Coates has become a lot less interesting the more he’s walled himself off from conversation. His blog at the Atlantic used to be great. But Macarthur’s genius stamp started a slow downhill slide.
How has he walled himself off?
I’ve seen people talk to him on twitter all the time.
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I think it’s similar to a dog whistle: when an advantaged black person says ‘people’ should be better parents, get off drugs, etc., what registers subliminally is that he’s speaking to “his” people. The prejudice involved here is deep, subtle, and insidious, and affects people of all colors.
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Well, I don’t do Twitter so I don’t know about that. The last few articles of his I’ve read on The Atlantic made some pretty blatant errors of fact. In the past, he would have engaged with readers and perhaps made corrections. Now he posts them without even a comment section at all so readers can’t even engage with each other.
It isn’t like comment sections are the font of all wisdom (present company excepted), and I understand not wanting to read and engage with them all as an infinite time sink with few returns.
But you don’t have to read them. To not allow them at all is to say “Not only do I not care what you have to say about what I wrote, but I’m going to prevent anyone else from hearing it either.” That’s unnecessary and a little arrogant.
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So all you’ve offered so far in your charge against Coates and his writing is an unsubstantiated ad hominem and unsubstantiated charges that his writing sometimes contains errors (how minor, if they even exist? who knows!).
Ah…
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He does this or does the Atlantic do it? How do you know?
Why should either care about a comment section if, as you say, they aren’t going to read it?
I suggest getting on twitter and engaging with authors directly if you want to communicate with authors. Most that I know are on twitter and, strangely, will reply with grace to well words attempts to reach out.
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I offered an opinion, not a charge.
For you to leap from that to a not so veiled charge of racism is …well, arrogant. And bigoted.
FYI, I spent 11 years on the faculty at Spelman College. Stick that in your dog whistle.
Possibly. There are only two writers at the Atlantic who don’t take comments, Coates and James Fallows. And Fallows has told me personally that he chose not to as he prefers to interact via email. So Coates apparently prefers Twitter. That’s fine, though I haven’t seen it result in any corrections.
If he doesn’t read the comments, as you admit is ok above, why would having comments on result in corrections?
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Okay, except that you did make a charge, that he doesn’t bother correcting mistakes. Now I’m curious–would you mind sharing what these mistakes are?
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It wouldn’t. Unless he engaged with them as he did on his blog. It would at least provide a record of where a correction is needed.
It isn’t the lack of a comment section that bothers me so much as the attitude behind it. It’s basically saying “Don’t question me.”
Couldn’t it also be a way of preempting a hell of a lot of trolling?
And aren’t there other ways of notifying the publication of these mysterious errors? (Why yes, yes there are other ways.)
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I don’t think that’s what “bigoted” means. Unfair or untrue, possibly.
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Here’s is a comment that Kevin Drum, at Mother Jones, made on Coates famous article “The Case for Reparations.”
Here is Coates’ response to it:
This stands out in my memory because it was the first instance where I noticed Coates deliberately misrepresenting someone’s position by selective quotation. You can judge for yourself. At the time, I read both authors daily and it really bothered me. I wanted to point this out in a comment but there aren’t any.
As I see it, these are the main problems with what Coates wrote.
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Drum’s main point is that what Coates means by the word “reparations” is evidently not the same as what the general public hears when that term is used. Coates totally ignores this.
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Drum points out that Coates attacked a statement by Bernie Sanders as evidence of white supremacy that seems to be indistinguishable from another statement Coates supports by Harvard professor Charles Ogletree. Coates doesn’t address this.
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Coates characterizes Drum’s position as essentially “But of course slavery was bad, nevertheless I oppose reparations because they aren’t practical.” Drum explicitly says ". . . I don’t support reparations myself because I don’t think they would do any good. But maybe I’m wrong. I can be convinced otherwise.
“And if I am wrong, I’ve never thought that practical considerations are an insurmountable obstacle.” He then proceeds the sketch a practical proposal for accomplishing reparations, something Coates himself has never done.
I thought this article was dishonest and unworthy of Coates and his Macarthur brain. It seems to have been written with the sole purpose of avoiding admission that his criticism of Sanders was erroneous.
So there’s an example and the relevant articles. You can judge for yourself.
Well, I at least try to read Mr. Coats essays, take them seriously, and try to imagine myself in his shoes. It is difficult, because he seems to see all issues as being based on White oppression. I really don’t think the world is that simple. And sometimes people of any race can get stuck into a cycle of poverty because of poor choices. That can sabotage any efforts we make as a society to help them succeed. If people like President Obama cannot address those issues without facing scorn, what can the rest of us do?
And you don’t think the poor choices keeping black people in poverty are related to centuries of white oppression?
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But you’re a white guy who didn’t grow up under systemic and systematic racism, right? I suggest reading his last book. It can be hard to read but I’m not going to say his viewpoint is hyperbole because it doesn’t match my world of being a white, college educated, engineer (I’m not saying you’re calling it hyperbole).
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Not always. Choosing to have kids before you get out of high school puts a pretty big barrier in front of you, whether you are in some inner city or in Appalachia. The same goes for showing up at school and putting a minimum effort in there. I understand that is supposed to be a form of privilege to have parents that teach you the importance of those issues, but I don’t think it is about race.
And I really do not buy the argument that an individual is personally controlled by centuries of oppression, although I do understand that there is a disconnect between people who have pulled themselves out of poverty and those who have not.
It is hard not to dismiss your comments above as “just another white guy telling black people to try harder (like him!).”
You say it isn’t about race but white people like to pretend that the social position, poverty, and harsh lives of black folks (on all levels and in all interactions with society) have absolutely nothing to do with centuries of slavery followed by legal apartheid and racism up to the present day. Sorry but it ain’t so.
Black folks aren’t going to care if you “buy” their arguments or not. Coates is writing about his life, often quite openly, and how he came to believe what he believes in his books, couched as advice and thoughts to his young son. You’d be well served to reserve judgement and just read a couple of them.
The me of 10 or 20 years ago would have agreed with you. The me of 2016 (and in my 40s) having more experience and living around black folks every day says “White people generally have no idea.” I barely have an inkling of what it is like to be black now and I doubt I could handle being black with aplomb.
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The idea that my views and experiences are invalid because of my heritage is, I believe, primarily an attempt to silence those with unwelcome opinions. I will never allege that I have experienced life as an inner-city Black child, or that such a life is without difficulties.
