PODCAST: Hate Hoaxes Have a Home Here

08.29.19

On your leisurely summer walks, have you seen those yard signs that cropped up all over Illinois and other states over the past three years—you know, the ones with the banal expression “Hate Has No Home Here”? Who could disagree with such a statement, and, therefore, why a yard sign? Well, there’s text and then there’s subtext and history. The text expresses an important idea commonly held. So, why make a yard sign to announce a commonplace verity to every passerby every day for three years? Ah, now we come to the subtext, but first the fascinating history that the mainstream press did a very poor job illuminating.