Welcome! If you’ve agreed to be a guest on the show (or are considering it), you’re in the right place. With any luck, this page has all the answers to questions you have — and a lot of answers to questions you didn’t.

Scroll and click around. Read what you want, and let Sam know if there’s anything else you need to know right now, or anything you think we should add/edit.

Yo! We know there are a TON of words here, so each section has a TL;DR at the bottom. That's really all you need to know. Everything else is here for context and explanation.

Our goal with each episode

We’re making this show because we believe in the goals of the social justice movement (we want to live in a world where everyone is healthy, understood, educated, and safe), but are concerned with some of the roadblocks we are constructing in our own way.

With each episode, we hope to accomplish two things:

  1. Flesh out a concept of the social justice dogma that might be preventing us from accomplishing social justice outcomes
  2. Help the guest present themselves, and their ideas, in the best light possible.

This isn’t a “gotcha” show. It actually couldn’t be any further from that. The topics we’re talking about are already volatile enough without heightening the stakes, so we’ll work to defuse landmines along the way.

Further, this isn’t a gripe show. This comment from Sam’s friend Roshan Bliss on Facebook sums up the balance we’re trying to strike:

There’s definitely lots of bullshit that comes with being involved in social justice work.

I think spelling out some of the ways progressives tend contradict ourselves/our values or engage in mass hypocrisy is good, but I hope you also put some real thought into how the episodes of this podcast can be more than simple criticism, and may even offer folks help or guidance on how the problems you point to could be different or changed for the better.

I think having the episodes take the tone of a “call in” versus a “call out” (there could be several episodes on call out culture…) will spell the difference between the show just burning bridges / pissing people off (and maybe becoming a hit with conservatives/the alt right as proof from a progressive that progressives suck) and offering constructive criticism to a lot of people in a way they can hear it and make use of it.

Let’s not make this show a hit with the alt right to prove that progressives suck. Help us make a show that provides guidance on how we can change for the better.

TL;DR: We want this show to help listeners understand how unhelpful a lot of dogmatic principles within social justice might be, and for them to thank you and appreciate you for it.

Before the interview: Planning, prep, and timing

We’ll figure out a time for the call. Sam will call you then, which will ideally be the first time you chat on the phone with Sam about these topics (this way, we’re not rehashing an old conversation) — an interview trick Sam learned from Katie Couric.

We won’t send you questions beforehand.

If you want to get to know Sam a little bit more, here’s his bio. He’ll have read/watched/listened to your stuff, but there’s no expectation that you do the same.

TL;DR: We’ll set a time, we’ll call you then and it’ll be the first time Sam and you will connect. If you get to know Sam before, you can, but no pressure.

Technical details: Making a useable recording

If you have access to FaceTime Audio (an iOS/MacOS device), we’ll be using that for the interview. Sam will do all the recording on his end using a mangle of wires and audio devices.

If you can’t FaceTime, we’ll use Skype Audio, or come up with another option based on your needs.

For the best possible outcome, here’s what we need from you:

  1. Solid WiFi connection. Connect to your network on the device you plan to use and run a speed test to check: for high-quality audio, we’re looking for consistent 15-20 Mbps download / 2-3 Mbps upload.
  2. Headphones with a microphone (even standard Apple earbuds). It doesn’t have to be really fancy (but if you have a fancy mic, great! Use it!), it just has to not be the built in mic/speakers for your phone/computer.
  3. Be in a quiet space, be seated and comfy (so you don’t have to fidget in a chair), and turn off any distractions or noisy things (notifications, fans, computers, dogs, etc.).
TL;DR: We’ll use FaceTime Audio, Skype Audio, or something else (in that order of preference) for the recording. You just need a quiet spot, headphones with a microphone, and wifi.

How the interview will go

Sam doesn’t have prepared questions for each guest. Instead, once we’re on the phone, he’ll facilitate a conversation that follows this flow:

  1. Get a sense of where you’re coming from, and the specific aspects of the social justice dogma you’ve encountered.
  2. Hone in on a particular “tenet” of social justice dogma.
    Explore why that tenet exists, why many of us reinforce or follow it, and why it might be (or might be thought of as) helpful.
  3. Explore why it might be unhelpful, and how it might be getting in the way of the goals of social justice.
  4. End by discussing some alternatives: how might we do things differently.

In this way, Heretic isn’t your typical interview show: instead of the interview focusing on the guest (their life, their work, etc.), it focuses on the insight the guest has into a particular idea.

