It's a mixture of our current concept of the psyche, about the nature of emotional distress, our litigious civil structure, our notions of social validation, and our postmodern approach to language and truth. We Americans wear clothes, use items, and eat food that require people to live existences that we'd rather not. All this has and will continue to evolve. Future generations will wonder about us as we wonder about those past.
I am almost inclined to believe that it's a joke, seeing how the comment linked speaks of exactly this behaviour, where we call everything that irks us or that we don't agree with "racist" to the point where it loses all meaning. There definitely is racism in the world, there is ignorance, there are all sorts of ugly, horrible things, but I don't believe that this article will lead to some negative outcome or that the guy in the comment is willfully ignorant or straight up racist, as determinedkid seems to think.
I am confused by your comment. I went back to the article to see if Vernor Hornung was the author, or if he was in any way a thought leader or person of influence. I don't think that he is. Is this just a comment from twitter that you've shared? I'm sure you realize that you could read an article about self driving cars and find a racist comment about it somewhere. Why? Because racists will be racists and there are unfortunately no shortage of them. Regarding this particular comment that you posted, it's blatantly crass.... "snow?" ... it isn't completely incorrect though it is completely poorly written and way over simplified. But, false claims of racism exist. I've probably been someone to make one, if only internally. I grew up in a town adjacent to the town where the grand wizard of the KKK lived. I was just back there and while pumping gas a skin head was looking at me like he wanted to crush my skull. Maybe he wasn't a skin head, but just had early on set hair loss and naturally has a scowl....? -probably not though. He likely thought I was an arab and wanted to nuke me. But, there are moments that are unclear and then there are those that are blatant. (see below link) I recall working at a restaurant as a dining room manager on a Saturday night. We were slammed and had no tables available for walk-ins. An asian family walked in, without a reservation and asked for a table. They had a party of 6. As it turned out, we had one table that would be available shortly that could accommodate them. It was right next to the door to the kitchen and therefore, not the best table. I sat them there and the father of the family took me aside and said that he was angry and that just because they were asian didn't mean I could treat them this way. I told him that it had nothing to do with his being asian but was because he had no reservation and it was the only table available. He could wait for 45 minutes to an hour for a better table if he'd like. He again insisted that I was being "racist." I got pissed off. I told him that as a mexican american I have experienced racism and that many people in the US experience very real racism and that by claiming that I was racist for seating him at this table he was dishonoring the very real struggle others have to go through every day. I told him that I do not take him calling me a racist "lightly," and that he owned me an apology. He apologized and sat back down and had his dinner. I have no doubt that he genuinely felt he was being discriminated against, but he wasn't. I also have no doubt that there were a confluence of events in his life that led to him having this perception. Still, he could have been blonde haired blue eyed and would have still had table 26. All this to say that there are definitely times when racism is called out and it just isn't so and when this happens it's a real bummer. I'm not sure it's a "boy who cry wolf" scenario because, lets be honest... more often than not, IT'S A WOLF. For example, this -Infuriating. Anyways, racism... it sucks. This article was worth considering though and I didn't find it racist.
I think that the worst part about the article is its title. It kind of seems like the title is race baiting a little bit, and the editors should have considered that a little more before settling on it. However, I thought the writing itself was pretty well considered, and highlights ways in which greater sensitivity has made us stronger and weaker in different ways. I also think it's hilarious that there are so many anxiety animals in CA that they have to remind people that it's illegal. I know two women in CA who have had their pets designated as legal helpers, which mainly allows them to take them on flights for free.