In the second season of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on quite the journey of his opinions and revisions in his podcast.
New York Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell returns for season two of his podcast. His first episode on golf is far more interesting than the actual sport itself. In his aptly named Revisionist History podcast, Gladwell plays the part of forensic pathologist and challenges the status quo of our collective understanding of history.
“A Good Walk Spoiled” takes a philosophical look at golf as an addiction. At one point, the author even refers to the sport as “crack cocaine for rich white guys.” Within the 35-minute episode, Gladwell pulls in a number of guests, including a data-filled graduate student of economics, a philosophy professor, and even a successful landscape architect.
L.A Tax laws
In tandem, they reveal how long-time L.A. tax laws protecting fenced-in golf courses and the exclusive nature of golf limit the number of parks for the public to enjoy.
Albeit compelling, nothing about this episode is all that surprising. Gladwell gives you the information you need to back-up what you already know. Golf is inherently a rich man’s sport. We get the dirt behind the obvious, but does that change anything? At first, I really didn’t think so. I began as an irritated listener. I was feeling hopeless at the idea of change, until I remembered Molly Ivins’ quote: “Freedom fighters don’t always win, but they are always right.”
Golf is not an addiction. Golf is a game of power that the wealthy population has played with each other for generations. It takes up an offensive amount of space for a very small amount of players, all while depriving the general public of having access to the land or experience.
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America has yet to change the culture of golf but it doesn’t mean we can’t talk about what makes it wrong. Revisionist History is often very sad, but it is there for us to listen, understand, and fight for what is right.