In Other Words
In Other Words is a podcast about how we know what we know—and why it matters. The stories we inherit, the systems we trust, and the “truths” we repeat are rarely as simple as they seem. Most have been shaped, spun, and repackaged until the lines between fact and narrative blur.
This show peels back those layers. Each episode looks at the assumptions beneath our politics, history, and culture, tracing how they took shape and what they leave out.
In other words, come unlearn with us.
In Other Words
Truth is not what is, but what persuades
This episode examines how truth recedes when appearance becomes the measure of influence. It follows the long history of leaders, institutions, and media systems that learned how spectacle can command belief even when the substance behind it is thin, and it traces the evolution of persuasion from Renaissance courts to modern broadcasting, showing how fear, performance, and repetition organize the stories people treat as real. The psychological need for coherence makes whole societies receptive to crafted narratives that feel stable even when they distort the world. Join us as we investigate why public conviction often forms around symbols rather than facts, and how this tendency reshapes political life, culture, and identity. In other words, truth is not what is, but what persuades.