Doth We Protest Too Much?

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By: John McWhorter

It's all about this business of "contesting." And it's about all of us.

One thing we all know is that if Cornel West actually met Barack Obama alone in a room -- and we can be sure this will happen one day, and likely more than once -- he would embrace him and call him brother.

That's what he does with everybody, and I doubt he truly thinks Obama has a "fear of free black men." West was thinking of himself as a prophet, as so many of us encourage him to do. He was telling, thus, a truth that many are uncomfortable with. Except that this time, the truth wasn't true.

Why tell it, then? Because what West was doing was contesting for the sake of it, out of a sense that this is the noble thing for smart, engaged people to do.

You have to watch out for that stuff. CONTINUE....