Is it because of the way vision and hearing seem to allow for much more discernible structure in what we perceive? (I'm sure that thought is not original.) But... when I watch cooking shows, I'm aware that for at least some people, taste perception has a lot of structure.

My impression is that it hasn’t yet.

I hope to hell that he doesn’t do it, but if he does, I would expect attendance and revenue to crater.

My daughter, her wife and my 3-year old granddaughter are moving to Canada (where I'm from.) My partner's daughter and family moved to New Zealand. This makes the despair and distress of all this very personal.

Though my point wasn't to defend Adams, that doesn't matter. To be clear: I agree. The piece should never have been published. I posted before I had done what I ought to have done: make sure I knew what I was talking about.

It would be. But as I said in a reply yesterday, I was wrong. The story was new to me, I wasn't aware of the background facts (that's on me). In particular I didn't know who the source was. So yes: I was badly wrong.

She would indeed.

For anyone who might care: on the big issue here — should the Times have published that piece — I've tried to do my homework, thanks to folks's reactions. And I agree: publishing this story as written was wrong and people are right to be angry. Thank you to people who took the time to reply.

A good question. Perhaps it's not As I said, my point was never to defend Adams.

But as I've already said, my point wasn't to defend Adams.

True. But Ikwhat Adams was objecting to (whether in good faith or not) is that in the context of a college application, the appropriate reading of "African American" is the one that comes to mind for most of us. Whether that objection would stick here would depend on details we aren't given.