TNC
Two from Ta-Nehisi.
First, he relays some great stuff on Ali-Frazier. Frazier really doesn't across well at all. Not that Ali does, but better than Frazier. Entertaining stuff.
Second, he writes about Sotomayor, Lindsey Graham, and PC. I really don't get what he's saying here. The possibilities I can think of are: 1) There is no double standard. 2) Double standards are good. 3) Some double standards are bad, but the one that says if a white man makes a statement concerning race and/or gender that a non-white male disagrees with, he's needs to kicked out of public life, but that the opposite is not true, is a good double standard. 4) It's not a good double standard, but there are bigger fish to fry.
That last one is the one that makes the most sense to me, but I don't think that's his meaning. I readily accept that, as a historically privileged group, what's acceptable for me to say is somewhat different than what's acceptable for someone else. Also, if Sotomayor had been speaking off the cuff, or made her wise latina statement when she was 25, or she was some minor nobody, I'd give it a big whatever. However, she was reading a prepared speech, less than 10 years ago, and she's going to be on the Supreme Court. So, yes it matters. I'm willing to listen to her defend it, explain exactly what she meant, and likely I'll be mollified. There are plausible benign explanations for what she said. However, we'll see.
TNC calls Graham "smug, self-satisfied, unreflective, whiny and narcissistic". And that "if you've never had to grapple with who you are in relation to other people, if you've never had to worry much about courting people who aren't like you, if you've never struggled with being politically correct, it's exactly the sort of thing you'd say." Graham may well be all of those things (they are practically his job requirements). However, I see no evidence for those things in his statement. While I agree with PC part of the diagnosis (a PC person wouldn't make that statement), I don't with the rest. I have "had to grapple with who [I] am in relation to other people". I have "had to worry much about courting people who aren't like" me. Surely not as much as TNC, but I have. And, I agree with the offending language Graham used. So try again, TNC.
I enjoy the man's writing, he often helps me think of issues in somewhat different ways, to expand my thinking, and is entertaining most of the time. However, this was a big whiff on his part.
First, he relays some great stuff on Ali-Frazier. Frazier really doesn't across well at all. Not that Ali does, but better than Frazier. Entertaining stuff.
Second, he writes about Sotomayor, Lindsey Graham, and PC. I really don't get what he's saying here. The possibilities I can think of are: 1) There is no double standard. 2) Double standards are good. 3) Some double standards are bad, but the one that says if a white man makes a statement concerning race and/or gender that a non-white male disagrees with, he's needs to kicked out of public life, but that the opposite is not true, is a good double standard. 4) It's not a good double standard, but there are bigger fish to fry.
That last one is the one that makes the most sense to me, but I don't think that's his meaning. I readily accept that, as a historically privileged group, what's acceptable for me to say is somewhat different than what's acceptable for someone else. Also, if Sotomayor had been speaking off the cuff, or made her wise latina statement when she was 25, or she was some minor nobody, I'd give it a big whatever. However, she was reading a prepared speech, less than 10 years ago, and she's going to be on the Supreme Court. So, yes it matters. I'm willing to listen to her defend it, explain exactly what she meant, and likely I'll be mollified. There are plausible benign explanations for what she said. However, we'll see.
TNC calls Graham "smug, self-satisfied, unreflective, whiny and narcissistic". And that "if you've never had to grapple with who you are in relation to other people, if you've never had to worry much about courting people who aren't like you, if you've never struggled with being politically correct, it's exactly the sort of thing you'd say." Graham may well be all of those things (they are practically his job requirements). However, I see no evidence for those things in his statement. While I agree with PC part of the diagnosis (a PC person wouldn't make that statement), I don't with the rest. I have "had to grapple with who [I] am in relation to other people". I have "had to worry much about courting people who aren't like" me. Surely not as much as TNC, but I have. And, I agree with the offending language Graham used. So try again, TNC.
I enjoy the man's writing, he often helps me think of issues in somewhat different ways, to expand my thinking, and is entertaining most of the time. However, this was a big whiff on his part.
Labels: Dumbassery, Honesty, Politics, Pretention
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