Aug 10, 2017
Truth Trolls
EDITORIAL UPDATE: Radiolab has decided to take down this episode. Some listeners called us out saying that in telling the capture the flag story in the way that we did, we essentially condoned some pretty despicable ideology and behavior. To all the listeners who felt that way, and to everyone else, please know that we hear you and that we take these criticisms to heart. I feel awful that the things we said could be interpreted that way. That's on us. It was certainly not our intention, and we apologize.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, actor Shia Labeouf decided to protest the division he’d seen manifest in the presidential election. His plan: an art piece in the form of a webcam. Its lens, trained on a patch of sidewalk in Queens, New York invited passersby to approach and recite the words “He will not divide us.” But before long the webcam began broadcasting the very division he was attempting to deny, and Shia's artistic statement became the object of a ludicrously intricate effort to uncover a simple fact.
This story was reported by Simon Adler and produced by Matt Kielty.
