Thanks to support from Chalk & Blade.
Social media algorithms thrive on division and conspiracy theories — but how do you actually speak to a science denier without the conversation spiralling? That’s the focus of a new bonus episode of Our Big Shot, the podcast about humanity’s fight against infectious disease hosted by Dr. Seema Yasmin.
Launching today, the episode features Harvard professor Lee McIntyre, who lays out five ways to challenge misinformation. He introduces the FLICC strategy, a tool to spot the tricks used in conspiracy arguments: Fake experts, Logical fallacies, Impossible expectations, Cherry-picking evidence, and Conspiracy theories.
McIntyre argues that successful conversations depend on curiosity and empathy: “When we are face to face with someone, we can build a relationship of trust which makes it much more difficult to be disrespectful, mean and trollish.” He urges listeners not to give up: the aim of disinformation, he warns, is to “foster distrust, encourage hate and make people vulnerable to manipulation.”
A second bonus episode out next week shines a light on grassroots public health in India. Dr. Shelly Batra, founder of Every Infant Matters, explains how she recruits local leaders to deliver health education in resource-poor regions, tackling preventable illnesses such as Vitamin A deficiency — a condition affecting 200 million children worldwide and responsible for half a million cases of blindness every year.
Produced by Chalk & Blade and supported by UNICEF, Gavi, WHO and The Gates Foundation, Our Big Shot is all about hope: that through science, trust, and community, humanity can finish the fight against disease.
The bonus episodes, along with the entire original series, are available on all major podcast platforms.
