printTa Nehisi Coates is no intellectual; he says ‘aks’ instead of ‘ask’ and is utterly incoherent, putting forth—in a lengthy interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes (who is manifestly bright)—turgid, sweeping, logically flawed argument.
If we must segregate intellectuals, then Thomas Sowell is a thinker, as is Walter E. Williams. But not this man. Alas, Coates’ fortunes are not merit-based. Yes, how does the adulation Coates receives square with his accusations, made into a career calling, of our racism, yours and mine?
Hayes attempted diplomatically, 6:30 minutes in, to refute Coates’ put down of all whites who voted Trump, but Hayes backed down from being intellectually forceful. Besides, Coats was unable to respond to the host. Simply couldn’t.
I’ve not yet READ “The First White President: The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy.” However, the thesis seems a little dumb, for a negation of Obama is not necessarily racial, given that such an overwhelming number of whites had voted for 44. A vote for Obama, moreover, on the part of blacks was most certainly racial. But that’s OK.
As to “America’s founding sins,” as Coats calls slavery. I was not party to that, so I reject his collective guilt. We all should.
UPDATE I: On Gab, someone point out that, “African-American vernacular is a legitimate dialect of English, no different than southern or Australian or any other dialect. That doesn’t make it inferior.”
REPLY: This cultivated African-American dialect was, I believe, absent in the 1950s through the 1960s and even the 70s. It’s a racial, not regional, dialect, adopted, it would seem, artificially for political ends.
UPDATE II: DON on Gab: Having not been alive in those decades I can’t personally refute that (ridiculous, I mean come on) claim, but have a listen to this 1956 interview with a Black American and tell me it doesn’t sound quite a bit like blacks today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvEE9zdHpcY
REPLY: The most educated of blacks once sounded like educated Americans, not like the exotic exhibits you make them out to be. Do yo think people should strive to speak great English, the language of the founders & of the founding docs? Or bastardize the language to pidgin english? Leftists are with you.
UPDATE III (10/1/017):
MTP asks Ta-Nullity Coats, aka Ta Nehisi Coates: “Are you optimistic about the future of your son in the US?” Oracle answers: “I’m optimistic about my son.” Me: “Ta-ta tembel.” (That means stupid in Hebrew.)
Transcript (thanks, MSNBC, for always transcribing): “Meet the Press – October 1, 2017.”