Since I haven't

ripped anything off from The Atlantic in a while, here's a post from Ta-Nahesi Coates that's pretty interesting, more for its rationalization than its actual political subject matter. Best quote:

And then there is this: When you're young, and you come into some political consciousness, self-assurance, intellectual arrogance, and prejudice come easy. When I got conscious, I would have told you that the Egyptians invented airplanes, black people never had slaves, and that the cold made white people acquisitive by nature. And I would have told you this publicly, in front of a crowd of people. And I'd have slapped you with a Chancellor Williams tome if you dared to disagree. Thankfully, I had parents who protected me from myself. But more importantly, I had people around me who valued reading, listening and life experience over talking, writing and publishing. The dispensation of knowledge must be grounded by the acquisition of knowledge

This is an extremely good point. I don't think I'll ever again get into the sort of political knock-down, drag-out fights that I did when I was 20. Also, now you know why so much of the original content on this blog is about such stupid shit.