Comments on: This American Life: Infidelity

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:19:36 +0000

In my counseling training, I’ve been forced to disregard my disdain for this practice a number of times, so I have put myself in the place of he adulterer and tried to understand their perspective. I am not very close to accomplishing this, but the statistic you presented leads me to believe that if we do in fact value the institution of marraige, we should work to find the root causes of this behavior, and find ways of addressing it, even if we disdain it and couldn’t imagine commiting it ourselves.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:25:03 +0000

The sheer variety of people I know who have engaged in this activity – youth leaders, model fathers, church leaders – leads me to believe it’s an affliction that knows no boundaries.

I hated drinking, condemned it, and judged those who indulged. Then I became an alcoholic. (Or my alcoholism came forth from within me. Whatever.)

Not saying you or anyone else is *gonna* cheat. Of course not. But I do think most people are capable of most things. Put another way, nobody’s infidelity would ever surprise me.

By: Rodney Dean

Rodney Dean — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000

Those health care ones were good, and so were the first Planet Money tie-ins. Listen to Giant Pool of Money if you haven’t. If it was still available as a free podcast, I’d do a post on it.

By: Rodney Dean

Rodney Dean — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:58:18 +0000

Those are ideas are intriguing, which is absolutely frightening. There but for the grace of God go I?

Oh, the controversies will only continue from here. Just wait till you hear my take on child abuse.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:49:04 +0000

Rod! Tone down the controversy! It’s like you’re poking a wasp nest with a tease stick! Taking a bold anti-adultery stance?! What’s next…your radical thoughts on puppies and their cuteness?

Ha. I heard that episode of TAL. And other than my mancrush on Ira Glass, I was struck too by the 50% statistic. It does make my mind wander into the areas of “marriage is an outmoded construct” and “we are still instinctually animals” thinking. I don’t fully support those ideas, but it’s intriguing.

By: Dusty Taylor

Dusty Taylor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:31:50 +0000

I am glad you listen to this podcast! I knew you always talked about OTM and sent you a message once recommending this one but I was not sure if you listened to it because you have never talked about it on MMA SS. That same statistic was pretty crazy to me as well, I can’t imagine how you can say the vows of marriage and allow something like that to happen. Did you listen to the 2 episodes on health care? Those ones were really eye opening as well.