When Fiction Becomes a Microaggression (with Evelyn Douek)

When Fiction Becomes a Microaggression (with Evelyn Douek)

Author: Our Opinions Are Correct September 5, 2024 Duration: 47:27

When someone disrespects you in a subtle way, with plausible deniability, it can do just as much damage as overt bigotry. So we're talking about microaggressions — what they are, and how science fiction explores them but also perpetuates them. And later in the episode, we talk to Stanford professor Evelyn Douek about what's next for content moderation on the internet.


What if the robots win, or we finally make first contact? How do the stories we tell about the future shape the technology and culture we build today? Our Opinions Are Correct isn't just a celebration of sci-fi; it's a lively, essential conversation about the genre's powerful grip on our real world. Hosts Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders bring a unique lens to these questions: one is a science journalist who crafts fiction, the other a celebrated novelist with a deep obsession for actual science. Together, they pick apart the books, films, and shows that define speculative storytelling, moving beyond simple reviews to uncover how these narratives reflect and influence everything from social justice to scientific ethics. New episodes every other week dive into a single topic, whether it's the politics of a beloved space opera or the neuroscience in a cyberpunk thriller, always with curiosity and a critical eye. This podcast argues that our favorite escapes are never just entertainment-they're blueprints, warnings, and mirrors for the human condition. Tune in for discussions that are as intellectually rigorous as they are genuinely fun, guaranteed to make you see the genre, and the world outside your window, in a completely new light.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Our Opinions Are Correct
Podcast Episodes
Episode 118: F*ck Your Space Empire! with Naseem Jamnia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:03
Classic science fiction wears its love of colonialism on its sleeve, from heroic explorers to space empires that keep the peace. Why are empires such a major part of the genre, and how do we break free? Plus we talk to N…
Encore Episode: The Bomb is Back (Again) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:22
Fears of nuclear war are in the news again. We revisit a 2019 episode about how science fiction has dealt with atomic weapons, and how twenty-first century writers will represent the dangers of nuclear war. Shownotes: ht…
Episode 117: What Makes a Story Feel "Fast" Or "Slow"? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:14
People talk about "pacing" all the time when it comes to storytelling — but what does "pacing" mean? How do you make a story feel like it's moving faster or slower, and why does this matter? And how do you figure out wha…
Episode 116: Water Disasters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:19
Floods. Sea level rise. Superstorms. Droughts. All over the planet, people are being hit by disasters caused by too much water or not enough, and it's only going to get worse. We talk about why science fiction has been f…
Episode 115: Therapy, Good And Bad, with Theo Germaine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:23
It's time to get some therapy, with some help from speculative fiction. In this special live recording from WorldCon, we talk to actor/creator Theo Germaine about fictional therapists (good and evil), and what makes a st…
Episode 114: Damnation Arcs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:37
We hear a lot about redemption arcs, but what about damnation arcs, where characters go darkside? In this episode, we talk about the "villain's journey," or the tropey route followed by characters like Anakin Skywalker o…
Episode 113: Let's Get Sweetweird! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:48
Recently Charlie Jane came up with a new term for stories she's been enjoying: Sweetweird. What does this mean, and is it a subgenre or an aesthetic? And also, why do we enjoy inventing and debating new genre terms so mu…
Episode 112: Plastic Problems, with William Gibson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:56
Plastic was once a symbol of our shiny future, and now it represents our trashed, polluted present. What's the future of this fossil-fueled polymer? We talk about what makes plastic so scary -- in science and fiction. An…
Episode 111: Escape Into Musicals, with Laser [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:54
Musicals transport us to another world through song and dance — but how can we use their otherworldly power to tell stories about robots and monsters? To find out, we talk to playwrights MJ Kaufman and Reina Hardy. Plus…
Episode 110: The Future of Pizza! And Other Listener Questions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:08
In this special episode, we answer questions from our wondrous Patreon supporters. We discuss how to write convincing non-human characters, where people will live in 10,000 years, and why Dungeons & Dragons has become so…