Jonah Goldberg of National Review recently shared a message from one of his readers that will blow your mind.

How Civilizations Die (An Ongoing Series)

Last week, we debated whether it was socially acceptable (i.e., is it “racist”?) to use the word “thug” for people exhibiting thuggish behavior. It was a pathetic debate given that we could strike the word from our vocabulary tomorrow and it would A) not improve the plight of the inner-city poor one iota B) within minutes we’d find a new word to replace “thug” to describe goons, gangsters cads, ruffians, bandits and bullies and C) it was clear that people wanted to debate “thug” so they didn’t have to debate the causes of thuggishness…

This sort of condescension would be instantly recognizable as itself racist if it were not for the good intentions and self-regard of the people displaying it. Still, it’s deadly. I got this email from a reader who liked my column (they exist too):