I just started reading Freakonomics this week. Although almost all of it could reasonably be defined as “cool enough to be blog-worthy”, one thing stands out. After WWII, reporter and activist Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the KKK with the intention of ultimately doing them some harm. (And perhaps getting a book deal). He managed to join the klan and learn their secrets. He wanted to find some way to use that information against them that would do more than a little harm. He ultimately contacted the people who made the then popular superman radio program and leaked all the KKK’s secrets to them. They had a multi part series where Superman fought the KKK, using real KKK political structures, secrets, code names, hierarchies, etc. – right down to the secret klan handshake. The klansmen felt humiliated. When the klan tried to change their secret passwords, Stetson just leaked the new information. Ultimately, as described by Kennedy, attendance at meetings dropped precipitously, and the klan began to crumble. I guess it’s hard to be badass when 10 year olds are acting out your secret activities in playgrounds all across the country wearing their mothers pillowcases as klan robes.

The moral of the story? Superman always wins in the end.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 10:25 pm by Ari and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.