What Makes a Future "Radical"?

We know we need to move beyond resistance and burnout toward a more inclusive vision of the future that people can see themselves in.

In this episode, Kaitlin Funaro sits down with Shanelle Mathews, founder of the Radical Communicators Network, to dig into their new report, Rising Narratives for a Radical Future: Talking Across Difference for a Multiracial Democracy, and what its research can teach us about communicating with different audiences while working toward a shared goal.

They discuss how social movements can reach people who see the world differently, why shared values matter, and how trusted messengers and positive visions of the future can help bring people together.

In This Episode:

• What makes a future “radical”?
• How do you tailor messages for someone who is experiencing a very different media ecosystem?
• When does political language bring people together, and when can it push people away?
• How do we communicate with people who think the whole system is rigged against them? Which, in today’s climate, could be any of the audience personas.
• How do we acknowledge people's real pain, like soul-crushing jobs and debt, without making them feel even more hopeless?
• Who are the trusted messengers today?
• How do we define a positive vision for the future?

Resources:

Listen to "Main Character Energy", with RALLY Principal Hillary Moglen and Riki Conrey, Principal Scientist at Harmony Labs to learn more about audience identity and the personas discussed in this episode.

Learn more about RadComms: Radical Communicators Network (RadComms)

Read the report: Rising Narratives for a Radical Future