{"id":3319,"date":"2017-12-15T17:49:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T22:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=3319"},"modified":"2017-12-15T17:49:55","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T22:49:55","slug":"stephen-baldwins-great-american-pilgrimage-seeks-bridge-divide-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2017\/12\/stephen-baldwins-great-american-pilgrimage-seeks-bridge-divide-america.html","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Baldwin\u2019s \u201cGreat American Pilgrimage\u201d Seeks to Bridge Divide in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stephen_Baldwin_by_Gage_Skidmore\"<\/a>There is an atmosphere of fear and division in America today. People have stopped talking to each other about important issues, and the news is dominated by rage and violence. This lack of dialogue has deepened the gap further, and few people have been willing to try and reopen the lines of communication. Stephen Baldwin, however, has decided to try and bridge the divide that has opened in America. In his new show, \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage,\u201d Stephen Baldwin and his friend, Max Keiser, decided to restart the dialogue that has been lost in America by roadtripping across the U.S. and asking ordinary Americans a simple question: \u201cWhat is America to you?\u201d The show features conversations with everyone from a man who makes wood sculptures with a chainsaw to Hurricane Harvey victims, farmers, immigrants and a woman running for the U.S. Senate. The first season, with the pilot episode, ranges over ten states in the course of 16 half-hour episodes.<\/p>\n

Stephen Baldwin does not so much star in \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage\u201d as much as work to host a conversation that has been far too neglected in recent years. \u201cThe experiment that is \u2018The Great American Pilgrimage\u2019 is this,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cWhat would happen if we went out fully intending to have some fun and host a conversation where what we do is mostly listen? So Stephen Baldwin\u2026is just a guy hosting a conversation to the best of his ability and letting everyone say what they think America is and why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen and Max began their journey in Venice Beach, California before moving on to Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; and Corpus Cristi and Beaumont, Texas. At each point Stephen and Max do their best to make sure the conversation is organic and avoid using scripts. \u201cWhat always allowed [the people spoken to on the show] to feel like they could speak their mind was that the conversation was organic,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t me or Max saying, \u2018Did you know this?\u2019\u2026Unguarded, I think is a good word to describe these exchanges.\u201d Stephen admits that the discussions have gotten uncomfortable a few times, but he says that part of the reason for the ease of dialogue is the sense of humor the show brings. Stephen described it as \u201ccrazy like a fox,\u201d and Stephen and Max have filmed several of the conversations dressed as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n

Though the first season of the show has not finished running, Stephen has already found some common ground between Americans. He described a conversation that he was disappointed did not make the final cut of the show but perfectly illustrated one way Americans can bridge the divide that has formed in the country. \u201cThis guy was talking to me,\u201d Stephen said, \u201cand we both made the observation that..in this particular moment, we were both just dads. It was really kind of a cool moment\u2026and I said, \u2018Right now, it doesn\u2019t matter who we voted for. We\u2019re both just dads who want the best for our daughters.\u201d Stephen also found that most people believe that the dialogue needs to be reopened in America even if they are unsure of how to restart the discussion themselves. \u201cIssues have been so polarized in certain ways by the media and the messages there of. I think we are at the tipping point where folks from all walks of life are saying \u2018Hey, we can\u2019t just keep ignoring each other. We need to find the best way forward and understand each other a little better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen himself feels that the dialogue in the U.S. desperately needs to be reopened in order to keep the divide from eroding America further. \u201cI\u2019m actually a little freaked out,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cI think \u2018Why am I scared to walk down the street and smile at people?\u2019 I\u2019m half-joking and half-serious, but we better start talking, or it\u2019s really going to get stupid in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage\u201d airs at 7:30 on Sunday nights and is available on RT.com. Stephen was proud to say that the episodes had received \u201creally good numbers\u201d so far. \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage\u201d is a bit different from RT\u2019s usual content, but Stephen seemed glad to be part of RT\u2019s branching out.<\/p>\n

Working with RT was a unique experience for Stephen. \u201cI\u2019m not dealing with a studio environment,\u201d Stephen said, \u201cI\u2019m doing a news channel backed by the Russian government.\u201d Showcasing the humor present throughout both his interview and \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage,\u201d Stephen laughed and declared that, \u201cI am colluding with the Russians. It\u2019s official!\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to infusing \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage\u201d with his sense of humor, Stephen said that his faith has also influence his work on \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage.\u201d \u201c[To have these authentic conversations] someone has to feel like you\u2019re genuine and your motivation is real and true. My faith has blessed me with this more than anything. I really, really want to know what [other people] think. They\u2019re connecting with that\u2026Everywhere we go there is a fear that occurs in putting your head up and loving your neighbor\u2026If I didn\u2019t have my faith, I don\u2019t think I could embark on such a pilgrimage seriously…So to try and do something this wacky, while still doing something I believe could be a blessing to a lot of folks, even if it\u2019s just through entertainment when everything coming out of the TV is doom and gloom, it\u2019s only by my faith that I have the strength to do that and not get discouraged myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

During filming, Stephen consciously tries to avoid being the stereotypical Hollywood star in his conversations. \u201cWhen many of these Hollywood types come out,\u201d Stephen said, \u201cThey tell twenty minutes of jokes to set the mood. I\u2019m not pretending to be as intelligent as Jimmy Kimmel and so qualified to speak on certain platforms.\u201d Again, Stephen laughed and declared, \u201cThat\u2019s a dig! You tell them Baldwin said to say that\u2019s a dig!\u201d<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, Stephen said that for the show things are going \u201cso far so good. People really feel like this idea is timely, and they are embracing it.\u201d He is hopeful that viewers watching \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage\u201d will join him on his journey across the nation and \u201clearn something. But,\u201d he said, \u201cit might also have you to have a few thoughts about yourself. That\u2019s the hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an atmosphere of fear and division in America today. People have stopped talking to each other about important issues, and the news is dominated by rage and violence. This lack of dialogue has deepened the gap further, and few people have been willing to try and reopen the lines of communication. Stephen Baldwin,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,293,20],"tags":[768,767],"class_list":["post-3319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiring-celebrities","category-interview","category-something-to-think-about","tag-communication","tag-stephen-baldwin"],"yoast_head":"\nStephen Baldwin\u2019s \u201cGreat American Pilgrimage\u201d Seeks to Bridge Divide in America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his new show, \u201cThe Great American Pilgrimage,\u201d Stephen Baldwin works to restart the dialogue that's been lost in America by talking to everyday Americans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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