Stop Signs, Golf Clubs, and the KKK: Why We See What We're Looking For

Stop Signs, Golf Clubs, and the KKK: Why We See What We're Looking For"

If you see people as the enemy, you're going to find evidence of it everywhere, because that's exactly what you're looking for. That's the theme running through this episode, and I've got three ridiculous, infuriating examples to prove it.

I open with a story from my restaurant days in my 20s, when I knew a guy so convinced everything was out to get him that I couldn't resist messing with him. I told him a stop sign is secretly Satanic: S-T-O-P, "Satan's the only power," and for about ten seconds, he actually bought it. It's a dumb bit, but it makes the point: when you're primed to see a threat, you'll see one, even in a stop sign.

Then I get into the real outrage of the week. A golf club ad gets torched online because a husband tackles his wife to stop her from swinging a "possessed" driver, and somehow that becomes "promoting domestic abuse." Both companies apologized, Dick's Sporting Goods pulled the product, and I'm just sitting here wondering how we got from a Halloween-themed commercial to that conclusion. Spoiler: I don't think the apology helped. I talk about why the outrage crowd never actually accepts an apology once they've decided you're guilty.

From there it's on to a Converse ad, a woman in a robe surrounded by shoes, lit with a star-shaped light. Innocent, right? Not if you're looking for a hood and a lynching, which is exactly what some people saw. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist. I'm saying if that's all you're trained to look for, you'll find it in a shoe ad.

I also get into:

• Why I think racism is taught, not innate, and why I lean toward the "let's just treat each other like people" camp
• The "hottest year ever" claims that ignore the Dust Bowl, and why nobody wants to actually talk facts anymore
• My own mildly lost, mildly nervous walk through New York City, and why I think we've confused "anxious" with "nervous" or "excited" to the point where kids can now leave class because they didn't get enough Captain Crunch
• The WNBA controversy over defining what a woman is (spoiler: I think biology already answered this)
• Why I've mostly quit watching the news and started getting it from podcasts instead

I wrap up the way I usually do: we've got to stop having stupid arguments, start talking to people outside our own bubbles, and quit assuming the worst about each other. Until then, I'm still betting things get better.

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