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The Highwire with Del Bigtree

HOW TO TURN DEBATE INTO DIALOGUE

The Highwire with Del Bigtree

The Highwire with Del Bigtree

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, News

4.93.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Carrie Bigford of Texans for Vaccine Choice unpacks how to talk about medical freedom without blowing up relationships. Drawing on her mental-health background, Carrie walks through her “prepare, connect, inform, allow” framework and explains why tone, body language, and genuine curiosity matter more than “perfect facts” when you’re trying to change hearts and minds. Get a HighWire exclusive promo code to join the online course on effective outreach for these important tools to make a difference.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The big question is, how am I going to have that conversation at the Christmas table or the Hanukkah table?

0:06.7

We're all going home for the holidays, but you don't want to show up with this shirt, not vaccinated and ready to talk politics.

0:13.8

You know, I don't think that's Thanksgiving.

0:16.5

I don't think that was the way to do it, but, you know, nice try.

0:19.9

Anyway, you know what I mean. These are

0:22.6

sensitive topics, but it's the most important thing we're going to do right now because we have

0:27.7

a vote that's coming up. We have things. We have, you know, an electoral season coming that will

0:31.9

decide how much Robert Kennedy Jr. is going to be able to do. How far down the road are we going to

0:36.8

get? We're only going to get there if we keep enrolling more and more people.

0:41.1

That's why I want everyone sharing an inconvenient study. Just go there, inconvenient

0:45.3

study.com, share the film. But how are you going to talk to your friends and loved ones?

0:50.7

Well, I'm joined now by Carrie Bigford, that that is exactly what you are doing.

0:55.4

You've got a program to help people talk about this somewhat complicated issue.

1:02.4

It's not somewhat complicated. It's very complicated. And we absolutely have to talk about it

1:07.0

because we won't succeed if we can't have this conversation. And fear is one of the

1:12.4

biggest barriers. I know that you've been in a long time, just like me. Have you ever had

1:17.4

one of your well-intentioned, thoughtful conversations go unexpectedly sideways with someone?

1:22.6

Never.

1:24.7

Well. No, but I know a lot of people that have. Absolutely.

1:27.5

Of course.

1:28.5

Never for you.

1:29.5

Right. You know, especially when you're starting out, when I first was, you know, traveling with Vax, every once in a while I would get myself into a position where I, you know, brought up a point that then gets used against me in a way I hadn't imagined. You don't do that twice. Yep. great if someone had like walked that road and had said, you know what, here's the mistake I've made, you don't want to make that mistake. Well, I failed forward. Great. And through lots of years of bad outreach, I developed excellent outreach. And my background is mental health. So one of the reasons why those conversations can go sideways on a difficult, polarizing, emotionally driven topic

...

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