A student told me the following joke…

Q: Can you name a mouse that walks on two legs?
Me: Mickey Mouse!
Q: And can you name a duck that walks on two legs?
Me: Donald Duck!
Them: All ducks walk on two legs, prof!!!

This joke works on others. Try it.

And that got me thinking...

There's something clever about the set-up, that by priming me to think of Mickey Mouse, it narrowed my mind. Like an idiot, I thought that thinking of Donald as a two-legged duck made me clever. But really I was walking right into their trap. My mind was closed to all other ducks

And I wondered: Is this what political speech is all about? Seduce me with stories of mice that close my mind so much that I forget about the reality there are two-legged ducks all around me (and not just in Anaheim).

Could a skillful politician pull this trick on me every day?

Think about our current political moment. It seems like a lotta two-legged ducks are being ignored. My first instinct is to say it's the other side that can't see the truth about ducks. But what if it's me? If a simple story about Mickey Mouse makes me so foolish, it could be me.

So here's my advice: Surround yourself with people who haven't been primed to think about any specific mouse. Ask them if you're not seeing the ducks. And even if you can't see the ducks, admit they may be there.

Now, where can I find someone who's never heard of Mickey Mouse?