Much to consider here about the value of tradition in this endlessly complex experiment called America. theamericanscholar.org/ripeness-is-al…

Clapping for a show now means you also have to stand. This frankly sucks. Whatever the reason. Opinions differ. I offer one. But it sucks.
nytimes.com/2024/04/11/opi…

A smart look-back at the 'Intellectual Dark Web' from Cathy Young 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 that includes John McWhorter summarizing many of the members' “drift into poised lunacy.”

plus.thebulwark.com/p/from-intelle…

I'll take this! Especially since it's my favorite of my books.

Endless constructive counsel here on a DEI that doesn't mission creep into Cultural Revolution territory. The usual shining common sense from ⁦Conor Friedersdorf⁩. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

My pleasure, folks. We'll be back!

This piece crucially nails the difference between the dramatic thrills of reading Fanon and the application of his ideas to real life. theatlantic.com/books/archive/…

Do you know Lawrence Tibbett ? A white opera singer who confidently sang Porgy, when it was read as rising above race. Not that the era did, at all. But one could at least sing. And otherwise black men, of course, always sang the role.
artsjournal.com/uq/2024/03/wha…

Anticipating: has Sowell gotten every single thing right? Of course not. But overall, he is infinitely wise, a font of crucial data and conclusions. Smackdown: His detractors have no problem celebrating their leftist heroes as gods despite cracks in the plaster.

Beware the idea that standardized tests are incompatible with blackness. They aren't. They are measures of cognitive ability, and blackness has demonstrated way too much of it to permit the idea that the SAT is racist. No SAT? Fewer smart black kids in top schools. Not OK.

Thomas Sowell's mind and work ought be much better known. It is splendid that@cliftonaduncan is creating a one-man show about him. He needs our help. Click here. indiegogo.com/projects/sowel…

This matters. I'll be there.
youtu.be/3RUI68lEZt4?si… via YouTube

All of this from my colleague at Columbia ⁦Ross Perlin⁩. Languages 'nobody here speaks' are always fascinating in endless ways. There's a reason Ross and I devote careers to them. (English prepositions, LIKE and such are just what I do 'on TV'.) nytimes.com/2024/03/10/opi…

Broadway's basic blackness - a theme of ⁦John Mauceri⁩ as well as me, encapsulated in this luscious piece of weekend reading. airmail.news/issues/2024-3-…

The idea that you shouldn't end sentences with a preposition has always been an utter hoax. Regardless of one's esteem for any book or person who taught it to you, it's utterly baseless. Please spare your children its tragicomic absurdity.
nytimes.com/2024/03/07/opi…

'Lived experience' people aren't grifters. They think they have found the gospel. Our job is to tell them we know they haven't - and be ready for them to depict us as heretics on social media when we do. Hunker down. Or we return to the Dark Ages' version of serious thought.

Listen to this. Say it with no hedges to those who insist on 'lived experience.'

Winter is correct. Only black people can write black people? Whites, only write about yourselves? This is medieval caricature of humanity. Intersectional concern with social justice doesn't excuse it, and only fear makes us pretend otherwise. Spartacuses???

Today I did ⁦All Things Considered⁩ on the eternal nonsense notion that we shouldn't end sentences with prepositions. npr.org/2024/03/01/123…

Frankly I don't care that Gemini treats my Woke Racism like Mein Kampf. For one, a gentleman doesn't discuss how many copies his books have sold, but, on this one I'll just leave it at [ahem!]. Plus, see below. More translations are coming. My job is done.