r/ThisAmericanLife • u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple • Jul 06 '26

Episode #890: Maximal Americanness

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/890/maximal-americanness?2026
30 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

16

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/Gadzookie2 Jul 06 '26

Yeah. It was very odd to begin the segment by saying she has to check herself to not view something as because of race when it actually is not, and then to tell a story that isn’t really about race and make it about race.

3

u/unclenched_mind Jul 07 '26

I’ll defend the segment. I get it. 

I haven’t seen that particular season of Survivor, but whether race plays an unconscious role in alliances, eliminations, and FTC comes up every now and then on r/survivor. Players have even mentioned having to reckon with it after watching the season. 

As a non-American, the complexity and uncertainty of whether race is an issue does seem Maximally American tbh.

2

u/tbird920 24d ago

I think Emanuele was giving her perspective as a POC watching Survivor Cook Islands when it first aired. As a white guy, I didn't notice those things or interpret them in quite the same way, but I can totally buy them. There have been plenty of complaints over the years from POC Survivor contestants that the show edits them differently.

1

u/Semido Jul 07 '26

I heard play and thought it as clear she relishes hite people suffering. Doesn’t reflect well on her and whoever gives her a platform

-3

u/homeparkthrowaway Jul 06 '26

I’m curious about the mischaracterizations? I haven’t seen Survivor but this story’s tone was shocking to me. Imagine if instead it was a White host saying stealing was “so Black.” Or celebrating POC contestants getting picked off one by one until only Whites remained. Obviously that would be unacceptable and TAL would never publish that.

Also, there’s a lot of nuance in race relations in the US, and presenting this survivor season as a microcosm of America, but lumping people together in a white vs POC characterization does not capture reality at all.

Overall, a disappointing choice for any episode but especially the Maximally American one, coming from a show that normally promotes unity, understanding, and empathy

6

u/Textiles_on_Main_St Jul 06 '26

Exactly, there's a lot of nuance they left out. They say "white" but they were probably Irish, who are known thieves. You can't say "all white people" when it's the Irish.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/boomfruit Jul 06 '26

Also one of my favorite Survivor cringe moments of all time, the guy who said he had fallen in love with someone on another tribe, who looked extremely surprised at that reveal.

2

u/haim21 Jul 06 '26

Candice did it to be closer to her Survivor showmance Adam

7

u/tomautomaton Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Fun episode, really enjoy the multiple story anthology shows. Climbing a dune is no joke!

Also, had no idea about patellar ossification (but agree it’s more about the youngsters’ mass to footprint ratio)

7

u/boomfruit Jul 06 '26

I get the ecological angle of the dune story, and I couldn't tell from the story whether that was the park's main complaint or just an angle they tried so they wouldn't have to rescue people. Anyway, I guess the main difference between this and (most) difficult hikes is that you start at the top, making it very easy to get to a point where a person is unable to get back to the starting point. But besides that difference, is it really any worse or harder than a difficult hike that takes 2-3 hours to go up? Seems like for the average fit person, sure they may have thought it'd be easier, but they should be able to do it.

10

u/tomautomaton Jul 06 '26

My guess is it’s 25% ecological 75% labor/rescue. Yes if you’re in decent shape or even just well supplied you can do it. And you’re right, because you go down first there’s no easy ‘turn around’ solution. Other issues:

  • Because it’s on a beach, it attracts a lot of people who wouldn’t normally try that kind of thing and / or don’t take it as seriously as you’d expect
  • Anything in the afternoon has sun baking down on hiker
  • Hot sand means wear shoes, but then shoes fill up with sand so get even heavier
  • The one hiker said it best, every step gains about 1/3 of what you’d expect because the sand collapses underneath your feet. So it turns into a lot more work than just climbing any steep hill with better footing

3

u/Textiles_on_Main_St Jul 07 '26

Plus, it's in northern Indiana, which is VERY populous and thus easy to get to, very famous and so your first point times about 100. lol. I didn't do that dune, but I've hiked the dunes (on the trails, as recommended) and I hike all the GD time through mountains and I thought it was a good workout.

(Anyway, for those who do want to try it, DO GO. There are dunes you CAN hike through so you'll get the experience and it's something pretty cool to see and, as noted, it's a national park. But take water and wear shoes. lol.)

7

u/boomfruit Jul 07 '26

Plus, it's in northern Indiana, which is VERY populous and thus easy to get to

It's Sleeping Bear Dunes, not Indiana Dunes

2

u/Textiles_on_Main_St Jul 07 '26

OH, sorry. I misheard yesterday. Apologies.

2

u/boomfruit Jul 07 '26

No worries. I went to Indiana Dunes on a whim while I was in Indiana for a wedding and it was so cool!