We likely highlighted a particular tenet in his outreach or communication with you, or you might have one in mind that you really want to dig into. But if not, we’ll narrow it down pretty quickly and go from there. It’s how these conversations naturally flow.

At any point, you’re welcome to go “off the record” to ask clarifying questions, or to give a response another shot. We’ll edit out anything after that you’re not happy with.

You can also ask for a pause at any time to use the restroom, grab a sip, or assuage a child/pet in need.

This is a long-form podcast, so plan for 2 hours total. We may not need all that time, but we would rather end early than feel rushed to wrap up in the middle of a meaningful conversation.

TL;DR: We'll record a casual, organic conversation, starting when you answer the call and ending when you hang up -- maxing out at 2 hours, and we'll only use the bits you give us a thumbs up on.

After the interview: Consent, publicity, usage

So what happens after we hang up? A few things, hopefully! And they’ll all happen pretty fast.

Consenting for Publication

Later in the day, we’ll send you a link to the unedited audio from the interview and ask for your consent to use it (in all the ways we’re listing below). We’ll wait for an enthusiastic “yes!” (not just the absence of “no”) before we move forward.

If we get your 👍, we’ll then listen to the interview again ourselves, and get a “yes” from our producers to move forward. If we have 👍 +👍, here’s what will happen next:

  • 📼Editing and post-production clean-up: removing some “ums,” any tangents that didn’t add to the convo, or any timestamps you want us to take out, as well as improving the audio quality for that velvet-y radio experience
  • 📮Posting your episode on the site here: with show notes, related resources (which we’ll add, or you can suggest some yourself), and a downloadable/streamable version of your episode
  • 📲Publishing on all of the Podcast platforms we support: your episode will then get pushed out to our distribution network, where anyone who is subscribed will get a notification to be able to listen
  • 📣Promoting on Social and our sibling sites/platforms: we’ll spread the word as far as we can, and we ask that you help us get the word out however you can (Let us know how we can help! More on this below)
  • 🗃Cataloged and archived for the future: your interview will featured here indefinitely, as well as your “Contributor Profile” (which you can edit however you like in the future), and anything else you want to contribute (a blog post, a resource) — we are happy to provide you a platform to continue talking about social justice, minus dogma.

Publicity Stuff

For every episode we publish, we’ll create a few social-friendly shareables that we will provide for you (if you want to use them) and be using ourselves. You’ll also have a Heretic-style portrait doodle, which is yours to use however you want. Consider it Sam’s gift to you.

If you need anything else from us (a particular image, a clip, whatever), just ask! We’re happy to help. We want to get the word out as much as you do (and maybe more — we’re really excited to be publishing your interview). Put us to work. We’ll say “no” if there’s something we can’t do, or if a request is somehow too much.

Generic Heretic Artwork

Usage Stuff

You are welcome to use the produced, finished episode however you want. 

You can chop it up and share clips on your social, or your own site. You can publish the entire episode on your podcast as-is, or upload it to a YouTube channel. Literally. However. You. Want. It’s yours as much as it’s ours.

This Uncopyright/Creative Commons mentality only applies to the produced, finished episode. We ask, however, that you do not download or use the un-produced “thumbs up” clip that we share with you. So, in general, if we choose not to produce/publish the interview, you may not use it either (unless you ask, and get our thumbs up).

TL;DR: Before we move forward, We'll make sure you're happy with the interview, then our producers will sign off. After that, we'll promote the hell out of it, and give you all the help you need to do the same. And the published interview is yours to use however you want.

Ground rules: What’s off-limits, out-of-bounds, or not okay

Let’s keep this section simple.

For us

There are only two big DON’Ts:

  • ⛔️Don’t gossip, or bring individual’s names/identities into this in ways that might result in them being the target of a witch hunt. We don’t need to drag any person through the mud to make our case (if we do, we don’t have a strong case).
  • ⛔️Don’t perpetuate one tenet of social justice dogma to refute another. Consider this the “master’s tools” ground rule.

Sam will call you on those two if they come up (and we can edit those parts out after, and move forward with the convo no problem), but beyond that, everything is on the table.

For you

We welcome you to name any boundaries or ground rules you will need in order to participate in this conversation.

If there’s anything you don’t want Sam to ask about (a current event, some past thing, a particular idea/concept/whatever), let us know beforehand.

Odds are we’ll be totally happy to work around whatever you need. If we aren’t, we’ll let you know. This platform isn’t for everyone, and we don’t want to push someone into a conversation that pushes them past their comfort limits in an unhealthy way. No problem whatsoever.

TL;DR: don't gossip or use one bad idea to argue against another bad idea, and let us know what you need from us to show up.