Skip Navigation
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

On Fred

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Sep 5 2008, 1:02 PM ET Comment

You guys know I agree with about .0005 percent of what Fred says. Having said that, he's somehow managed to drive some weak-minded, 22-year old insane with such rage that they've taken to impersonating him. This person thinks very very little of Fred. And yet, in a comic twist, seems unaware that however weak-minded he takes Fred to be, the fact that Fred now has seemingly opened a condo in this person's head, shows the imposter to be weaker still. Is that irony? I think so, but I get confused so often.

Anyway, I'm usually above insulting people over the internet, but this guy is going to Herculean lengths to troll. I leave it to you to dream of what his real life--not to mention social life--must be like. Anyway, do yourself a favor and don't respond to posts that look especially outrageous. I know the real Fred is so off the wall that it's hard to distinguish. Just give it a second before you respond, please.  I'll be in, within an hour or so, to erase the scribblings of this unfortunate soul. I wish I could get him the help he clearly needs--for now, the "delete post" button will have to do.


Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Mutts Mobilize in Midtown Against Mitt Mutts Against Mitt
The 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World (and How They Got That Way) The World's Most Expensive Cities (and How They Got That Way)
A Hauntingly Beautiful Zombie Love Story A Zombie Love Story
Politics Q&A: Senator Rand Paul Rand Paul: 'You Don't Go Into Politics Unless You Want to Win'
Adulthood, Delayed: What Has the Recession Done to Millennials? Adulthood, Delayed: What's the Recession Done to Millennials?

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

World Press Photo Contest 2012

Feb 15, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Ta-Nehisi Coates
from the Magazine

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an Atlantic senior editor.

Fade to White

A filmmaker maps Austin’s shifting ethnic landscape.

The Legacy of Malcolm X

Why his vision lives on in Barack Obama