You're Watching 'Traitors' Wrong

And that's why it's driving you crazy.

This frame told us so much about the episodes to come…

I have a hot take. If you’re watching The Traitors for escapism, you’re doing this all wrong. Traitors is where I go to study humankind. To understand how we ended up in this hellacious moment as a society. I turn my TV on and see incredible fashion and hilarious moments, yes. But I also watch how groupthink unfolds in real time. I watch people underestimate the wrong people based on bias and personal alliances. I see how it’s easy to get away with deception, or being flat out wrong time and time again if you’re hot or socially charismatic. I notice how much easier it is to fly under the radar for some folks, and how that same quietness evokes suspicion for others. I don’t watch Traitors to tap OUT. I watch it to tap IN.

Is it maddening? Yes. Do I get secondhand embarrassment and want to hide under the table every time someone is CERTAIN they’re right about a thing I know for a fact they’re wrong about? Absolutely. Then I remember these people are walking among us every day, making poor decisions with conviction.

And I don’t feel relief, but I do feel a sense of deep knowing.

What I’ve Been Reading

• “None of the Above” by Shani Robinson and Anna Simonton.
  It’s jarring to (re)read a book about the way in which the education of children in Atlanta was systematically disregarded in the 2000s. (Especially considering I was a child enrolled in APS and in the grade whose scores sparked investigations into cheating during this time.) And I don’t mean by the teachers who ended up being convicted. I mean by federal and state policies that prioritized testing above all, real estate investors and politicians who used school funding to gentrify Black and low-income neighborhoods, etc.

• “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” by Xochitl Gonzalez.
  This fictional book taught me if there is a book about a loud, unapologetic woman of color with an axe to grind, I’m IMMEDIATELY interested. The titular character is so well-written and so hilarious.

• “The Message” by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
  It’s moving to watch someone I look up to grapple with the power of their writing and be accountable for the impact it has. This book sat on my nightstand for so long because I was so angry about what was going on globally and the reaction to this book at the time of its release that I didn’t read much nonfiction (leisurely, outside of work) at all in 2024. I’m rectifying that and cleaning off my nightstand now.

What I’ve Been Listening to:

• Sasha Keable, still.
  The Brits continue to have me in a chokehold and I do apologize to anyone who is within earshot of me as I try to reproduce her vocal runs.