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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.

Some thoughts on cable talk

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jan 22 2009, 7:41 AM ET Comment

I noticed a lot of citations of Morning Joe and Hannity, below, as evidence of outrage at Lowery. I'm still in D.C., and this morning I cut on the TV to see what the talking heads were saying. In short order, I was treated to the morning show people over at Fox replaying a Joe Biden joke in slow motion and attempting to read Barack Obama's body language, and Scarborough asking Andrea Mitchell if Obama was more likely to listen to career CIA professional or a "left-wing law professor from Berkeley."

Cable talk is alluring--much like Hostess cupcakes are alluring, but more like how gossip mags are alluring. I get caught up all the time. In fact, one of the reasons I don't have TV is because I was consuming too much of the stuff.  A significant portion of these folks' livelihood is based on the threat of loony left-wingers at Berkeley, Upper West Side salon-holders, and Georgetown socialites. It's half journalism, and half drama class. In discussion, let's treat it as such. Also, I'll do my part and stop linking to the stuff.


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