Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm Sam Fregoso. Welcome to the show. Hey yo, yo, yo, Hey everyone. Back in 2017 I made a trip to New York City. My plan was to do five

podcasts in seven days.

This was when life was life, where you could sit in a room with strangers and just talk.

I remember sleeping on my friend Charles's couch, shuttling myself across the city

on public transit and by foot. I remember complaining about the hustle and bustle of the city and all the people in it. And now I'm in a

closet alone recording an introduction for a podcast, missing all those same people. What I wouldn't do to be mildly inconvenienced

on an overcrowded train. Nevertheless, one of those aforementioned New York episodes was with writer and podcaster, Malcolm

Gladwell.

Malcolm's popular podcast, Revisionist History, has just returned for season five.

You've likely heard the show, or at the very least, heard of the show.

It's a program that re-examines an event, person, or idea from the past, something overlooked, something misunderstood.

Before the podcast, he was primarily a writer.

His words appeared in the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and, most notably, in several best-selling books.

The tipping point, Blink, Outliers, David, and Goliath.

His latest book is called Talking to Strangers. It focuses on something I've been thinking

about a lot lately. Strangers. Like the Strangers on that overcrowded train in New York.

The pandemic has forced all of us into isolation. And yet, as we

emerge, I wonder about the relationship we will have with one another, with those we don't know.

This week, Malcolm shares his ideas and findings on that very subject.

We also discuss growing up in Canada, cancel culture, free speech, the dangers of Twitter,

his thoughts on George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, the defund police movement, and much more.

Before we get into this, I want to note,

...