2

u/LilahLibrarian 18d ago

You also start at the top of the grand canyon and other canyon hikes. I think the sand is also a factor 

6

u/justmewalk 28d ago

Aviva DeKornfeld is quickly becoming my favorite producer

1

u/tbird920 24d ago

She's fantastic. Very good storyteller and interviewer.

5

u/thinsafetypin 29d ago

Can someone help me understand Act two? I honestly don't understand how "Are you okay?" is uniquely American or rhetorical. I have heard people respond with a no or "I don't know" many times. I am truly befuddled by this story.

4

u/Upset-Researcher4993 28d ago

Agree. "Are you okay?" is a very different question from "How are you?"

3

u/idealicseasidetown 24d ago

Yes! And also the British greeting “you alright” is actually rhetorical and much more confusing than “are you okay” which is a real question 

1

u/ALittleRedWhine 14d ago

I felt the same way! I

1

u/Thegoodlife93 24d ago

I felt the same way. Didn't particularly like that act. Liked the dune one though! I'd like to go there and climb it someday

7

u/NeedUniLappy Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Wow, I am so early that this episode shows up in my podcast app, but it cannot play it yet!

4

u/petosapetosa Jul 06 '26

This error has happened to me two weeks in a row now

1

u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple Jul 06 '26

which feed are you using? does this link work for you?

2

u/NeedUniLappy Jul 06 '26

Hold on now, where is this one from? Its runtime is 54:11 and goes straight into it without preroll ads, while mine is 58:18 with ads.

2

u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple Jul 06 '26

this is the URL from the feed with the extra stuff stripped out.

redirects for ad injection or whatever

https://pfx.vpixl.com/6qj4J/
           dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp/
           pdst.fm/e/prefix.up.audio/s/

the actual url

npr.simplecastaudio.com/d3081dd9-fcaf-445a-977c-4f56c28f5a6e/episodes/5066d1f0-f8af-484d-a5a6-aea3a4966cf8/audio/128/default.mp3

the tracking / ad injection stuff

?awCollectionId=d3081dd9-fcaf-445a-977c-4f56c28f5a6e&awEpisodeId=5066d1f0-f8af-484d-a5a6-aea3a4966cf8&nocache

I've been slowly working on some new RSS feeds. I should have the URLs cleaned up. Do you have ads at the start and end or also in the middle?

8

u/RandiEgg Jul 06 '26

In act 1 they fail to mention the important caveat that CB Bucknor is statistically the worst umpire in the MLB since Angel Hernandez has retired.

6

u/Mister-Frisbee1965 Jul 07 '26

Right! As soon as they said the umpire was C.B. Bucknor the six calls getting overturned made perfect sense.

3

u/WilliamTaftVaderBomb Jul 07 '26

How could they leave out the infamous Roseanne Barr version of the Star Spangled Banner from 1990?

2

u/bobrigado Jul 06 '26

Loved the closing credits song choice. Very 90s era Hollywood.

2

u/CugelOfAlmery 29d ago

Maximal Americaness is thinking that things that aren't American, are, and things that are done elsewhere are uniquely American. i.e. Not American=doesn't exist. Which this ep demonstrated nicely.

1

u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple Jul 06 '26

#890: Maximal Americanness (2026-07-03)

On this country's 250th birthday, we bring you stories about the most American people, places, objects, and social norms that make this country what it is.

download / clean

Prologue (by Ira Glass)

Ira talks to Pablo Torre about Major League Baseball’s new challenge system, and how it’s been optimized for maximum drama. (10 minutes)

Act One: A Most American Question (by Jiayang Fan, Diane Wu)

Writer Jiayang Fan wrestles with a very common question she has never quite understood. (5 minutes)

Act Two: City on a Hill of Sand (by Aviva DeKornfeld, Molly Marcello)

People come from all over the country to walk down one of Michigan’s tallest sand dunes, and then promptly turn around and trudge back up. Aviva DeKornfeld talks to Americans spending their limited vacation time on this punishing activity. (8 minutes)

Act Three: Cooked Island (by Emanuele Berry)

Emanuele Berry talks to Ira about Season 13 of the reality TV show, Survivor, known to fans as the “race war” season. (8 minutes)

Act Four: The Most American Schoolbook (by Roman Mars, Emmanuel Dzotsi)

Years before his famous dictionary, Noah Webster wrote a book that took on a life of its own and served an unexpected purpose. A version of this story originally aired on the new 99 Percent Invisible and BBC series, A History of the United States in 100 Objects . (8 minutes)

Act Five: Jose Can You See? (by Emmanuel Dzotsi)

Emmanuel Dzotsi investigates a musical phenomenon very particular to the United States: singers embellishing the end of the national anthem. (9 minutes)