SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: A Letter To Professor John McWhorter. “Your repeated references to President Truman are illustrative. Truman took the U.S. into a major land war in Asia. It was an undeclared war. More than 50,000 Americans died. The U.S. and its allies did not prevail—at least, not in the traditional sense. That conflict still festers to this day. Trump has not taken us into any such conflict; indeed, he is ramping down our participation in such conflicts. Maybe your focus on spelling and sound composition skills are—maybe just a tad—misplaced?”

Good writing, like good shooting, is a valuable skill. Neither has a moral component. The Supreme Court’s best writer was Oliver Wendell Holmes, who told us — eloquently — that it was okay to sterilize people society didn’t like.