OPERATION: BAN SMILEY

Taylor Symposium

Ok so I just saw on Time’s “The Page” that Tavis Smiley is going to be on Meet The Press this Sunday and in response I couldn’t help but think back to his SOTBU nonsense and post election appearance nonsense [more to my sister-in-law’s annoyed complaint’s re Smiley’s idiotic post election commentary actually] and right now I’m wondering if there’s some not so secret not so back channel way to inform the old white guy overlords slash old white guy masters of the MSN of something truly important … namely that Mr. Smiley and his decidedly moronic attempts to speak for all “black folk” are self-serving, self-important, tiresome and offensive at best? Honestly, do you think that if I asked nicely – pointing out that they’ll need political news junkies like me to keep tuning in to keep their ad revenue up now that the election’s over – they’d maybe think it through? Should I really have to field another round of post Tavis just coughed up another dumb blanket statement via the TV Machine calls from perturbed cousins [insert advanced preview here: “Dirk, dude, I went to MIT, what in the hell is that idiot talking about …”] just because I’m my family’s resident Chuck Todd and the MSM Lords don’t fucking know any better? [My Open Letter to the Aforementioned Masters of a Shrinking Universe Starts Now]: Guys, really Tavis is the talking head media equivalent of one of those books on the 100 Greatest African Americans … Which is to say something designed for well intentioned white people [specifically boomer aged white people] who honestly don’t know any better give as secret Santa gifts to African American’s they don’t know very well. In short, Tavis Smiley is an embarrassing douche bag – a wanker – a prat - a [sorry, I've been watching BBC America a lot lately] and you aren’t really adding racial balance to your programs by adding him to them. So stop, now, please. Whenever Gwen Ifell, Michel Martin, Michele Norris and Eugene Robinson are all busy and you’re feeling guilty in a PC kind of way, call Andrew Sullivan … think to yourself: Maybe “they” adopted him after he wrote his slavishly pro-Obama Goodbye to All That; or maybe give a younger guy like Ta-Nehisi Coates [who shared my pain when I mentioned this to him] a try or maybe offer “us” a virtual cool white friend like Matt Taibbi … or don’t, whichever, just no more Tavis. [By the way, that picture of Melissa Harris Lacewell isn't there for any particular reason. I just think it gives this post a cool professor vibe].