Are we now a nation of vaxxed and unvaxxed?
Do people see this as One Nation Under God still or has the media perpetuated a new paradigm of those who "have gotten the shot" vs "those who have not gotten the shot?" Does this show support the moral superiority or righteousness of those who have gotten the shot for the greater good? And for those who have gotten the Covid vaccine, why are they still afraid of those who are not vaccinated? Isn't the vaccine supposed to provide immunity from Covid-19? Why do the vaxxed believe it will ONLY work when EVERYONE has gotten it?
Lack of empathy leading to tribalism
I feel as a society we are all becoming less and less empatheitic. Scientists are not empathetic towards skeptics/people who demand more from them and vice a versa, dems are not empathetic towards people who are facing an existential identity crisis, people who fear immigrants and the right generally has been lacking empathy for a long time. Emapthy doesn't mean agreement or support. It is just about understanding where someone comes from. What do you think is a good way to address this? You are highly empathetic people and I respect you both for that. Without empathy, tribalism only increases.
Politics in Entertainment Media
I love your show, never miss an episode, and as someone who also watches political fiction from Scandal to Madam Secretary, I was wondering what your take is on how politics are depicted on TV. For example, why does West Wing, which has interesting characters, but mostly celebrates keeping the status quo, get 7 seasons, while BrainDead, which is literally about alien insects eating the brains of politicians and turning them more extreme, go under the radar even though they're both network shows, both with famous casts, and both created by successful showrunners?
"It's the economy, stupid"
Some remember this from the Clinton years, and for others it’s self-evident. My question: why so few expert interviews and monologues on topics like rectifying trade imbalances and rebuilding domestic manufacturing, given that these are fundamental and necessary to solving almost every other issue (domestic spending & welfare, wages, inflation, structural employment trends, purchasing power, healthcare, climate, tech R&D, military funding, etc, etc). If we start to improve fundamental economics for the U.S. we can afford to tackle almost anything else.