For the most part I try not to take people's inability to do basic analysis personally. Like the people joking about English teachers reaching for meanings/symbols are probably in primary education themselves.    I mean English teachers usually choose books with heavy use of symbols to *teach* symbolism. Most students are just too dense to get it until they are lead by the hand.     It might also explain why so many people on Reddit don't get the concept of Dog-whistles. The idea that words or symbols can mean more than what's written or seen is something they simply don't have the education to grasp.