MinnPost Picks: on racists, ‘Stranger Things’ and Fox News

"Where Taking the Concerns of Racists Seriously Has Gotten Us," Slate In the wake of the El Paso shooting, perpetrated by a man espousing racist views and echoing much of the president’s own rhetoric, Tom Scocca identifies an insidious line of argument employed by many centrist-to-conservative pundits: arguing against certain policy choices not on the basis of the writer's own racist beliefs — oh gosh, never — but on the imagined racist beliefs of a great a mass of American voters who must always be placated (that other great mass of non-racist voters never seem to figure into this type of argument). Thus do racist opinions (again, not actually held by the writer) enter the mainstream. — Tom Nehil, news editor “Mazes, Monsters, and Metaphors: Stranger Things and Suburban Horror,” Tor.com This is a (spoiler full) look at metaphors of 1980s suburbia in season 3 of "Stranger Things." The writer looks at some ways safety couldn't be achieved in those suburbs through wealth and homogeneity, especially around abuse, and the ways the show uses horror to talk about those things. — Jonathan Stegall, user experience engineer “US Northwest towns ‘woefully unprepared’ as fire risk grows,” Associated Press Due to climate change, cities and towns in rain-drenched western Washington are at new risk of wildfire — and completely unprepared. The Associated Press takes a look at a region thought to be too wet to burn, where trees and heavy vegetation spill into backgrounds and press against houses. — Walker Orenstein, workforce and environment reporter “What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News,” New York magazine A support group for relatives of people who are addicted to Fox News? That's an idea by a respondent to this callout by an Intelligencer writer for stories of how the media outlet has impacted the relationships of friends and family. If anything, the anecdotes are cathartic if you, too, know someone who's addicted to the channel and more paranoid now than ever. One person said: “It really hurts having a father who is kind and smart but has Fox News brain worms. I can only talk to my dad about the weather. Anything else will set him off, even football …” — Jessica Lee, local government reporter

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MinnPost Picks: on racists, ‘Stranger Things’ and Fox News

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MinnPost Picks: on racists, ‘Stranger Things’ and Fox News