Coates vs Brooks

In case you were wondering why we as a country are not having that long-overdue NCAR (national conversation about race) take a look at how differently these two men view the election of Donald Trump.

Mr. David Brooks of The New York Times is the apotheosis of undeserved elite white privilege.  He is one of the media's most influential Very Serious Persons and a gatekeeper of the terms and limits of every national political debate.  And he visibly cringes at the thought of any serious nation political conversation that gets anywhere near the subject of race, racism and -- surprise! -- white privilege:

Mr. Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most insightful and unflinchingly honest writers about race in American politics and culture.  His take on the centrality of race in election of Donald J. Trump is true and tragic and irrefutable (NBC killed the previous link due to copyright issues.  Here is a new one that looks durable):

You might recall that just two years ago, Mr. Brooks took it upon himself to publicly scold Mr. Coates' for "dissolving the [American] dream under the acid of an excessive realism". Mr. Brooks then his ass sawed off and handed to him on the good china up one side of the internet and down the other:

#RichWhiteLivesMatterToo  -- Update

Mr. Brooks has written a column today.

It is entitled:

Listening to Ta-Nehisi Coates While White

And it is quite possible that the word "entitled" has never more comprehensively encompassed both of its definitions:

en·ti·tled

inˈtīdld,enˈtīdld/

transitive verb

to give a title to : designate

adjective

believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.

As The Twitter has already noted, Mr. Brooks is in for a very long day...

Well Mr. Brooks, the acid of excessive realism that dissolves the American Dream has finally arrived. It arrived leading a cheering mob of bigots and imbeciles formerly known as the Party of Lincoln and it looks like this.

And while I do not think that even Mr. Brooks is stupid enough to publicly cross swords with Mr. Coates again any time soon, in the black-and-white contrast between their reactions to the election of President Stupid you can see the fatal flaw in our media laid bare.

Our media is in the hands of gatekeepers who are determined to abort any discussion about anything that threatens their privilege, their status as gatekeeper or the Both Sides Do It narrative that keeps their whole world propped up.  And until that changes -- until talking openly about our real problems becomes something the media works hard to accomplish and not avoid -- nothing else will change.

Behold, a Tip Jar!