2	Until today, because today's episode took an unexpected turn, you'll see why as you listen.
	...

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