KENDI AND DIANGELO DON'T DEBATE PEOPLE LIKE ME

[Valin]

Substack

.. and they shouldn't! It's time to let up on dissing them for not "debating."

John McWhorter

Aug. 6 2021

If social media is any indication, many people seem to be of the opinion that people like Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo should want to “debate” people like me and Glenn Loury. These people are roasted endlessly on social media for not engaging in “debate.”

It isn’t fair. I completely understand why they don’t.

I get the feeling people are moved by debates between people like William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal (this documentary likely helps stoke this) or the famous one between Buckley and James Baldwin.

(Snip)

What would the purpose of this “debate” be except entertainment for others? This is the ethos of the boxing match. It isn’t an accident, I suspect, that most of the people calling for this kind of “debate” are guys.

Honestly, people like us do “debate” in making our points in articles, on podcasts, and sometimes in tweets. None of us of any stripe are interested in climbing into a cage with people who find us unimpressive, and that makes us not cowards but ordinary human beings seeking life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I shall not seek, and I will not accept, calls to “debate” people who find me dismissible, and I fully respect the same sentiment in others.

____________________________________________________________________

I do believe Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo have just been Called Out.