I have been watching some Hitchens and anti-Hitchens responses on youtube and my rehabilitating my opinion of him (earlier seriously damaged by his pro-war stance)→[More:]

first of all it's been a bit of a revelation to me lately that some TV has pretty intellectual content like Bill Moyers, Book TV, debates etc. Also, I've been looking at back at a lot of 60s stuff, so even when the content is 'less deep', it's an important way to pursue one's ideas in a mass medium so you can't ignore that venue if you want to engage in influencing people..

And as I get back into the whole public debate fray I've been wondering what sort of tonal approach I want to take and the whole Hitchens, Matt Taibbi etc. style alienates me a bit. Snark, anger and call-outs are such a standard internet tone that they're passe to me. I find a lot of inspiration in watching / listening to Malcolm X these days. He's always incredibly calm in moments where I'd be prone to being really angry and disengaging from the situation. But unlike him and his 60s compatriots I'm also quite given to consensus building instead of ideological inflexibility, and gravitate towards gaining power within the system instead of attacking it from the outside. Plus whatever way the political heap rearranges itself I'd like me and mine to not end up on the wrong side of a rifle.. Safety First. lol.

Another thing I'm gonna be working on while I try to get as educated and pursuasive as these people is also try to rack up more life experience cause Wisdom > Cleverness. At some point, some dude in a DC think tank talking to another dude in a Northeastern university about what's happening in e.g Korea just doesn't make sense. You have to at least spend some time talking to, you know, Koreans.